Three former presidents and numerous business executives from Spain and Latin America gathered at Georgetown Tuesday for the launch of a virtual journal about business and globalization in Latin America. The Journal of Globalization, Competitiveness and Governability is the product of a partnership between the University and the world’s eighth-largest bank.
The formal launch was followed by a panel discussion with former presidents Jose Maria Aznar of Spain, Vicente Fox of Mexico and Alejandro Toledo of Peru.
“This partnership goes to the very heart of Georgetown’s mission, fostering a broad exchange of ideas across disciplines and across borders and enabling scholars and leaders to critically engage in the global community in ways that can make a significant difference,” University President John DeGioia said.
The journal was conceived through a partnership between Universia, an initiative of the Spain-based Santander Bank that links over a thousand universities in Latin America, and the Georgetown Latin American Board, which was established in 2006 to foster the University’s ties with the region, according to LAB managing director and journal editor Ricardo Ernst.
The journal is unique in that it will only be published through the Universia website, which Ernst said provides a unique degree of flexibility and allows for access throughout Latin America. To be published three times a year, the journal already has over 40 academics on its editorial board and Ernst believes it is the first journal to focus on globalization, competitiveness and good governance in a specific region.
“My dream is that, in a couple of years, this will be the website destination for anybody wanting to know what’s happening in the region,” Ernst said.
Aznar, the honorary chairman of the LAB, praised the initiative during the introductory speech. Aznar is one of five ex-presidents on the journal’s advisory board, along with Fox, Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, Ricardo Lagos of Chile and Andres Pastrana of Colombia, with Prince Felipe of Spain as honorary chairman.
The three presidents at the afternoon panel were joined by Santander Bank Chairman Emilio Botin and other business leaders, political figures and university professors, as well as Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. The panelists offered their perspectives on decreasing poverty and increasing global competitiveness in Latin America. For all, the most significant factor in eliminating poverty was education.
“The tools of wealth are education, private property, enterprises, credit and ownership skills,” said Gustavo Cisneros, Chairman of the Cisneros Group of Companies. “But education is the most important.”
Several students who attended the discussion felt that Fox gave the most striking speech of the seven.
“He had presence,” Paul Biedlingmaier (SFS ’11) said. “He just got up to the podium and he didn’t even need notes. He just stood there and talked to us. Everyone knew just what he was saying and he delivered it well.”
Although Tim Worm (SFS ’11) agreed that Fox “had many interesting things to say about U.S. policy regarding immigration from Mexico, and he was a very good speaker,” he did acknowledge that Fox’s speech strayed somewhat from the title of the panel, “Discussing the Role of the Private Sector in Competitiveness in Latin America.”
“[Motta International President Stanley] Motta was the only one who really addressed the private sector,” Worm said.
