The First Joint Conference of the Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Psychiatrists was held on 13-15 December 2008. It was a resounding success and attended by more than 450 delegates from around the world. Apart from consolidating the longstanding collaborative relationship between the Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, we have successfully built up many useful alliances with our counterparts in China, Taiwan, Macau as well as other Asian countries. We have also made use of this special occasion to start discussion on Special Interest Groups in preparation of subspecialty development in psychiatry in Hong Kong. We are happy to report that this meeting was attended by many of you and much fruitful discussion had ensued.