On Thursday, 12 November 2015, Prof. Danny Quah, Professor of Economics at The London School of Economics and Political Science, and Michael Zakkour, Vice President of Tompkins International Consulting, gave a talk on “The Future of China and Doing Business with the West” at the Confucius Institute for Business located at the SUNY Global Cente, New York. The talk was moderated by CIBL UK director Nick Byrne. The event was attended by 100 attendees from the New York business community.
The event was opened with a speech by SUNY Confucius US director Maryalice Mazarra who introduced the topic and thanked the speakers for taking part. The speakers then each proceed to present a 10 minute speech before coming together with the moderator to have a 30 minute conversation. This was then followed by a Q & A session in which the eager audience were able to ask probing questions of the speakers. At the conclusion of the event the speakers and audience were invited to a networking reception in which they could mingle and establish new connections.
This event marked the first Trans-Atlantic collaboration between Confucius Institutes and also the first concrete collaboration amongst the global network of Confucius Institutes for Business Alliance, CIBA, since its inception in 2013. The event garnered high praise from those who attended with many commenting that it was the best event relating to doing business in China that they had been to as it boasted both high calibre speakers and moderator and also provided an excellent chance for those engaged in doing business with China to expand their networks.