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Canadian Partnerships in the Americas York U. Hosts Inter-American Development Bank Chief Enrique V. Iglesias
Dr. Iglesias was first elected president of the IDB in 1988, and is now serving his third, five-year term. He is in Toronto to deliver the Sylvia Ostry Foundation annual public affairs lecture. As IDB President, Dr. Iglesias has overseen the financing of a new era of reform, liberalization and integration in the Latin American region, the modernization of the bank itself, and the establishment of the bank's affiliate for providing direct assistance to small- and medium-size private enterprises, the Inter-American Investment Corporation. In 1994, he steered a new course for the bank, giving priority to social programs in the region and initiating projects to strengthen civil society and improve governance.
Canada has assumed a stronger role in hemispheric affairs since signing the Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1990, advocating a renewal of multilateralism with initiatives such as the creation of the Centre for the Promotion of Democracy, strengthening trade integration, and more recently, focusing on human security in the Americas. In June, Canada will host the annual OAS General Assembly in Windsor, Ontario, and hemispheric leaders will hold their Third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in 2001.
The Organized Research Units (ORUs) at York University have been working in Latin American and Caribbean Studies as well as inter-American relations since the 1970s. They include: the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean, the York Centre for International and Security Studies, the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, the Centre for Feminist Research, and the Centre for Refugee Studies. In addition, York has pioneered the development of the International MBA and graduate programs in Law and in Environmental Studies with special reference to Latin America and the Caribbean.
Most recently, York has established an inter-American research network of scholars and practitioners focusing on the issues of security and crime in the Americas, with the secretariat at York's Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption. The Institute for Leadership Development, a United-Nations Global Partnership Program housed at York, will hold the Eighth World Summit of Young Entrepreneurs in Quebec City in 2001, in parallel with the Third Summit of the Americas.
Dr. Iglesias will be the guest of honour at a luncheon hosted by York University President Dr. Lorna Marsden. He will be accompanied by Marcel MassČ, Canada's Executive Director at the Bank, and senior Canadian officials from the Privy Council Office, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and the Canadian International Development Agency.
Dr. Iglesias was born in Asturias, Spain, and is a naturalized Uruguayan citizen. He graduated from the University of the Republic of Uruguay in Economics and Business Administration in 1953 and pursued specialized programs of study in the United States and France. He was professor of economic development at Uruguay's University of the Republic, director of the university's Institute of Economy, and a member of the board of directors of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences.
He was minister of External Relations for Uruguay from 1985 to 1988; executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean from 1972 to 1985; secretary general of the United Nations Conference on New and Renewable Sources of Energy held in Kenya in 1981; and chairman of the conference that launched the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations (Punta del Este, Uruguay, 1986) that led to the creation of the World Trade Organization, the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. He was president of Uruguay's Central Bank from 1966 to 1968.
Between 1988 and 1989, Iglesias successfully mediated the fisheries dispute between France and Canada. The two nations eventually agreed on fishing quotas for French ships in different zones of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the nearby waters of coastal Canada and Newfoundland. In 1997, Iglesias received UNESCO's Pablo Picasso award for his activities on behalf of culture and development.
Media interviews with Dr. Iglesias can be arranged with Nick Etheridge, Executive Director, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, (416) 487-6830.
For further information, please contact:
Maria Cioni
Prof. Ed Dosman
Susan Bigelow |
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