Public Seminar in Uruguay
After Argentina, the South Centre delegation headed to Uruguay where a public seminar was held.
Public seminar on Progressive responses to the global crisis
The seminar was held on 19 August 2013 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay. The session was opened by Under-Secretary of the Ministry of External Relations, Ambassador Luis Alberto Porto, Ms. Simone Reperger, Representative of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in Uruguay, which provided support for the seminar, and Mr. Roberto Bissio, Executive Director of the Third World Institute (ITeM), who had also moderated the two sessions of the debate. Dr. Manuel F. Montes gave words of welcome and a brief introduction about the South Centre.
A keynote speech on “Foreign investments and industrial policy for sustainable development” was given by Dr. Yilmaz Akyuz, followed by comments by Prof. Oscar Ugarteche, Researcher, The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and Ambassador Porto.
The first session “State enterprises: Fostering or curbing sustainable development?” had presentations by Dr. Manuel Montes and Dr. Humberto Campodónico.
The second session “Trade, investments, integration: Is there a sustainable South alternative?” had presentations by Dr. Carlos Correa, Ms. Corina Rodríguez, Professor at the University of Buenos Aires, Mr. Sebastián Valdomir of Red de Ecología Social—Amigos de la Tierra Uruguay (Social Ecology Network, REDES) and Ms. Alejandra Pico of the Cuesta Duarte Institute, PIT-CNT.
The meeting had the attendance of Vice-Ministers, parliamentarians, government officials and civil society.
In the open discussion the participants expressed concern about the following issues: (1) how the state enterprises could be more responsive to gender concerns, (2) whether there could be better cooperation among countries on their investor protection policies and response to bilateral investment treaties (BITs), (3) how state-owned enterprises would be affected by a possible external crisis. The quality of the discussion was high.
