State of the Americas 2008

February 12, 2008, 11:30am – 1:00pm

About This Event

Luis Alberto Moreno addresses attendees at the event.

The Merida Initiative, efforts to bridge economic and social inequality, burgeoning biofuel markets, hostages in Colombia--these are only a handful of issues that define the contours of the State of the Americas in 2008. How do these and other dynamics affect the United States and its relationship with and place in the Americas? Please join The Americas Project at the Center for American Progress for a lively discussion of the evolving interconnections that increasingly define relations in the Americas. The event will feature keynote speaker Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank, followed by comments from and audience Q&A with panelists Leonardo Martinez Diaz of The Brookings Institute, Adrean Rothkopf from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Michael Shifter from the Inter-American Dialogue.

Keynote Speaker:
Luis Alberto Moreno, President, Inter-American Development Bank

Featured Panelists:
Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, Political Economy Fellow, Global Economy and Development Program, Brookings Institution
Adrean Scheid Rothkopf, Managing Director for North and Central America and the Caribbean, U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C.
Michael Shifter, Vice President for Policy and Director of the Andean program, Inter-American Dialogue

Moderated by:
Dan Restrepo, Director of The Americas Project, Center for American Progress.

Location

Center for American Progress
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Resources

• Read more about the event.
• Read full transcript here

 

Biographies

Luis Alberto Moreno was elected president of the Inter-American Development Bank during a special meeting of the Bank’s Board of Governors at IDB headquarters in Washington, D.C. on July 27, 2005 and took office on October 1, 2005.

Previous to joining the IDB, Moreno served as Colombia’s Ambassador to the United States for seven years. He was appointed to this position in September 1998 by President Andrés Pastrana and ratified by President Alvaro Uribe upon his election in May 2002. Prior to his post as Ambassador, Moreno served a distinguished career in both the public and private sectors in Colombia. Immediately prior to his appointment in Washington, he served as representative for the Andean Region of WestSphere Capital, a private equity firm focusing on investment opportunities in Latin America, from August 1997 to July 1998. Previously, he served as senior advisor to the Luis Carlos Sarmiento Organization, the leading banking and financial group in Colombia with over US$10 billion in assets, from November 1994 to August 1997.

From 1991 to 1994, during the administration of President César Gaviria, Moreno worked in the Colombian Government in a variety of leadership positions. From December 1991 to July 1992, Moreno was the president of the Instituto de Fomento Industrial (IFI), the Colombian government’s industrial finance corporation, and a holding company for many of the largest state enterprises in the country. In July 1992, he was named Minister of Economic Development. Upon leaving the Ministry in January 1994, he was tapped to chair Andrés Pastrana’s presidential campaign.

Previously, Moreno was executive producer of “TV Hoy”, an award-winning news program, from January 1982 to September 1990. Prior to that, from June 1977 to January 1982, he was divisional manager at Praco, a major importer and manufacturer of agricultural and industrial machinery.

Throughout his career, Moreno has received some of the highest decorations and distinctions awarded by the Colombian state and the country’s private sector. These have included: the “Orden al Mérito Civil Ciudad de Bogotá, en el Grado de Gran Cruz”, awarded by the Mayor of Bogotá on May 16, 1990; the “Orden al Mérito Industrial – José Gutiérrez Gómez”, awarded by the Colombian National Business Association (ANDI) on July 24, 2002; and the “Orden de Boyacá en el Grado de Gran Cruz”—the highest distinction given by the Colombian state—awarded by the President of Colombia on August 2, 2002.

Leonardo Martinez-Diaz is political economy fellow at the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution. His research interests include global governance, international finance, and the political economy of reform in Latin America and Southeast Asia. He serves as deputy director of the Brookings Partnership for the Americas Commission and is a member of Brookings' Latin America Initiative. His book, Waiting for the Barbarians: the Politics of Banking-Sector Opening in Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia, will be published by Cornell University Press.

Adrean Scheid Rothkopf is the managing director for North and Central America and the Caribbean at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. She is also the executive director of the Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America (AACCLA). Previously, Rothkopf served as founder and managing director of C-Level Solutions. Prior to founding C-Level Solutions, she was the executive director of the Group of Fifty, an assembly of prominent business leaders from Latin America’s most important private sector companies. Rothkopf has also served as the senior associate for Latin America at the Newmarket Company, and worked with the Inter-American Dialogue, the Council of the Americas, and the Carter Center.

Michael Shifter is vice president for policy and director of the Andean program at the Inter-American Dialogue. Since 1993, he has been an adjunct professor of Latin American politics at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. Shifter writes and comments widely on U.S.-Latin American relations and hemispheric affairs. His recent articles have appeared in major U.S. and Latin American publications such as The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Journal of Democracy, Harvard International Review, Clarín, O Estado de S. Paulo, and Cambio. He is also co-editor, along with Jorge Domínguez, of Constructing Democratic Governance in Latin America, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Since 1996, he has regularly testified before Congress about U.S. policy toward Latin America.

Dan Restrepo is the Director of The Americas Project at the Center for American Progress.  In his role, Dan is responsible for the Center’s work related to the United States and its place in and relationship with the rest of the Americas.

The Americas Project at the Center for American Progress is focused on the United States' relationship with and place in the Americas. The United States is in the midst of dramatic changes that will profoundly affect its future and are manifest both in the rapid growth of its Latino population and the ever-increasing interconnections with its neighbors throughout the Americas. Through rigorous research and open collaboration, The Americas Project seeks to more fully explore and understand those changes, the relationships among them, and their implications for progressive policy abroad and at home. The Americas Project endeavors to formulate innovative policy recommendations to address those changing realities and, through active engagement of all forms of media, effectively communicate its proposals to a wide range of audiences.