The ability of the College of Law at Hamad Bin Khalifa University to foster dialogue and collaboration with like-minded global institutions was recently demonstrated at a one-day collaborative online workshop.

Taking place on October 18, Special Economic Zones in International Economic Law: Towards Unilateral Economic Law, attracted renowned academics. Organized in collaboration with the School of Law at the City University of Hong Kong, the workshop consisted of a series of presentations clustered around specific research streams. These included: the application of international investment and trade law to special economic zones; human rights, labor and tax issues; and intra-zone dispute resolution. 

Academic participants included Julien Chaisse, Professor of Law, City University of Hong Kong School of Law (also a co-convener of the workshop), and Irma Mosquera, Associate Professor, Leiden Law School. An international organization perspective was provided by Douglas Zeng, a Senior Economist in the World Bank’s Financial and Private Sector Development Department of the Africa Region. Private sector insights came courtesy of Politas Consulting’s Morial Shah. Huw Davies, Chief Legal Officer (Interim) of the Qatar Free Zones Authority, also participated as chair of one of the sessions. For its part, HBKU College of Law was represented by Dr. Georgios Dimitropoulos, Associate Professor of Law, who was the co-convener of the workshop. 

Speaking after the workshop, Susan L. Karamanian, Dean of HBKU College of Law, said: “As a country with two special economic zone regimes, Qatar has more than a passing interest in the legal instruments and mechanisms that underpin their commercial activities and operations.

The same is also true of our neighbors and those countries represented here by workshop participants. Moreover, special economic zones are not only commonplace along major trading routes, they are often located at geographical crossroads. For this reason alone, our hosting of Special Economic Zones in International Economic Law: Towards Unilateral Economic Law made perfect sense.

“In terms of organization, we’d particularly like to acknowledge the invaluable support provided by Professor Julien Chaisse. Our collaboration guaranteed an event that was truly global in scope, perspective and participation.”

HBKU College of Law regularly holds events that are relevant to Qatar. For more information, please visit https://www.hbku.edu.qa/en/cl/academic-calendar