2020 Concordia Americas Summit Agenda

• Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration on Digital Tools Urgent to COVID Response and Recovery
• Mobilising and Harnessing High-Level, Private Sector, Philanthropic, and Multi-Stakeholder Engagement in Utilising Nutrition to Tackle Maternal and Child Health Challenges in Latin America
• A win-win for Refugees and Private Sector Companies: The Economy and Society

Welcome to the 2020 Concordia Americas Summit

Welcome remarks with Concordia Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board, Nicholas Logothetis, and event emcee and Concordia Director of Global Programming, Kevin Wenzel. This session will be conducted in English. Spanish translation will be available.

A Bilateral Investment Initiative to Advance Integrated Rural Development and Combat Drug Production in Colombia

The Colombian Government and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) have built strong bilateral ties over the past years, strengthening their collaboration on different issues in the region. The 2020 Concordia Americas Summit will announce the US Colombia Growth Initiative, in which the Colombian Government and the DFC will work closely with the support of the private sector to combat coca production and strengthen the Economy.

The Economic Imperative in Addressing Immigration and the Northern Triangle

Every year, thousands of people flee their homes in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, looking for a better life in the United States. This phenomenon is widely due to corruption, poverty, violence and lack of opportunities for millions who find life in these countries unbearable. Reducing crime and developing policies to reduce economic insecurity are imperative to slow down this exodus, but without the help of the private sector and aid from U.S. Administrations, these efforts will be in vain. This conversation will host members of the private and public sector to discuss ways in which collaboration can contribute towards economic prosperity in the region and prevent migrants from fleeing north.

This session will be conducted in Spanish. English translation will be available.

Harnessing the Power of Nutrition in Optimizing Maternal and Child Health in Latin America

In the South America subregion, there has been some progress towards achieving global nutrition targets. The global targets for under-five stunting and under-five wasting each have five countries on course to meet them, while under-five overweight has three countries on course. However, not a single country in the subregion is on course to meet the targets for anaemia in women of reproductive age. Also, considering all the social challenges that the region faces currently, guaranteeing healthy maternal and child nutrition is a key factor to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health that has adverse birth outcomes, poor mental health, fatigue as well as delayed child development. This session will focus on the urgent need to improve maternal and child nutrition in the region as a driver of development and improvement of quality of life.

This session will be conducted in English. Spanish translation will be available.

The Role of Women in Latin America’s Economic Recovery

Women make up just over half of Latin America’s population, but are not represented in boardrooms and decision making tables to the same ratio. Nonetheless, they are essential to Latin America and the Caribbean’s economic recovery in a post- COVID-19 world and — of equal importance — the economic and political future of the region. This discussion on advancing women’s leadership in the public and private sector highlights trailblazers for an honest discussion on barriers and opportunities women face in becoming equal partners in the region and around the world.

This session will be conducted in English. Spanish translation will be available.

Innovative Approaches to Climate Change in Latin America

Latin America’s climate is changing. Precipitation patterns are shifting, temperatures are rising, and some areas are experiencing changes in the frequency and severity of weather extremes such as heavy rains. The impacts range from melting Andean glaciers to devastating floods and droughts. Yet over the next years, the international community has a crucial window of opportunity to positively redirect course, especially by implementing innovative approaches that have been presented by the new international priorities of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. Join this session to hear from two of the world’s leading practitioners and thought leaders in this space. Felipe Calderón, Former President Of Mexico; Member of the World Resources Institute, Global Board of Directors; and Chair, Global Commission On The Economy And Climate, is an international expert on capital investments for low-carbon infrastructure. Professor Muhammad Yunus, Chairman of Yunus Centre and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate has been a leading inspriration behind the Yunus Environment Hub (YEH), which is a global social business network that creates solutions for the environmental crisis. Together, both speakers will highlight the work that they both are doing in the region and how their respective initiatives and approaches are inspiring the innovative action needed to redirect course with climate change.

