After decades of increasing global economic integration, the world is experiencing significant changes that will directly impact countries across Latin America and the Caribbean. Rising geopolitical tensions between the United States and China along with Russia's invasion of Ukraine are driving countries to re-evaluate their position on a global stage. In the trade sphere, protectionist policies that aim to minimize supply chain risks could result in a more fragmented global economy. Uruguay's domestic stability and social cohesion make it an ideal case study to understand how Latin America rethinks its trade policy and role in the global economy as it navigates through these complex changes.
How can Latin America and Uruguay take advantage of these shifts? Is regional economic integration still feasible and beneficial? What are the challenges and opportunities offered by strengthening ties with Europe, under the European Union-Mercosur Association agreement, or with the United States, under the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity?
GAI hosted Nicolas Albertoni (G'16), deputy minister of foreign affairs of Uruguay, to discuss these issues and more. A Georgetown University alumnus, Albertoni earned a master's degree through the Center for Latin American Studies and participated in the Latin America Leadership Program’s 2012 Global Competitiveness Leadership Program; he now plays a key role in shaping trade policy in the region. The discussion was moderated by Antoni Estevadeordal, formerly of the Inter-American Development Bank and GAI resident fellow.
This event will be held in Spanish with simultaneous interpretation to English available.
Featuring
Nicolas Albertoni (G’16) is deputy minister of foreign affairs of Uruguay. He has served as a professor at the Catholic University of Uruguay, where he has conducted research on international political economy and trade policy. He is a Fulbright-Laspau Scholar. He received a Ph.D. in political science and international relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and a Ph.D. in business administration from the Catholic University of Argentina. He received a master’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in politics from USC, a master’s degree in Latin American studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and a B.A. in international business and integration from the Catholic University of Uruguay. He is the author of three books: Uruguay como solución. Un análisis sobre su insercion interncional (2019), Instrucciones para inventar la rueda (2014), and Entre el barrio y el mundo ¿Mercosur o el modelo Chileno? (2011). His opinion articles have been featured in the New York Times, El País (Spain), CNN, and El País (Uruguay).
Antoni Estevadeordal is a GAI resident fellow and leads the “Latin America in the Global Economy” project. He has held several senior executive positions at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in a career of more than 25 years in Washington, DC. Most recently he was IDB representative in Europe, based in Brussels, where he led IDB’s relationship and resource mobilization with all European stakeholders and European institutions. Previously, he headed the IDB Migration Initiative, responsible for implementing innovative blended-finance projects to respond to the migration crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean. For more than a decade he was manager of the IDB Integration and Trade Sector, supervising a lending operational portfolio and technical assistance in more than 20 countries. He also coordinated IDB’s trade policy and integration research agenda, as well as several public-private strategic initiatives and inter-institutional partnerships. He has expertise in international development and development finance, regional integration and international cooperation, trade policy and investment regimes, migration policy, and regional and global public goods. Estevadeordal has published widely in major journals and authored several books. He has been a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings Institution and member of the WEF Global Council on the Future of Logistics. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from Harvard University and a B.A. in economics from the University of Barcelona.
