Western Hemispheric Business Lecture Set at A&M International June 17

A glimpse at the future of business in the Western Hemisphere will be the focus of a special presentation hosted by Texas A&M International University's Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade on Thursday, June 17 in Bullock Hall room 101 from 6-8 p.m.

The event is free of charge and open to the public.

The Center is hosting Jeffrey J. Schott, Senior Fellow of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for International Economics, who will present his lecture "Prospects for Economic Integration in the Western Hemisphere."

Dr. Michael Patrick, professor and chair of the department of economics and finance, said the presentation should provide a rare opportunity for insight and dialogue on business in the future.

"Our region has developed a clear understanding of NAFTA and we see its ramifications daily. This presentation will take us into the business of the coming millennium which will see economic integration occuring throughout our hemisphere," 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.

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.

Schott, a former Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and International Economist at the US Treasury, 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.

Schott's 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