Summit in Atlanta Signals Support for City’s Free Trade Bid

Choosing Atlanta as the site for the second annual Sumaq Summit, to be held at the Omni Hotel-CNN Center on May 4-5, signals continued support of Atlanta as the headquarters for the Free Trade Area of the Americas by leading business schools in Latin America, according to the head of the organization charged with promoting Atlanta’s bid for the secretariat.

José González, executive director of Hemisphere Inc., said the leadership of the Sumaq Alliance, which is comprised of eight top business schools in Latin America and Spain, stated at last year’s summit that Atlanta is in the best position to serve the FTAA headquarters.

“Holding the summit in Atlanta for the second year reaffirms that belief,” he told GlobalAtlanta.

The summit is designed to provide senior executives here with insight into conducting business in Latin America, according to Gov. Sonny Perdue, who announced the event last week.

“We are delighted to welcome the business, government and academic leaders from the United States, Spain and Latin America joining us to discuss economic strategies among the regions, including Georgia as a center for the free trade with the Americas,” he said in the statement.

The conference will touch on issues relevant to the hemisphere, including “how the unstoppable move toward globalization affects our country as well as those in Latin American and Caribbean,” Mr. González said.

According to the governor’s announcement, topics are to include business issues, management techniques and strategies for operating in Latin America’s some $3 trillion consumer market.

The first day of the conference will center on the current business environment in Latin America, including the cultural, macroeconomic, political and social structures of the region. On the second day, academics, corporate leaders and politicians will provide direct insights on critical issues affecting the region.

Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, will be the keynote speaker at a gala dinner on May 5.

Last year’s summit, which attracted more than 300 participants, was the first time that the Summit Alliance had organized such an event in the U.S.

The Sumaq Alliance, which includes nine campuses with some 500 executive educators and 100,000 alumni worldwide, is the largest virtual think tank on Latin American issues in the world, according to the governor’s statement.

Registration fees for the summit are $1,300. For more information, go to www.sumaq.org.