‘Ho Chi Minh City Open University 97 Vo Van Tan Street, Ward 6, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Phone: — +84 (08) 39300947, (08) 39300210-206 A Website: http://www.ou.edu.vn/ CONG VAN DEN SO BEN:..265.LU nnn Ngay.2.3.théng...3...nam 2043 Chayin lc Pot. NVITATION | Ho Chi Minh City, March 19" 2018 Re: VIETNAM’S BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS RESEARCH CONFERENCE (VBER2018): “FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT & INEQUALITY IN EMERGING MARKETS: THE FACTS AND THE FUTURE”, Ho Chi Minh City, 22-24 July 2018. Dear Sir/Madam, Ho Chi Minh City Open University, Vietnam invites you to the comprehensively refereed International Conference on Business and Economics to be held in July 2018 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The key theme of the Conference on “Financial Development & Inequality in Emerging Markets: The Facts and The Future” - is both timely and relevant following the ‘APEC Meeting in Vietnam in November 2017 on Creating New Dynamism and Fostering a Shared Future. This VBER2018 Conference offers a program that will facilitate dialogues between academics, public policy makers, practitioners and postgraduate students. Highlighted programs include: (@ World class keynote speakers from Australia, the USA, and the Philippines; (ii) Policy panel discussions with the focus on Financial Development and Inequality; (iii) PhD Colloquium; (iv) Posters Session; and (v) Professional development workshops. Selected papers will be considered for publication in the Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), a Scopus and Thomson Reuters’ ESCI indexed journal; Journal of Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, which is an ISI and Scopus-indexed journal; Advances in Pacific Basin Business Economics and Finance published by Emerald Insight; and the North ‘American Journal of Economics and Finance, SSCI with Impact Factor of 1.1. Please be advised that 16 accepted papers from our VBER2017 have been undergone a review process for publication in an ISI indexed journal — Emerging Markets Finance and Trade. Further details can be found on the Call for Papers which is also enclosed in this letter. ‘Thank you very much for your attention and cooperation. We are looking forward to _.weleoming you to our Conference on Business and Economics in July 2018. ‘Yours sincerely, Associate Professor Nguyen Minh Ha, PhD Deputy Rector Ho Chi Minh City Open University, VietnamHo Chi Minh City Open University 97 Vo Van Tan Street, Ward 6, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Pho +84 (08) 39300947, (08) 39300210-206 Wel http:/www.ou.edu.vn/ CALL FOR PAPERS VIETNAM’S BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS RESEARCH CONFERENCE FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT & INEQUALITY IN EMERGING MARKETS: THE FACTS AND THE FUTURE Ho Chi Minh City, 22 — 24" July 2018 Ho Chi Minh City Open University, Vietnam invites you to the 2 Vietnam’s Business and Economics Research Conference (VBER2018) to be held on 22" ~ 24% July 2018 at Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The Conference offers a program that will facilitate dialogue between academics, public policy makers, practitioners, and postgraduate students, The program includes: = International high profiled keynote speakers; * “Sharing is Caring” Session; = Policy panel discussions with the focus on Financial Development and Inequality; * High quality submitted papers; = PhD Colloquium; = Posters Sessions; and = Professional development workshops. The key theme of the Conference on “Financial Development & Inequality in Emerging Markets: The Facts and The Future” - is both timely and relevant following the APEC Meeting in Vietnam in November 2017 on Creating New Dynamism and Fostering a Shared Future. Topics The key purpose of the Conference is to bring together academics, researchers, practitioners and policymakers to discuss ongoing research on a wide range of theoretical and empirical issues related to sustainability of economic development in emerging markets, especially for Vietnam. Potential topics may include the following areas:* Financial Development & Economic Growth including Financial Depth; Financial Liberalization and Stability; Financial Institutions; Public Expenditure & Policies; = Poverty & Inequality including Accessing to Financial Products/ Services; Rural Development; Social Equality; Social Economics; Gender Differences; and Inequality & Financial Security; and * Corporate Finance and Governance including Asset Pricing; Portfolio Management and Optimization; Market and Credit Risks. Keynote Speakers ‘The VBER2018 Conference welcomes a world class keynote speaker, Professor Ken Clements from the University of Western Australia, Australia. Ken Clements has been at the UWA since 1981 as a Professor of Economics and since 2008, BHP Billiton Research Fellow. Professor Clements is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia; received