News
2006
December 7-8
In recognition of his work in the field
of information technology for development, President Figueres
was invited to keynote IT Florida's Annual Awards Gala and
Tech Forum, on 8 Dec 2006. This Forum brings together the
leading businesses in IT development that has significantly
contributed to the advancement of information technology for
Florida. President Figueres addressed participants on the
challenges and opportunities for them to help bring Latin
America into the world of information technology.
Press
Release (pdf)
In
Focus Magazine: "Technology takes center stage in Florida"
(pdf)
Link:
IT
Florida Awards Gala and Tech Forum
December 5
Together with Dr. Moisés Naím,
Editor-in-Chief of Foreign Policy, and Paul Laudicina, Managing
Office and Chairman of the Board of AT Kearney, José
María Figueres discussed the challenges and opportunities
that face Latin American Business and Politics in a video
published on the AT Kearney website. The video is made available
by Global Business Policy Council at AT Kearney, a strategic
service that delivers analysis, consultancy and knowledge
designed specifically for the World’s top CEOs and senior
business executives.
See
video
Links:
Global
Business Policy Council
November 16-17
Acknowledging José María
Figueres’ credentials and knowledge on sustainable development,
President Figueres was invited to hold the keynote address
at the Global Water and Sanitation Leadership Forum organized
by Arizona State University and Global Water Challenge. The
Forum convenes leaders from philanthropic, business and government
sectors dedicated to increasing public and private funding
and support for safe, affordable and sustainable supplies
of clean drinking water and adequate sanitation services throughout
the world. This leadership forum builds on a March 2005 forum
organized by the U.S. Department of State in which key foundations
and other leaders in the field began to share goals and experiences
in addressing the water and sanitation needs of the developing
world. Based on this significant input, the scope and scale
of the problem and the potential opportunities for addressing
the needs for the provision of water and sanitation services
are better understood and the field is poised for a breakthrough.
Unfortunately, President Figueres was unable to attend the
event but he held the keynote at the dinner via a recorded
video.
See
Video (164 MB)
November 13– 14
On November 13-14, José María
Figueres participated at the Madrid meeting of the 2006 Ibero
American Business Forum. The Forum, organized by Foreign Policy,
CAF (Corporación Andina de Fomento), Fundación
Rafael del Pino and FRIDE, offers an exclusive community of
fewer than 100 business leaders from Latin America, Spain
and the US the opportunity to share and exchange experiences
on trade and investment, and engage in an active dialogue
with high ranking business profiles, policymakers and opinion
shapers. During the event, José María moderated
the session entitled “Lacking a Silicon Valley: Technology
Investment in the 21st Century” with the participation
of Gabriel Rozman, President of Ibero America, TATA Group,
Javier Piera, General Manager for Operations, Indra Sistemas,
and María Estela de Ríos, Co-owner and Executive
Vice President, Orion International Technologies.
Event
Programme
Essociated links:
CAF
(Corporación Andina de Fomento)
Foreign
Policy
Fundación
Rafael del Pino
FRIDE
November 2-5
President Figueres together with Dr. Shamshad
(left),
the Governor of the Central Bank of Pakistan.
Together with the President and the Prime
Minister of Pakistan, as well as other distinguished international
guests, between 2 and 5 November 2006 President Figueres participated
in this year's ASAP Regional Conference of the Young Presidents
Organization (YPO), held in Lahore, Pakistan. Specifically,
President Figueres and the Governor of the Central Bank of
Pakistan, Dr. Shamshad, chaired a session on the Global Economic
outlook and how Pakistan's strong economy could best take
advantage of opportunities to spur even greater growth. In
addition, President Figueres also delivered a major presentation
addressing how the world and Pakistan can take specific actions
to mitigate the consequences of Climate Change.
October 24– 25
The Second International Communications
Forum, organized by DirCom,
invited José María Figueres to address participants
on the outstanding global challenges of the future. President
Figueres presented Climate Change as the issue to tackle in
the immediate years, given its profound impact on every aspect
of human existence.
October 18 – 21
On 18 – 21 October, José María
Figueres participated at the V General Assembly, with its
preceding Executive Committee, and the Annual Conference of
the Club de Madrid. The General Assembly is the highest governing
body of the Club de Madrid, which José María
Figueres is a member of. At the Annual Conference, which had
has its theme The Challenges of Energy and Democratic Leadership,
José María Figueres moderated the working group
on Alternative Energies and Climate Change over two days.
He also held a speech on Climate Change at the Closing Plenary
before the screening of excerpts of Al Gore’s movie
An Inconvenient Truth. The Annual Conference counted on the
participation of 29 members of the Club de Madrid, all former
Heads of State or Government, including its President, Ricardo
Lagos, former President of Chile. The conference was also
attended by a number of policy makers and international experts,
including, Angel Gurría, Secretary General, OECD, Javier
Solana, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security
Policy and Secretary-General of the Council of the European
Union, and Dr Edmund Maduabebe Daukoru, OPEC Secretary General
and Minister of State of Nigeria for Petroleum Resources.
