Post date: October 3, 2003

Professor Hal Scott
From October 3-5, leaders of the financial systems of the United States and Japan will gather in Gotemba, Japan to discuss issues affecting the global financial system. The occasion is the sixth annual Symposium on Building the Financial System of the 21st Century: An Agenda for Japan and the United States, sponsored by the Harvard Law School Program on International Financial Systems, in cooperation with The International House of Japan.

"The symposium has become one of the most important forums in the discussion of financial issues between Japan and the U.S.," said Professor Hal S. Scott, director of the Program on International Financial Systems. "The discussions will cover broad international issues such as global deflation and the recent appreciation of the yen. It will also examine the efficacy of corporate governance in revitalizing the U.S. and Japanese equity markets. To conclude, the Symposium will address the prospects for restructuring the Japanese banking and corporate sectors in light of recent political and legislative changes."

The symposium will involve approximately 100 invited guests, about half from Japan and half from the U.S. These participants-composed of senior government officials, politicians and their advisers, financial firm leaders, lawyers and consultants, scholars and a few media representatives-will engage in intensive discussions of the financial challenges facing the two nations and the world.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker and U.S. Under Secretary of Treasury John Taylor will deliver keynote addresses along with Haruhiko Kuroda, special advisor to the Cabinet and Hiroshi Watanabe, director-general of the International Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Finance.

The Harvard Law School Program on International Financial Systems was founded in 1986. It was established to conduct research linking law, economics and finance. For more than fifteen years the Program has published books, held symposia and provided technical assistance to a variety of countries.