Commerce Secretary to address Baker Institute conference on free trade

Commerce Secretary to address Baker Institute conference on free trade

BY FRANZ BROTZEN
Rice News Staff

Carlos Gutierrez, secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, will address a conference on free trade at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy Nov. 30.
 

CARLOS GUTIERREZ

Gutierrez’s speech, part of the Robert A. Mosbacher Global Issues Lecture Series, begins at noon, followed by a luncheon and a discussion panel.
 
The conference is titled “Is Foreign Trade Good for the Economies of the Western Hemisphere? The Future of Free Trade Agreements.” It also features speeches by Eduardo Muñoz, Colombia’s vice minister for foreign trade, S. Malcolm Gillis, University Professor and the Ervin K. Zingler Professor of Economics at Rice University, and Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas.
 
The Baker Institute’s Tax and Expenditure Policy Program is hosting the discussion of the economic advantages and disadvantages of free trade agreements between the United
States and Latin America. This is a timely and important topic as bilateral free trade agreements with Colombia, Peru and Panama are being debated in the U.S. Congress and in the light of Costa Rica’s recent narrow vote to ratify the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
 
For details on the conference, including the agenda, go to http://bakerinstitute.org/Event_View.cfm?EID=662. 
 
Rice faculty, staff and students who want to attend must R.S.V.P. by e-mail () or by fax (713-348-5993).