A&M International Hosts International Visitors May 8-9

Visitors from around the world will converge on the Texas A&M International University campus May 8 - 9 to learn more about the economic, political, and social implications of the global marketplace.

Duane Burdorf, Director of A&M InternationalŒs Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development, said 9 international business leaders, academics, and business journalists from 9 different nations will visit the University and Laredo and Nuevo Laredo businesses as part of "The Globalization of Business and Markets: A Multi-Regional Project."

The visitors are from Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Mozambique, Oman, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.

"These international visitors are touring diverse regions of the US to study attitudes and approaches different communities have towards the impact of globalizing. Visitors can then see how the US deals with issues of global competition, investment promotion, increasingly diverse workforce, worker dislocation and income inequalities, education and training, and environmental degradation, and compare the US response with that of their own country," said Burdorf.

Highlights from the Laredo visit include a demonstration of the University's Border Trade Institute (BTI) homepage on the World Wide Web by Data Base Specialist Carlos I. Santillan, A&M International, scheduled for Thursday, May 8 from 10 - 10:30 am at the Laredo Development Foundation, 616 Leal St.

Scheduled events for Friday, May 9 include a welcome from Dr. Khosrow Fatemi, Dean of the University College of Business Administration, and City officials at 9 am in Pellegrino Hall room 112 followed by a tour of the campus; a presentation on the North American Trade Automation Prototype (NATAP) by Dr. James Giermanski, Professor of Management and Director of Transportation and Logistics for the University's Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade, 10 - 10:30 am in Pellegrino Hall room 112; and a presentation on Environmental and Health Issues by Dr. Thomas Vaughan, Associate Professor of Biology at A&M International and President of the Rio Grande International Study Center, 11 am - 12 noon in Pellegrino Hall room 112.

Tours of the Union Pacific Intermodal Facility, US Customs facilities at International Bridge I, and Barry's in Nuevo Laredo are also scheduled.

Other cities to be toured for the project include Seattle, Washington; Nogales, Arizona; Des Moines, Iowa; Raleigh, North Carolina; New York, New York; and Washington, DC.

The project is coordinated by the Meridian International Center through a grant awarded from the US Information Agency in Washington, DC.

Project goals include reviewing social, political, and economic implications of globalization, including discussions of benefits and costs to developed and developing countries; demonstrating practical examples of globalized business, markets, planning and action by large and small businesses and communities; and discussing education, environmental, communication, free market, and democracy issues relating to globalization.

For more information on the international visit at A&M International May 8 -9, please contact Burdorf at 326-2547.

University office hours are 8 am - 5 pm Monday - Friday.

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Affairs and Information Services at pais@tamiu.edu