Schedule:

Inter-American Development Bank	Government of Norway

INTERNATIONAL MEETING

"ETHICS AND DEVELOPMENT"

Washington D.C., December 7th & 8th 2000

I. MEETING OBJECTIVES

The purpose of the meeting is considering and discussing the dilemmas and ethical challenges posed by the process of economic development in Latin America in the XXI century. These challenges engender the following questions: What values should be accounted for in the design of development strategies? What are the main ethical dilemmas when building and executing economic policies? What ethical rules can guide the actions and principal social actors: political leaders, businessmen, high-level public officers, and leaders of basic civil society? What are the reactions, from an ethical point of view, to the problems of poverty and inequality that are part of the reality of several countries of the region? What repercussions will these reactions have in development policies? What role should civil society play in strengthening the ethical dimensions of the development process? How do we actually spearhead an ethics of compassion?

Increasingly, international and Latin American interest has focused on these and other questions. Continuously, world-known personalities like Pope Jean Paul II and others have repeatedly highlighted the urgent discussion of Ethics. In Latin America, and other regions of the world, great progress has been achieved in the democratic process. Many sectors of society are demanding this kind of discussion, and are demanding that public behavior be ruled by ethical values. There is an increased sensitivity from political leaders towards a focused agenda on these issues. The teaching and analysis of Ethics is being institutionalized globally. International and Regional societies have begun to work in this field. Ethics is becoming a more frequent subject in the mass media.

In such a context, Enrique V. Iglesias, President of the Inter-American Development Bank summoned this meeting and appointed Bernardo Kliksberg, (Coordinator of the Inter-American Institute for Social Development, INDES), as the General Coordinator. The Norwegian Government is a co-sponsor and a strong supporter. The organizers have made a commitment to assemble a tightly specialized group of outstanding personalities who have worked in these areas from diverse perspectives to promote a multidisciplinary analysis.

The meeting has set among its main goals:

a. Analysis of fundamental ethical dilemmas encountered in the development process.

b. Generation of ideas and proposals oriented to create public debate on these subjects at the Latin American and International levels while promoting discussion on the education systems, mass media, and think tanks.

c. Establishment of a network, at the regional level, on ethics and development with diverse institutions that are already interested on the subject. Other institutions could be incorporated as well.

d. Production of a book with the conclusions, contributions, and debates of the Meeting.

II. AGENDA

The meeting will analyze the relations between Ethics and Development from diverse analytical perspectives and will interconnect them. The main analysis perspectives that will be used are:

a. Spiritual and Philosophical perspective

b. Economic Perspective

c. Ethics, International relations, and Economics

d. Ethics, education, culture and development

e. Responsibilities of key actors in the development process

Following the inauguration diverse panels will subsequently analyze the subject from the different stated perspectives. Each speaker will make a 15 or 20 minutes presentation, followed by the participation of the audience.

Thursday, December 7th

REGISTRATION

10:30 a.m. Inauguration by the President of the IADB Mr. Enrique V. Iglesias.

Welcoming Remarks by Mrs. Sigrun Mogedal (Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and IDB Governor)

Special Greetings by Mr. Raúl Alfonsín (Former President of Argentina)

Inaugural Speech, Patricio Aylwin (Former President of Chile), Ethical Challenges in the Social Field in Latin America and the Developing World in the Year 2000.

11:15 a.m. Panel 1. ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN DEVELOPMENT: PHILOSOPHICAL AND RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES

S.E. Monsignor Diarmuid Martin (Vatican Peace and Justice Secretary), The Church and the Main Economic and Social Problems of our Times.

Rabbi Israel Singer (Jewish World Congress), The Jewish Ethics and the Current Main Social Problems.

Edgar Morin (Emeritus Director for Research of the National Research Center of France), Ethics and Development.

Peter Singer (Princeton University), Attitudes towards Poverty, An Analysis from the Ethical Perspective.

Joseph Stiglitz (Stanford University, Brookings Institution), Ethics and Economics in our Times.

Discussion

1:15 a.m. Break

2:30 p.m. Panel 2. ETHICS, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMICS

George Alleyne (Director General Pan-American Health Organization), Health, Ethics and Development.

Mariana Aylwin (Education Minister Chile), The Challenge of Inequality in Education.

Bernardo Kliksberg (Inter-American Institute for Social Development), Social problems in Latin America and Ethical Challenges.

Jorge Arturo Chaves. (Director, Ethics and Economics Program, Heredia University, Costa Rica), Ethics and Economic Policies.

Discussion

4:25 p.m. Break

4:35 p.m. Panel 3. ETHICS, CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT

Prof. Walter Altmann (Latin American Church Council), Ethical Challenges and Development.

Saúl Sosnowsky (International Studies Director, Maryland University), Relations between Ethics, Culture and Development.

Luciano Tomassini, (Director of the Public Policy Center, Universidad de Chile), Ethical Values, Culture and Development.

Margarita Errázuriz (Director of the Project: "Pluralism, Society and Democracy", Herrera Foundation, Chile), Pluralism, Diversity, Democracy, and Development.

Discussion

Friday, December 8TH

9:30 a.m. Panel 4. ETHICS, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT

Sigrun Mogedal (Norway), The Responsibility Faced by Developed Countries towards the New Ethical Challenges.

Joan Prats (Director of the International Institute for Governance, UN, Spain), Relations between Ethics, Governance and Development.

David Crocker (President of the International Association of Ethics and Development, Maryland University), Towards an Ethics of Development.

Marcel Masse (IADB Director for Canada), The Role of cooperation and International Solidarity in Today's World.

Edward Kaufman (Director Truman Institute Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Ethics, International Relations and Development.

Discussion

11:20 a.m. Break

11:30 a.m. Panel 5. ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF DEVELOPMENT ACTORS

Elio Alvarenga, (Dean of the Catholic University of Honduras, Honduras), Ethical Responsibilities of Latin-American Universities in the Social and Economic Development.

Georges Enderle (President elected, International Society of Business Economics and Ethics), Corporate Ethics in theYear 2000.

Jorge Irisity (ONAPLAN, SISPRO project, Dominican Republic), Ethical Responsibility of Public Officials and the Fight for Development.

1:15 a.m. Break

2:30 p.m. Panel 5. Continuation.

Rev. Father Gasper F. LoBiondo (Senior Fellow Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University), Ethical Responsibilities of Development Actors.

Tarso Genro (Mayor of Porto Alegre, Brazil), Popular Participation, an Ethical Duty of Political Leaders.

José Octavio Bordón, (Education Minister of the Province of Buenos Aires), Current Ethical Demands of the Population in Latin America and the Role of Politicians.

Discussion

4:30 p.m. Closing session.

Closing Speech. Amartya Sen (Economics Nobel Prize). Ethics and Economics

Conclusions. (Bernardo Kliksberg, General Coordinator of the Meeting)

Closing Remarks by IADB President, Enrique V. Iglesias

III. PLACE

The International meeting on Ethics and Development will be held at the Andrés Bello Auditorium on the 9th floor of the Inter-American Development Bank Headquarters, 1300 New York Ave. NW, Washington, DC.

Note: Simultaneous translation in English and Spanish will be available

Go to top