IOA plans September 2009 economic
conference in China

From its strategic location on the Pacific Coast and the U.S.-Mexico border,  the Institute of the Americas is building bridges between China and Latin American countries.

IOA Vice President Lynne Walker traveled to China in December for two weeks of meetings with government officials, high-level researchers studying the Sino-Latin America relationship, professors of Latin America studies and a university president. During her travels, Walker also met with U.S. business people and  ambassadors from several Latin American countries.

As she traveled from Beijing to Tianjin, Shanghai and the southeastern province of Fujian, Walker fouind among all she met a deep interest in promoting better economic ties, two way investment and trade between China and Latin America. Her hosts noted that China and Latin America enjoy a time-honored friendship and spoke of their vision for  “greater mutual understanding and closer cooperation.”   
 
Based on those meetings, the IOA has begun initial preparations for a September 2009 economic conference that will bring together  top officials, business leaders, researchers, scholars and diplomats from China and from several Latin American countries to discuss  opportunities presented by global economic shifts in sectors such as energy, infrastructure, agribusiness,  industrialization and natural resources.  The aim of the summit is to help government leaders, businesses and researchers build contacts that will benefit both China and Latin America. “Geographically, we’re ideally located,” said Richard Hojel, the chairman of Corporacion Frigus Therme who serves as vice chairman of the Institute of the Americas board of directors. “We can turn that into a positive, into a competitive advantage, by bringing the Americas to Asia and by bringing Asia to the Americas.

“So few people in Latin America know about Asia.  They’re starved for information,” said Hojel. “The idea of bringing together Asia and the Americas is very appealing. We can be a facilitator, a player in that process of linking the two regions together.”

Responding to emerging regional economic trends has been a hallmark of the Institute’s 25-year history. The Institute of the Americas has built relationships with the government of each Latin American country as well as with major corporations in each sector.  

“I see the Institute as an organization that can recognize an opportunity, organize and act on it,” said David Weaver,  managing partner and chairman of Intercap Institutional Investors, who serves as chairman of the Institute’s board of directors.  “We are capable of being proactive,  of moving quickly into the vacuums created by a quickly changing world.”

Walker welcomes suggestions for programming and participants from IOA friends at  \n This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it