On the Move - 04-07 / 2009

--April 20-25, I. Calderon, vice chair of the Linkages Committee, co-led a mission of 23 delegates to three cities Colombia as part of the Americas Linkage Initiative of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and Coral Gables Chamber represented by its president Mark Trowbridge and Chairman, Marc Berenfeld.  The first stop was Bogotá where the group met with Sr. Commercial Officer Margaret Hanson-Muse from the US Embassy, and representatives from various organizations such as the Bogotá Am-Cham; the National Business Association of Colombia (ANDI) and representatives from various law firms who spoke on the general topic of “doing business in Colombia.”  The afternoon included a presentation by the delegates to a Colombian audience on “how to do business in the US.”  The next day Linkages hosted a breakfast for Governor the Governor of the State of Quindio, the Hon.  Mario Ariztizabal, who cordially invited Linkages to visit his state for the 2010 Linkages program.  The afternoon included a visit to one of the largest flower farms in the sabana and ended with a reception at the Museum of Modern Art. The second city was Barranquilla where the group visited the Port and Regional Port Society followed by a visit to the free zone.  The next day featured a tour of the PIMSA Industrial Park which has companies like Mars and in the afternoon a matchmaking roundtable where each of the delegates had from six to ten appointments with business prospects.  The group was also hosted by the Governor of Atlantico, the Hon. Eduardo Verano de la Rosa who spoke about the recent developments in his city and opened the new Museum to Life for a tour (NOTE: the museum was going to be inaugurated the next day) as a special gesture to the group.  In Cartagena, the group met with Mayor Don Slesnick of Coral Gables at the office of the Hon. Judith Pinedo, Mayor of Cartagena where they exchanged gifts in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Sister City relationship.  I. Calderon took this opportunity to thank the Mayor for her support of the Colombia FTA. This was followed by a luncheon offered by the Chamber of Cartagena where an agreement was signed by the two cities. After an afternoon of business matchmaking roundtable, the evening ended with a tour of the bay and dinner at the Yacht Club offered by the Rotary Club of Cartagena.     In terms of new business, the trip proved fruitful to many of the companies that were represented including A&B Pipe & Supply, Emerald Investment Group, Rojas Law Firm, Express Travel, Business Centers Intl., Zoby International, Pollo Tropical and Nero Immigration Law.  Representatives from the Latin Chamber of Commerce (CAMACOL), Willy Gort and Raul Lopez; the Colombian-American Chamber, Carmenza Jaramillo; and the Broward County Office of Economic Development, Samantha Zerbe, gave the mission a meaningful representation of the interest South Florida has to further explore business opportunities in Colombia. --April 22, Gateway Florida Representatives attended the Fourth Annual Latin America Conference organized by the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami with an attendance of over 200 delegates.  Topics included the global economic outlook and its impact on Latin America; the political risk environment in the region; the reduction of the hemisphere’s carbon footprint and US-Latin America relations under the Obama Administration. The Conference featured keynote speeches by Enrique Garcia, President of the Corporacion Andina de Fomento (CEF); and Thomas A. Shannon, Jr. with the U.S. Department of State. Antonio Villamil, Dean of the School of Business at St. Thomas University, moderated a panel on the global economic downturn’s impact on Latin America, and David Rothkopf, President and CEO of Garten Rothkopf, both spoke on the political and security consequences on the downturn, and moderated the panel on reducing the hemisphere’s carbon footprint. CHP director Susan Purcell led a panel on the Obama Administration and Latin America. - -May 1, Gateway Florida officials met with Matt Rooney, Director, Summit Coordination, U.S. Department of State, to discuss a possible program dealing with the Pathways to Prosperity initiative.  He said that although Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had liked the purpose of Pathways, she was going to wait to attend the next Pathways meeting in El Salvador at the end of May before appointing a person in her administration to be at its head.  However, he did reiterate that Pathways would continue under the Obama administration.   --May 26 Gateway Florida participated in meeting with Secretary of State and Executive Director of the Dominican Republic Export Investment Center (CEI-RD) Eddy Martinez Manzueta.  He stressed there was a new vision in DR being led by the Investment Council for Strategic Projects and  focusing on the promotion of the country as one big “free trade zone.”  He said that with the start of the implementation of the DR-CAFTA trade agreement, industries such as the telecom (call centers and Parque Cibernetico), mining, housing and renewable energy were developing at a very fast pace. A 3% GDP growth is expected this year. --During May and June Gateway Florida participated in the organization of the Association of American Ports Authority (AAPA) XVIII Annual Congress which will take place the first week in July in Miami.  Gateway Florida worked with representatives from Enterprise Florida to obtain the complete consular and trade commissioner list from the State and wrote the draft letter to invite them to the conference.  As well, GWF is working with the Biltmore Hotel to coordinate the conference requirements and event planning. I. Calderon is working with the Protocol Committee to organize the arrival and departure procedures for the port directors with the head of Protocol for Miami International Airport. AAPA is a trade association which represents more than 160 public port authorities in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America.  It is dedicated to enhancing port management and advocating issues critical to public seaports --June 11, Gateway Florida helped organize the One Year Anniversary Reception for the Miami International Arbitration Society. The reception, which featured keynote speeches from MIAS Chairman Burt Landy and Secretary Eduardo Palmer and boasted over 50 attendees, was hosted by Albert Orosa of the American Arbitration Association at their offices in downtown Miami. A Gateway Florida initiative, MIAS serves to promote Miami as a nexus for international arbitration hearings, which would result in more business for local law firms, translators, transcribers and other specialists, as well as hotels and other local businesses.

 

< Prev