PROSPECTS for a FREE TRADE
AREA of the AMERICAS
An International Conference
Presented by
The Center for Latin American Issues
and Bayer Consulting, LLC
Thursday, November 21, 2002
Speakers
Alejandro Chafuen
Alejandro (Alex) Chafuen has been President and CEO of the Atlas Economic
Research Foundation since 1991. As president of Atlas, he participated at the
FTAA meetings in Belo Horizonte, Brazil; San Jose, Costa Rica; Toronto, Canada;
and Buenos Aires Argentina. Atlas has organized pre-FTAA events for
market-oriented NGOs at these events and has sent fellows to preparatory
meetings of the next FTAA meeting in Quito. Dr. Chafuen and Atlas have been
particularly active on issues pertaining to rule of law, intellectual property
rights, and free trade.
Born in Argentina, Dr. Chafuen is a former Assistant Professor of Political
Economy at the Law School of the University of Buenos Aires. He holds a Ph.D. in
Economics and has written extensively on distributive justice, natural law,
corruption and economics, with many of his articles appearing in The Wall Street
Journal, La Nación (Argentina’s major newspaper), and academic journals. He has
lectured on these topics at various universities throughout Latin America and in
the United States.
Robert Devlin
Robert Devlin has been an economist at the Inter-American Development Bank in
Washington, D.C., since 1994. He currently is Deputy Manager of the Integration
and Regional Programs Department. From 1975 he worked at the United Nations
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, in Santiago de Chile;
his last position was Deputy Director of the Division of International Trade,
Finance and Transport.
Dr. Devlin has a Ph.D. in Economics and was a lecturer at the Johns Hopkins
School for Advanced International Studies, in Washington D.C. during the period
1987-1990. He has published four books and numerous articles in the area or
international economics and economic development. Dr. Devlin is on the Advisory
Committee of the Latin American Trade Network.
Eric P. Farnsworth
Mr. Farnsworth is an international strategic consultant, focusing on business
facilitation efforts with U.S. corporations overseas and assisting foreign
corporations and governments in Washington, DC. He consults extensively with the
Organization of American States on matters of anti-corruption policy, and has an
active role in the foreign policy debate as Adjunct Fellow at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies. He speaks and writes frequently on
hemispheric issues, and has been published in numerous newspapers and magazines.
Mr. Farnsworth formerly worked in the White House, where he served for over
three years as the Policy Director to the Counselor to the President and Special
Envoy for the Americas.
Congressman Rubén Hinojosa
Congressman Rubén Hinojosa, a longtime businessman and native of South Texas,
was elected to Congress in November 1996. The Congressman serves on two House
Committees: Education and the Workforce, and Financial Services. He is also a
Co-Chair of the Democratic Caucus Education Task Force. Congressman Hinojosa has
distinguished himself as an advocate for education, Social Security, health
care, agriculture, veterans' issues, economic development and infrastructure
projects.
Prior to his election to the House of Representatives, Congressman Hinojosa
served twenty years as President and CFO of a food processing company, H&H
Foods, which has received national awards from the U.S. Department of Commerce
and the Small Business Administration in Washington, D.C.
In recognition of his achievements in Congress and of his service to his
community, Congressman Hinojosa has received numerous awards, including honors
in the areas of economic development, education, business, agriculture, and
health care.
Jon E. Huenemann
Jon Huenemann is Senior Vice-President of FH/GPC, the strategic advisory,
government relations, and public affairs subsidiary of Fleishman-Hillard
International Communications (FH), the largest communications firm in North
America, with over 80 offices worldwide. Mr. Huenemann leads the trade,
investment and global markets practice group, providing strategic counsel and
representation for clients.
Prior to joining FH/GPC in 2000, Mr. Huenemann spent 15 years in the Executive
Office of the President, where he was the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative
for North American Affairs and a member of the Senior Executive Service. He was
the chief strategist on Canada, Mexico and the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA), and managed the trilateral work program. He was Deputy
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Western Hemisphere Affairs. He led the
negotiations on Chile’s bid to accede to the NAFTA, managed trade relations with
Mexico and the NAFTA, was a senior negotiator on the trade action plan at the
first Summit of the Americas, and spearheaded a number of trade negotiations in
Latin America. He was the Director for Brazil and Southern Cone Affairs at
USTR and a key architect of the trade component of the Enterprise for the
Americas Initiative. He was Chief of the Advance Team and Coordinator of the
U.S. Delegation to the Ministerial Review of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral
Trade Negotiations in Montreal.
