“The Future of South-South Economic Relations” – Session 3

VIDEO: “The Future of South-South Economic Relations” Session 3

September 24, 2010

The Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future held an all-day conference on ‘The Future of South-South Economic Relations‘ as part of its Africa 2060 program of research. The conference was held on Friday, September 25, 2010 at the Hariri Building (BU School of Management) and brought together experts from a variety of fields and from across the world and an audience of some 45 to discuss different aspects of the changing landscape and the emerging dynamics of economic – and especially trade – relations amongst developing countries. The conference was preceded by a welcome reception for conference presenters on Thursday, September 24.

The third panel, post-lunch, met with Prof. Ann Helwege (Boston University, International Relations Department) as the Chair and included three papers that looked at the increasingly complex regional trade arrangements in Africa, in Latin America and in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The first presentation was from Laura Gomez-Mera, from the University of Miami, who focused on the trade arrangements within and with Latin America. She noted a sharp increase in the vitality and scope of these arrangements. Eric K Ogunleye from the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET) presented his paper on regional trade arrangements in Africa and argued that while the picture was complex and multi-layered, he felt that the prospects for the future were bright. This was followed by the final paper in this panel was presented by Nader Habibi from Brandeis University who focused on the trade relations between the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with ‘ChIndia’ (China and India) and showed how these have recently begun to spike.