Prominent international personalities will address an international meeting on “The Pending Ethical Agenda in Latin America” that will be held at the University of the Republic of Uruguay in Montevideo Dec.18-19.
Among the conference organizers are the Inter-American Development Bank, the Catholic University and the University of the Republic in Uruguay, the Asociación Nacional de Organizaciones No-Gubernamentales, Centro Latinoamericano de Economía Humana and Uruguay Transparente.
More than 1,000 participants from 31 countries have registered for the conference, which is sponsored by the governments of France and Norway with the support of several national, regional and international organizations.
IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias will open the forum with Norway’s Secretary of State for International Development Olav Kjorven and Uruguay’s Education Minister Leonardo Guzmán.
The President of the Andean Development Corporation Enrique García, Eva Joly, a French judge and expert on corruption, and Bernardo Kliksberg, coordinator of the IDB’s Inter-American Initiative on Social Capital, Ethics and Development and organizer of the event, will make special presentations.
The conference will examine themes that Latin America “actively insists on analyzing,” according to Iglesias. The discussion will deal with issues such as the impact of ethics on development, volunteerism, transparency, corporate social responsibility and the role of universities.
Other speakers will be the minister of Social Development of Argentina, Alicia Kirchner; the president of the Commission on Social Responsibility of the public sector for the legislature of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Deputy César Busatto; the dean of the University of the Republic, Rafael Guarga Ferro; the dean of the Catholic University, Carlos Vázquez Posada; and Paraguay’s Education Minister Blanca Ovelar.
Among the personalities who will participate are the president of Cáritas Argentina, bishop Jorge Cassareto; the bishop of San José de Mayo, Uruguay, Pablo Galimberti; the representative in Argentina for the United Nations Development Programme, Carmelo Angulo Barturen; the deputy director of United Nations Volunteer, Ad de Raad; the chief of the IDB State and Civil Society Programs Division for the Southern Cone, Orlando Reos; the IDB deputy manager for Private Enterprise and Financial Markets, Antonio Vives; and Javier Galdona of the Catholic University.
The meeting will “place emphasis on advancing the participation of universities throughout the continent on two points: social capital and ethics for development,” said Kliksberg. “The proposal to include these themes on the curricula and in the research and extension programs of the universities has received a favorable response in the region.”