As part of the Observatory on Latin America's (OLA) Latin America on the Move program, we’ve partnered with CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, to host the first in a series of country seminars to address carefully curated strategic and current issues in the national agenda, with the potential to resonate regionally and internationally. Public Sector and Academia (PSA) Dialogues will bring together current or former public officials with leading roles in shaping the social or development path of their countries, and highly committed scholars nationally and or internationally recognized.

The first in the series of country seminars co-chaired by OLA and CAF will focus on Colombia.

Colombia has had a steady economic performance over the last decades. In 2013, it was the fourth nation in the region with the highest GDP, and it is expected to grow at 4.7% in 2014 outperforming the region (2%) and Peru as the region’s fastest-growing economy. Unemployment rates have been dropping since 2011, and wage employment has increased in the last two years. Decided steps have been taken to curtail the spiking inequality (ranking 10th in the world), as well as to enhance the country’s economic dynamism challenged by an abrupt geographical environment.

Moreover, the current peace process between the Government and FARC armed group, taking place in Cuba, promises to alleviate the longest standing armed conflict in the Western Hemisphere, and to bring the country together to a different phase in Colombia’s history.

Speakers include:

Michael Cohen, OLA Director, The New School, GPIA and OLA Director

Maria Emma Mejia, Colombian Ambassador to the United Nations

Alfredo Molano, Historian, sociologist, and journalist focused on oral traditions 

Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, SGPIA, The New School 

German Mejia, Dean of Social Sciences, Javeriana University, Latin American Urban Historian 

Robert Buckley, SGPIA, The New School 

The event is sponsored by the Observatory on Latin America at the Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs (SGPIA) at Milano School for International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy in partnership withCAF. 

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