The regional seminar on Collective Investment Schemes/Hedge Funds in Beijing, which commenced on March 26 and runs until March 30, 2007, is part of the Asia Pacific Cooperation forum (APEC) Financial Regulators Training Initiative. Regulators from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand and the People's Republic of China are attending the seminar.

"It is important to strengthen financial regulation in the region through these cost-effective programs for bank supervisors and securities regulators," explained Min Tang, Deputy Country Director and Chief Economist for ADB's office in Beijing.

Training during the seminar will be conducted by experts from the United States Securities Commission, Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Cantor Fitzgerald International / BGC Partners, L.P.

"On behalf of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, I welcome the opportunity to stage this important training program," said Dr. Sun Jie, Director General of the commission's Department of Fund Supervision. "It presents a forum for regulators to discuss and learn from the expertise of developed countries like the United States and Australia, which have been developing their regulatory framework for Collective Investment Schemes over many years."

In May 1998, the APEC Finance Ministers Meeting endorsed the establishment of the APEC Financial Regulators Training Initiative to enhance training efforts for national and regional financial regulators within Asia.

ADB's Office of Regional Economic Integration has been acting as secretariat for the initiative and has supported its training activities. The initiative has been successful in achieving its objectives of strengthening content and management of national training programs, and developing regional programs for junior and mid-level supervisors and regulators. Since 2001, the initiative has trained more than 1,680 participants from APEC economies in 36 regional and 13 national courses.