a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Leaming from the Australian Leaming and Teaching Council; and served as a Member of the ERA 2015 Economics and Commerce Research Evaluation Committee, Australia Research Council. In addition, Distinguished Professor Cheng-Few Lee from Rutgers University will attend VBER2018 as a keynote speaker. Professor Lee is the Editor of the Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting (RQFA), and the Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies. He is the Director of the Conference on Financial Economics and Accounting, and the Conference on Pacific Basin Business, Economics and Finance. He has published more than 170 articles in journals and six books on corporate finance, portfolio management, business statistics and urban econometrics. ‘The VBER2018 also invites Dr. Donghyun Park to deliver a keynote speech. Dr. Donghyun Park is currently Principal Economist at the Economics Research and Regional Cooperation Department (ERCD) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which he joined in ‘April 2007. Dr. Park has a Ph.D. in economics from UCLA. Dr. Park plays a leading role in the production of Asian Development Outlook, ADB's biannual flagship publication on macroeconomic issues, and leads the team that produces Asia Bond Monitor, ADB’s quarterly flagship report on emerging Asian bond markets. The VBER2018 warmly welcomes Dr. Min-Teh Yu from China University of Technology. Taiwan. Dr Yu is Chair Professor at National Chiao Tung University and a research fellow at RIRC, National Cheng-Chi University. He has been a Distinguished Professor at National Taiwan University and a Visiting Professor at Drexel University. He was also President of the Taiwan Risk and Insurance Association and the Financial Engineering Association of Taiwan. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Ohio State University and a B.S. from ‘National Taiwan University. “Sharing is Caring” Session — Preparing Future Generations of Vietnam’s World Class Researchers and Practitioners This session is unique and it is generally considered as a flagship session to VBER Conference series. Led by world class professors, the keynote speakers of VBER2018 Conference, young ‘and talented local Vietnamese researchers share their own experience to complete their PhD studies overseas and to conduct independent researches to get them published in highly regarded international journals. VBER2018 Conference welcomes the following young and talented scholars to the session, including: (i) Dr Le Ho An Chau, HCMC University of Economics; (ii)Dr Le Thai Ha, RMIT Vietnam; and (iii) Dr Nguyen Duy Bach, Hong Kong Baptist University, China, Special Session — Policy Panel Discussions On the ground of strategic policies play a comerstone factor in economic growth and development, especially in emerging markets, this Conference brings world experts to present and share new ideas/approaches in relation to public economics/policies with a particular focus ‘on Financial Development and Inequality. Senior executives from international and local agencies working on these issues will present the current state of play and challenges that Vietnam will face in a near future. Ph.D scholars/ Master students Forum & Posters Session This Forum will offer students with accepted papers the unique opportunity to present their research and have their work discussed by distinguished academics. All accepted papers will be provided with written comments (before the Conference) and critical comments by discussants (during the sessions at the Conference) who are senior academics/ researchers with the same/similar area of research interest. The Posters Session will provide research students an opportunity to receive valuable advice, recent developments in a literature and quantitative techniques with fellow students and senior academics. Sponsored Journals Selected papers (subject to the standard reviewing process of the relevant joumals) will be considered for publication in the Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies, a ‘Scopus and Thomson Reuters’ ESCI indexed journal Submission of Papers Prospective authors are invited to submit full-length papers by the due dates which are listed below. A selection of best papers will be made by the VBER2018 committee upon recommendations from the Technical Committee. Further information in relation to this Conference, and how to make submissions, can be found at http://vber.ou.edu.vn/. Important Dates + Full paper submission closed: 30 April 2018 = Authors notified: 1 June 2018 * Registration closed (Early Bird): 15 June 2018 * Registration closed (by latest): 7 July 2018 = Conference released: 22-24 July 2018 Further information For all inquiries in relation to this VBER2018 Conference, please email us at vber@ou.edu.vn. For urgent inquiries, please call Mr Nguyen Cong Thang, Project Director, at +84 98 7964197.