TAMIU, ITESM Host 10th Annual Conference April 20 - 23

Academic researchers, practitioners and policy makers from around the world will converge on Laredo for the 10th Annual Conference:  Western Hemispheric Development Challenges in the Global Context April 20 - 23 with presentations at TAMIU and in Monterrey, N.L., Mexico at the Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM).

The Conference is co-hosted by TAMIU and ITESM and its Graduate School of Business Administration and Leadership (EGADE).   

Additional information can be secured by calling Virginia Vincent, associate director, TAMIU Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade at 326.2827.

Among keynote speakers scheduled to attend in Laredo are Dr. Lawrence Klein, Professor at University of Pennsylvania  and Laureate of Nobel Prize in Economic Science, and Dr. John H. Dunning, Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University and the University of Reading.

Ph.D. students at TAMIU will be part of a special Ph.D. Student Consortium at TAMIU from 2 - 5 p.m. Wednesday with Dr. John H. Dunning.

A reception for Dr. Klein will be held Wednesday, from 7 - 9 p.m. at the Laredo Country Club.

The Conference opens Thursday at TAMIU's Western Hemispheric Trade Center at 8 a.m.

The Welcome and Opening Remarks will be provided by Dr. Ray Keck, TAMIU president;  Dr. Jacky So, TAMIU Dean of the College of Business Administration; Dr. Alejandro Ibarra of EGADE and Mayor Elizabeth G. Flores.

At 8:45 a.m., Dr. John Dunning will offer a keynote speech, "Globalization, Foreign Investment and The Multi-national Enterprise: Challenges and Opportunities in the Western Hemisphere."

Concurrent sessions will follow from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and are open to the public. 

The Laredo luncheon on Thursday, with keynote speaker Dr. Lawrence Klein, is $25 per person and will take place in the Student Center ballroom.  Dr. Klein's topic is "The Chinese Expansion:  Is it Sustainable?"

Thursday's sessions will explore business environment and regional development in an open economy; the US-Mexico border as challenge and opportunity; the new arena of trade after NAFTA; business environment and regional development in an open economy II, social issues in an integrated world and sectors, growth and performance.

The second day of the Conference will take place in Monterrey, Mexico where academic sessions will take place and a keynote address on the topic of "Mexico's Role in the FTAA: Beyond NAFTA" will follow.

The afternoon in Monterrey will include tours of the ITESM Campus, various industrial plants as well as leisurely site-seeing and shopping.

Buses will return to Laredo from Monterrey on Saturday afternoon.

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