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Eagleburger forum to focus on global equality

April 11, 2001 By Ronnie Hess

Leading political figures from Latin America are scheduled to discuss the relationship between the U.S. and Third World countries on globalization and global equality at a free public forum Thursday, May 3.

The inaugural Eagleburger Forum, sponored by the International Institute, is named after UW–Madison alumnus and former Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger. The public lecture series, featuring internationally recognized speakers, encourages analysis of major issues in world affairs.

The conference, entitled “America, The Third World and the New World Economy: Global Equality in the 21st Century,” will be held from 3-6 p.m. at the State Historical Society Auditorium, 816 State St., Madison. The conference is co-sponsored by the Center for International Business Education and Research.

“There is perhaps no more important theme to inaugurate the Eagleburger Forum than globalization — how it affects equality among nations and within nations,” says David M. Trubek, dean of International Studies. “There is a very real question about whether economic globalization will lift all boats, whether it will narrow the gap between rich and poor countries and raise incomes for all groups in society so that the worst off benefit along with the best off.”

Several political, business and labor leaders will speak:

  • Ciro Gomes, a Brazilian Socialist Popular Party politician, is expected to run for president in 2002. Gomes is a former finance minister of Brazil, former governor of the northeastern state of Ceara and former mayor of the city of Fortaleza.
  • Carlos Heredia, director general of special urban development projects in the cabinet of Mexico City Gov. Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador, is an economist, former Mexican legislator and economic policy and international affairs coordinator for the presidential campaign of Cuauhtemoc Cardenas. Heredia has written extensively on the North American Free Trade Agreement and other trade and development issues.
  • Thea Lee is assistant director for international economics, the AFL-CIO. Before joining the AFL-CIO, she was international trade economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. She is one of the authors of “Field Guide to the Global Economy.”
  • Thomas Niles is president of the U.S. Council for International Business, which promotes an open system of world trade, finance and investment. Niles was a foreign service officer for more than 36 years, serving as ambassador to Canada, the European Union and Greece, among other posts.
  • Joan Spero, a UW–Madison alum and president of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, was undersecretary of state for economic, business and agricultural affairs in the Clinton administration, and served as a top adviser to the president on the G7 Economic Summits.

Eagleburger, a native of Milwaukee and UW–Madison alumnus ( B.S., ’52; M.S., ’57), served in the diplomatic corps and federal government for more than 30 years. He is currently the chairman of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, in Washington, D.C.

For more information, contact Ronnie Hess, director of Communications and Publications, International Institute, (608) 262-5590, rlhess@facstaff.wisc.edu.