The 2007 IATRC Summer Symposium will be held on July 8-9, in Beijing, China.  The venue is the Grand Hyatt Beijing, located in the Oriental Plaza, just moments from Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the city center and the Wang Fu Jing shopping street. 

The topic “China’s Agricultural Trade:  Issues and Prospects” will be highlighted by keynote speaker, Nicholas Lardy, of the Institute for International Economics, Washington D.C.  His paper "China: Toward a Consumption Driven Growth Path," will set the stage for two days of invited speakers and contributed paper sessions.

The symposium is organized by the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium (IATRC); Agricultural Trade Promotion Center, MOA; Department of WTO Affairs, MOFCOM; the Small Farmers Adapting to Global Markets Project, China-Canada Agriculture Development Program; China Center for Economic Research (CCER), Peking University; and the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy (CCAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

Symposium sponsors include the Farm Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Economic Research Service (ERS), the Giannini Foundation, Washington State University and Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Ohio State University.

Registration
Deadline for registration is June 15.  The registration fee is $300 until June 15; late registration will be $450.  See the link above.

Hotel
Hotel reservations can be made with the reservation form at the link above.  Note the deadline of June 22, and the cancellation policies. 

Visa
Travel to China requires a visa for most countries.  Information for tourist or business visas for China can be found at http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/hzqz/default.htm.  Note that your passport must have at least 6 months of remaining validity to apply for a visa.  If you are going to apply for a business visa and need a letter of invitation, please send your complete contact information and email in the body of a message to charli@wsu.edu.  She will pass this on to Peking University. 

Tours
Post Conference tours are being arranged by a local travel company working with the hotel.  The options vary greatly and range from a tour of cultural sites in Beijing, including the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the summer palace.  Other alternatives include the Great Wall, or even the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an.  Further information will soon be available on the IATRC website.  To help with planning, please let us know if you are interested.  A wine tour by a noted China expert is also a possibility if there is sufficient interest.

Additional Symposium Opportunity
The symposium on China’s Agricultural Economy and Trade: Agribusiness, Food Marketing, Environmental Issues and Evolving Policies, co-organized by Western Economic Research Association (WERA-101), and Shanghai Jiaotong University, will be held on July 12-13, 2007 at Shanghai Jiaotong University in Shanghai.  Details on this meeting are available at http://www.china.wsu.edu/.  The symposium is open to all, however, note the registration fee.  For detailed information contact charli@wsu.edu.