Global Dignitaries Gather to Launch Americas Business Council – Nobel Peace Prize Winners Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mikhail Gorbachev to address inaugural event, ABC Reconciliation Forum

Archbishop Desmond Tutu will announce the formation of the Americas Business Council (ABC), a non-profit organization dedicated to identifying and addressing important business and societal issues facing the Americas, at its inaugural event, the ABC Reconciliation Forum in Washington, DC from March 18 – 20.

The founding members of the ABC are some of Latin America’s most prominent business leaders:

• Emilio Azcárraga Jean, Chairman & CEO, Grupo Televisa;
• Juan Carlos Eserski, Executive Vice President of Telecorporación Salvadoreña;
• Cesár Alierta Izuel, Chairman and CEO of Telefónica  S.A;
• Angelica Fuentes and Jorge Vergara, General Director and CEO of Omnilife; and
• Guillermo Romo, President and CEO of Grupo Mega and former owner Herradura Tequila.

Archbishop Tutu will deliver the event’s keynote address at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, kicking-off the three-day Reconciliation Forum, with sessions held at the Inter-American Development Bank’s headquarters on topics ranging from “Conflict and Resolution in the Americas”, “Genocide in Europe and Africa” and “Children of War and Refugees”.

“Now more than ever the world is looking for solutions,” explained ABC founding member and event co-chairman, Emilio Azcárraga.  “We established the Americas Business Council to create a platform from which we can work with international leaders to broaden the exchange of ideas and together find innovative ways to impact positive change.”

In addition to Archbishop Tutu, the Forum’s opening dinner will feature remarks from Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, as well as from Luis Moreno Ocampo, Prosecutor of the new International Criminal Court.  Sessions held on March 19 – 20 will be led by luminaries such as former Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev and Ted Sorenson, President John F. Kennedy’s senior counsel and advisor.

To help shape content for the Reconciliation Forum and future events, the ABC has partnered with PODER magazine, the premier publication for the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American business elite.  With more than seven years producing high content, high impact conferences, PODER will serve on the advisory board, lending its expertise to the various ABC forums.

“Through the ideals that shape their businesses, each of the five remarkable founding members of the ABC have raised their respective national consciousness of the value and inherent benefits of social responsibility,” said Daniel Eilemberg, US Editor, PODER Magazine.  “We look forward to assisting the Americas Business Council to fulfill its mission of bringing positive change to the Americas and the world.”

The Reconciliation Forum is the first in what will be a series of thought-provoking forums and roundtable discussions that will further engage world leaders in resolving issues driving global conflict.  The ABC’s next conference, the New Generation Leadership Forum, will take place March 27 – 31, 2009 in Medellin, Colombia in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank and PODER magazine.

About the Americas Business Council:

The Americas Business Council (ABC) is a non-profit organization focused on identifying and addressing important business and societal issues facing the Americas through thought-provoking forums and roundtables. These events create a platform to share ideas and perspectives on how to confront these challenges and affect change, and in doing so, create communities of leaders who bridge generations.  The forums will address issues of social consciousness, including the issue of divided societies through the “Reconciliation Forums,” environmental sustainability through “Green Forums,” as well as modern philanthropy and systemic change through “Philanthropy Forums.”  For more information on the ABC, the Reconciliation Forum and how to register, please visit: http://www.americasbusinesscouncil.org.

“

• Ricardo Salinas Breaks Ground for What Will Be the Most Modern Television Studio in Latin America – Mexico City
• Brazil replaces Mexico as China’s top market in Latin America and boosts its surplus as well.
• LatAm Immigrants Are Changing Spain, Sociologist Says
• The current global crisis will cause the number of poor people in Latin America to rise by 9 million to 189 million this year, the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said in a report presented on Thursday.
• The leader of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Latin American division, Vicente Trius, is leaving the company after having served less than five months in the position.
• Beginning with the 2009-2010 season, Terra will stream select games live throughout Latin America, in both Spanish and Portuguese
• The Associated Press on Wednesday announced changes in its Latin America and Caribbean operations, closing a service limited to Puerto Rican news within Puerto Rico while adding editors and reporters elsewhere for the expanding Spanish market in the Americas.
• Money Transfer Service to Latin America – ATMCASH launches online and over the phone money transfer service to Latin America
• Reviewed: Gringo: A Coming-of-Age in Latin America, by Chesa Boudin
• Trend Toward Smaller Families in Latin America – The number of people per household in Latin America will fall by 18 percent by 2020, according to a study released in this capital Tuesday by consulting firm Euromonitor International.
• Evaporation blamed on global warming has reduced Lake Titicaca, one of the world’s highest navigable lakes, to its lowest level since 1949
• Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped nearly 46 percent from August 2008 to July 2009 — the biggest annual decline in two decades
• Martin Ortells: “The Emerging Latin American Middle Class Represents an Enormous Opportunity”
• Consuls from Latin America will help with the census
• Korean trade with Latin America is growing strongly led by Brazil and Panama.
• Singapore continues boosting its business and trade relations with Latin America.
• AP Launches Mobile News Network, “AP Mobile América Latina”
• Latin American Businesses look to past in adapting to Current Economic Downturn.
• @ Ad-Tech New York: WPP’s Latin American Interest, Hispanic Digital Panel
• The Prevention Research Center (PRC) in St. Louis is launching a multinational research project focused on preventing the leading causes of death in Hispanics in the United States and Latin America. – will conduct a four-year, $2.8 million effort to apply and adapt evidence-based strategies for preventing heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity in the United States, Mexico and Brazil