MIT Sloan School of Management will hold its first-ever Latin America-China Conference: Prospects & Challenges for Economic Growth on August 28-29 at the Sheraton WTC Hotel in São Paulo, Brazil. The conference will also be available worldwide via live streaming.
The event, which brings together prominent academics including four MIT faculty, many business leaders, and policy advisors, features networking opportunities and panel discussions focused on the economic future of Sino-Latin American relations. It is open to the public who can register at MIT Sloan Latin America – China Conference.
“The economies of China and Latin America are interwoven at an unprecedented level and given this level of interdependence, the two regions need to understand each other better,” says Yasheng Huang, International Program Professor in Chinese Economy and Business at MIT Sloan, who will speak at the symposium.
Chinese trade with the region has surged more than 20-fold since 2000. But growth in China—which is the world’s second-largest economy—is slowing down, and the downshift has important implications for Latin America.
“Relative to the level of trade and investments, the intellectual understanding of China in Latin America is low,” says Huang. “We have assembled managers, policymakers, and academics in both regions, as well as scholars from MIT, to delve into issues that may be missing from the headlines of the newspapers and media.”
Some of the conference’s speakers include: Vittorio Corbo Lioi, former Governor of the Central Bank of Chile, Jian Gao, Former Vice Governor at the China Development Bank, Ilan Goldfajn, Chief Economist at Itaú Unibanco Bank Brazil, André Loes, Chief Economist at HSBC Latin America, Paul Mackel, Managing Director at HSBC Hong Kong, Enrique Ostalé, Executive Vice President, President and CEO of Walmart Latin America, and Alejandro Werner, Director of Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund.
The conference also features a technology and social media component. All panels will be livestreamed and viewers are invited to ask questions via Twitter during an on-air interactive session. Those wanting to view the session online can register via the website to watch the entire conference broadcast live online.
“This is an exciting development because it enables anyone who is interested in the future economic dynamics of China and Latin to take part in this conference,” says Roberto Rigobon, Society of Sloan Fellows Professor of Management and Economics at MIT Sloan, who will also speak at the forum. “Both places will benefit from more cooperation and understanding.”