Top Speaker Set for Presentation at A&M International June 17

One of the nation's foremost minds on economic integration in the Western Hemisphere will provide the keynote address at a special presentation hosted by Texas A&M International University's Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade on Thursday, June 17.

Jeffrey J. Schott, Senior Fellow of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for International Economics will provide the address, "Prospects for Economic Integration in the Western Hemisphere."

The address will be presented in Bullock Hall room 101 from 6-8 p.m. It is free of charge and open to the public.

Joining in the presentation will be discussants Bill Gruben, Senior Economist with the Dallas Federal Reserve; Jaime Alonzo Gomez, Dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration and Leadership at Monterrey's Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores, and Joseph McKinney, Baylor University Professor of International Economics.

Dr. Michael Patrick, professor and chair of the department of economics and finance, said the presentation will afford the University's students and members of the local and regional business and finance community with a rare opportunity for learning and dialogue.

"While trade here on the border is clearly rooted in NAFTA, this presentation will take us the next step in economic integration throughout our hemisphere. This will offer a dynamic opportunity for students and community members to look at our business future in a hemispheric perspective, and gain insight from some of the greatest minds on this eventuality," Dr. Patrick explained.

Patrick said the presentation is part of a planned series of similar lectures on trends in hemispheric trade that will become part of the offerings of the new Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade, part of the University's Phase III expansion.

A former Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and International Economist at the US Treasury, Schott is the editor of Launching New Global Trade Talks: An Action Agenda, Restarting Fast Track and The World Trading System: Challenges Ahead.

He is the author or co-author of eight books including Completing the Uruguay Round, Free Trade Areas and US Trade Policy and North American Free Trade.

His most recent book, co-authored with Gary Clyde Hufbauer, is Western Hemispheric Economic Integration, published by the Institute for International Economics. In the text, Hufbauer and Schott discuss the agenda for prospective hemispheric negotiations, how they might be structured and how an agreement might affect the multilateral trading system.

For additional information on the Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade Center special presentation by the Institute for International Economics' Jeffrey H. Schott, please contact Dr. Patrick at the University's College of Business Administration, 326-2515 or visit offices in Pellegrino Hall, PH 304A. Information can also be secured by email at jmpatrick@tamiu.edu.

University office hours are from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. 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