The University of Saskatchewan will host an international colloquium on Ukraine’s Nation Building: Opportunities for Collaboration during 17-18 October, 2003. This colloquium is jointly sponsored by the University of Saskatchewan, the Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University and the Canada-Ukraine Centre Inc. The colloquium sessions will be held at the University of Saskatchewan campus at the PCS Centre.

The University of Saskatchewan and the Chernivtsi National University have shared over twenty five years of academic collaboration and exchange, starting in 1977. Throughout this period, students and faculty from both the universities have participated in academic programs, research initiatives and other scholarly discourses in different aspects of science, culture, heritage, economy and policy analysis. With the emergence of Ukraine as an independent nation in 1991, there has been increasing attention given to issues of nation building, economic restructuring and linguistic and cultural heritage. The establishment of the Canada-Ukraine Centre Inc. as an important stakeholder organization in strengthening and sustaining the cultural, economic and technological collaboration between Canada and Ukraine has not only widened the scope of collaboration between the two universities, it has also brought additional partners into this relationship from both Ukraine and Canada. The focus of this colloquium is on this wider examination of the roles played by scientific, cultural, economic and political institutions in shaping the early years of the post-soviet Ukraine and in contributing to the future of Ukraine. In the process, the colloquium will also focus on the opportunities and processes of collaboration involving academic, research and business institutions in Canada and Ukraine.

Faculty members and graduate students from the University of Saskatchewan, Chernivtsi National University and other universities in Ukraine and Canada. The contributions of participants from the academia will be complemented by the participation of representatives from public and private sector organizations and nongovernmental organizations with interests in Canada-Ukraine relations. The total number of participants will be limited in order to allow maximum possible interactions among the participants.

The colloquium will be structured around the following themes:

• Economic Restructuring: Experience in Ukraine and other Transitional Economies
• Culture and Socio-Economic Development: Issues of Nationalism, Democracy and Transparency
• Scientific Research and Technology Development: Opportunities and Constraints
• Export-led Growth: Enabling Institutions and Environment

Posters representing contributions by scholars from Ukraine who are unable to be present and from Canada whose contributions are not included in formal sessions will be on display. The authors of posters displayed will be provided an opportunity to present overviews of their posters during the Poster Tour component of the colloquium. The contents of these posters will also be included in the colloquium publication.

Electronic versions of abstracts of proposed presentations and posters should be sent to: Professor Asit Sarkar, College of Commerce, University of Saskatchewan (asit.sarkar@usask.ca) or Professor Morris Altman, Department of Economics, University of Saskatchewan (altman@sask.usask.ca).