William Lane
Bill Lane is a leading business advocate for free trade and engagement in
Washington D.C. He has been with Caterpillar since 1975 and is currently the
company’s Washington Director for Government Affairs. Mr. Lane is a co-chair of
USTrade, a coalition supporting Trade Promotion Authority, and is Vice President
of the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, a group supporting a robust
international affairs budget.
Previously Mr. Lane founded and chaired the USA Engage Coalition. He has held
numerous leadership positions with the Business Roundtable, National Foreign
Trade Council, and Alliance for GATT NOW. During the late 1980s he founded and
led the Zero Tariff Coalition and Coalition of American Steel Using
Manufacturers.
Mr. Lane is a member of the U.S. Industry Advisory Committee for Trade Policy.
He received his BA and MA degrees from the Pennsylvania State University and
attended the University of Cologne in Germany. Mr. Lane is an Adjunct Instructor
at the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington
University.
Hector Marquez
Hector Marquez is Director of the Trade and NAFTA office at the Embassy of
Mexico in Washington, D. C. He was Director General for Analysis of
International Trade Agreements in Mexico’s Economic Secretariat, where he
assisted in negotiating trade agreements between Mexico and the rest of the
world. He monitored the implementation of those agreements for both the Mexican
federal government and international commercial partners. He represented Mexico
in specific negotiations on dumping, antitrust, and customs procedures.
As Secretary of Commerce and Industrial Promotion, Mr. Marquez represented the
Mexican government in negotiations of antidumping in the automobile, textile,
and steel sectors under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Mr. Marquez received a Ph.D in Economics from Rochester University, where he was
also assistant professor. He was professor of economics at the Universidad
Autónoma de Nuevo León, in Mexico.
Jose F. Niño
Jose F. Niño is Chairman of Cypress Capital Group, an international financial
services company whose clients span the Western Hemisphere and include heads of
state. Born in Texas and raised in Chicago, Mr. Niño has many years of
experience in working with entrepreneurs, the federal government, corporate
America, and the Hispanic community.
For eight years Mr. Niño was President and CEO of the US Hispanic Chambers of
Commerce (USHCC), the business organization that represents more than 1.3
million Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States and Puerto Rico. Mr. Niño
was Hispanic Business Advisor to President George Bush and to the Clinton
Administration.
Mr. Niño is on the US-TRADE Secretariat FTAA Committee, which lobbies congress
in support of passage of the FTAA. Mr. Niño is a member of the Executive Board
of the Hispanic Council on International Relations (HCIR), which is very
involved in FTAA passage too.
Miguel Angel Rodriguez
Dr. Miguel Angel Rodriguez recently completed his term as President of Costa
Rica (1998-2002). He is currently J.B. and Maurice Shapiro Visiting Professor of
International Affairs at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of
International Affairs. Dr. Rodriguez has been a leader of the United Social
Christian Party for many years and has served as President of the Costa Rican
Legislative Assembly as well as President of the Christian Democrats of America.
Before entering public office, Dr. Rodriguez had a highly successful career as a
businessman. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of
California-Berkeley, and has taught Economics at the University of Costa Rica
and the Autonomous University of Central America. Dr. Rodriguez has also been
Director of Agro-Industrial and Export Bank, SA and President of Agrodynamic
International, SA, two leading Costa Rican corporations.
Regina K. Vargo
Regina K. Vargo is the Assistant U. S. Trade Representative for the Americas.
She is responsible for bilateral trade relations and plurilateral efforts,
including the NAFTA, the FTAA negotiations, and the U.S.-Chile FTA negotiations.
Before joining USTR in June of 2001, Ms. Vargo was Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Commerce for the Western Hemisphere. In this position, she directed the
Department’s activities on trade and investment policy and on commercial and
economic relations with the countries of the region.
Mike Zellner
Mike Zellner is editor-in-chief of Latin Trade, Latin America’s premier
pan-regional business magazine, published in English and Spanish, with more than
400,000 readers worldwide. Zellner is part of the team that has made the
magazine Latin America’s fastest growing business publication, with triple-digit
paid circulation growth. Since Zellner joined Latin Trade in 1998, the magazine
has issued the best-selling single issues on newsstands in its history, as well
as launched a market-leading Mexico edition. During his fifteen years covering
Latin America, Zellner has helped launch publications in Mexico, as well as
opened editorial offices in Mexico, Brazil and the United States. He has served
as editor at numerous magazines, including Dow Jones & Co. and Euromoney
publications. Zellner holds a BA in economics from Tufts University.