The Inter-American Development Bank will hold an international congress on “The Challenge of Ethics in Development” in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sept. 5-6.
The conference, to be held in the Faculty of Economic Science at the University of Buenos Aires, was convoked by the IDB’s Inter-American Initiative on Social Capital, Ethics and Development and the University of Buenos Aires.
The congress will be inaugurated by IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias, founder of the initiative. Among those participating will be distinguished intellectuals and academics, political and business leaders, representatives of the business community and civil society and experts from prominent economics and business schools in Latin America.
The governments of France and Norway and the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) are supporting the congress, which has also received backing from many national, regional and international organizations.
The congress will focus discussion on innovative ways to apply ethical values in areas such as economics, the design of development policies, the social responsibility of the private sector, the role of volunteers, the responsibilities of the various participants in society and the role of universities in promoting cultural and ethical values.
Among the speakers during the event will be economist Amartya Sen, a Nobel Prize laureate, and French Philosopher Edgar Morin.
Other prominent speakers are Michel Crozier, founder of the Center for the Sociology of Organizations; former Vice President of Costa Rica Rebeca Grynspan; Desmond McNeill, director of the Center for Development and Environment at the University of Oslo; economist Ignacy Sachs; the rector of the Catholic University of Venezuela, Luis Ugalde; the rector of the Hurtado University of Chile, Fernando Montes; and the president of the Bank Association of Argentina, Carlos Heller.
The participants will organize workshops to develop guidelines and concrete recommendations on developing ethical values and social capital that will be offered to economists, managers, accountants, administrators and other professionals associated with development. They will also analyze ways to promote national agendas for discussion and action on ethics and development.