Leaders explore global trade issues

Diego Aulestia, Ecuador’s minister of international trade, will speak on alternative growth strategies.

Officials and scholars from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas will speak on global trade today and Thursday at “Cities Across the Globe,” the annual symposium of the Great Cities Institute.

Diego Aulestia, minister of international trade for the Republic of Ecuador, will open the symposium at 9:30 a.m. today, speaking on “Global Exchange: Building Local Economies Through World Trade.” An economist, Aulestia will present alternative growth strategies that have helped Ecuador and may apply to other economies.

A panel discussion will follow on devising a national economic agenda to produce commodities for export while bringing capital back into neighborhoods. Panelists are Thomas Bartkoski, World Business Chicago, Laura Ortega-Lamela, International Business Council of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Raul Raymundo, The Resurrection Project, and Teresa Córdova, Great Cities Institute.

On Thursday, scholars from around the U.S., Australia, Mexico, Turkey, West Africa and the U.K. will join UIC faculty to discuss urban design, urban diasporas, social welfare, taxes and corporate responsibility.

The free symposium is co-sponsored by World Business Chicago, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the UIC Office of International Affairs.