More information on the Club
de Madrid's Website
September 20-22
José María Figueres was again
invited to participate in this year’s second edition
of the Clinton
Global Initiative that took place in New York on 20-22
September. This year’s programme concentrated on four
major themes covering Energy and Climate Change, Global Health,
Poverty Alleviation and Mitigating Religious and Ethnic Conflict.
Given President Figueres’ work in the field of Sustainable
Development, he worked closely with David Sandalow of Brookings
Institution in the development of the programme for the
Energy and Climate Change track.
September 15
At the invitation of Dr. Ángel Cabrera,
President of Thunderbird,
the Garvin School of International Management José
María gave a conference on "Building Competitive
Advantages in Nations: Strategic Investment in Education and
Technology" where he highlighted the need for countries
in Latin America to have a clear strategy on how to compete
in the global economy, develop cooperation and partnership
between the public and private sector, and focus education
on schooling for needs of tomorrow, including an emphasis
on new technologies.
Afterwards, he was joined at a roundtable by Dr. Craig R.
Barrett, Chairman and former CEO of Intel
Corp. to discuss the correlation between stable governments
and foreign investment, and in particular Intel’s decision
to invest and establish a $ 300 million manufacturing plant
in Costa Rica during President Figueres’ presidency.
The roundtable was moderated by Dr. Roy Nelson, an expert
on non-traditional foreign investment in Latin America. During
the roundtable, Dr. Barrett highlighted the importance of
credible governmental partners in order to facilitate external
investment, and said that under Figueres’ leadership,
Costa Rica had created an environment “that made it
worthwhile to invest in and create jobs.”
Interesting links:
Thunderbird:
Costa Rica President Figueres Visits Thunderbird
Arizona
Republic: Intel Chairman touts foreign investment advantages
CNN
Money / Business 2.0: Why Latin America is the New India
August 21-22
Jose Maria moderates a roundtable during
in the seminar "Democracy and Dialogue: The West and
the Arab world" (21-22 August), organized by FRIDE and
the Club de Madrid during the summer courses held at the International
University Menéndez Pelayo.
Select Press Coverage from the event:
Seven former Heads of State and Government revises de Alliance
of Civilizations. – El Pais
Link
to the article (spanish)
President Figueres in international meeting in Spain
– La Prensa Libre de Costa Rica
Link
to the article (spanish)
Former Heads of State and Government warn of the erosion
of human rights after 9/11 – El Diario Montañes
Link
to the article (spanish)
June 29– Launch of HSBC
GIF Sustainability Leaders Fund
Although unable to attend the launch, José
María Figueres would like to emphasise the importance
of this joint initiative between HSBC Investments and LEAD
(Leadership
for Environment and Development), establishing a fund
that will specifically reward the best performers in Sustainable
Development and support LEAD in developing training programmes
to encourage leadership for a sustainable world. Jose Maria
was previously a member as well as the chairman of the LEAD
board of directors.
More details about the fund are available
on the fund website: https://www.hsbcinvestments.fr/sustainabilityleaders/index.asp
May 10-11
Jose Maria Figueres and the Secretary General of the
OAS, Jose Miguel Insulza, together at the fourth edition
of the Iberoamerican Business Forum.
On 10-11 May, President Figueres attended
the fourth edition of the Iberoamerican Business Forum in
Washington D.C., which brought together business executives
and policymakers from the United States, Spain and Latin America
to share, discuss and exchange corporate experiences between
the three regions. The Business Forum is organized jointly
by Foreign Policy, Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF),
Fundación Rafael del Pino and FRIDE.
March 31
President Figueres participated at the
mid-year meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), held
in Washington D.C. on 31 March 2006. The meeting reviewed
the progress of the commitments established at the 2005 Clinton
Global Initiative and helped shape the 2006 meeting of the
CGI which will take place in September 2006. The transcript
from the meeting is available on the William J. Clinton Foundation
website.
http://www.clintonfoundation.org/033106-cf-ee-cgi-ts-clinton-global-initiative-mid-year-event.htm
March 2-4
President Figueres attended in the Conference
“Lessons Learned on Regional Peace-Building: The Experience
of the Central American Peace Process” organized by
the Project on Justice in Times of Transition, the Institute
for Global Leadership at Tufts University and the Toledo International
Centre for Peace (www.toledopax.org).
Figueres participated on the panel “A Regional Solution
in a Global Context” and at the keynote luncheon together
with Enrique Iglesias, Secretary-General of the Iberoamerican
Secretariat. Other participants included, Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo,
former President of Guatemala, Felipe González, former
Primer Minister of Spain, Sir Marrack Goulding, former United
Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and
Bernard Aronson, former former Assistant Secretary of State
for Inter-American Affairs.
January 27
In relation to the Day of St. Tomàs
de Aquino, President Figueres held the annual Conference at
the Extremadura University in Spain. The topic for his conference
was “technology supporting development”.
http://www.unex.es/unex/servicios/comunicacion/archivo/2006/012006/30012006/art1#
http://www.unex.es/unex/servicios/comunicacion/archivo/2006/012006/25012006/art1#
http://www.juntaex.es/consejerias/edu/gaceta/992006/paginas/universidad18.htm
|