This session will be conducted in English. Spanish translation will be available.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for cities to seek sustainable practices that are at the forefront of climate change has increased its urgency. The ways in which technology can support those practices will be key to formulate policies that can create smart and sustainable cities. In this Strategic Dialogue, we’re bringing together regional voices around the future of cities and how technology can be on the frontline of tackling climate change. Representatives of different sectors will discuss how they can all encourage the diffusion of new technologies and advancing clean energy innovation throughout the region.

This session will be conducted in Spanish. English translation will be available.

While coronavirus vaccine trials accelerate towards promising health solutions, global efforts to ensure that all countries have access to lifesaving vaccines and therapeutics are underway with equal urgency. In Latin America and the Caribbean, there are many simultaneous operations that need to be considered in order to have successful deployments of a vaccine. Things to consider include: vaccine readiness and public adoption campaigns (combating misinformation); pathways to national scale up; ensuring equitable access; overcoming last mile delivery challenges; the role of digital; and funding/donor support mechanisms. This Strategic Dialogue, under the umbrella of the Concordia Action Alliance, will highlight the importance of all of these operations independently and in concert, the ecosystem of actors who influence coordination and success, and partnerships poised to contribute towards the health and economic recovery of the region.

This session will be conducted in English. Spanish translation will be available.

• Roads as an Extension of Workplace Safety
• Building Forward: Economic Justice for Women in Latin(a) America
• Corporate Venturing: Unlocking the Value of Impact Driven Innovation
• Einstein Rising

The progress Latin America has made with regards to closing the gender gap is now being threatened by the current state of the world. However, times of crises come with great opportunities for investors, particularly those on the social impact arena, to focus on gender perspective when it comes to solving the region’s most pressing issues, specifically in topics such as, technology, digital inclusion & workforce development, environmental sustainability, democracy & civic engagement and economic recovery and trade.

Talent: A Long-Term Bet on Human Ingenuity

As Latin America and the rest of the world alike face daunting health, climate, and other complex challenges, how can philanthropy rise to meet those challenges? Eric Braverman, CEO of Schmidt Futures, will discuss his organization’s unique focus on finding and empowering talented individuals around the world, and how others can collaborate on this new mode of philanthropy.

This session will be conducted in English. Spanish translation will be available.

The Evolving Role of NATO in Latin America, Venezuela, the US, and the Region

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has remained throughout the years as the principal security instrument for countries that share democratic values. With Colombia as the only country in Latin America that is now a member, NATO’s presence in the region faces some opportunities and challenges. In this session, His Excellency Mircea Geoană, Deputy Secretary General of NATO and General (Ret) David H. Petraeus, Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, will discuss the role that NATO has played in Latin America and the Caribbean in the past few years and will focus on some of the most pressing issues that the region has in terms of security and intergovernmental collaboration.

This session will be conducted in English. Spanish translation will be available.

Freedom and Friendship in the Americas

Since its founding, USAID has partnered with countries accross Latin America and the Caribbean to solve the region’s most pressing challenges, including maintaining economic and political stability. This session will host Carlos Suarez, USAID’s Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator, who will discuss how policy development, diplomacy and democratic institutions in the region have evolved over the past years and what is to come over the next fours years for the Western Hemisphere.

The Refugee Crisis and Regional Governance

As Latin America confronts an unprecedented refugee crisis, multilateral institutions are playing a critical role in supporting regional governments with recommendations, policy support, expertise, and aid. With a glaring need for collaboration and partnerships across the region to ensure its displacement challenges are met with adequate coordination across governments, this session will examine regional governance around this issue. It will chart a course for addressing the main barriers to resolution of the crisis, with a view towards long-term impact.

This session will be conducted in English. Spanish translation will be available.

The Future of Development Finance in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Inter-American Development Bank, in a virtual meeting of its board of governors, voted Mauricio Claver-Carone its new president back in September 2020. Claver-Carone, the bank’s fifth president, inherits a region particularly hit hard from COVID-19. In fact, the latest IMF´s World Economic Outlook Update from June 2020 now estimates “the region to shrink by 9.4% in 2020, four percentage points worse than the April projection and the worst recession on record”. Join this session to hear from Claver-Carone on how he envisions the IDB under his leadership providing the structural tools at his disposal to overcome the impending economic crisis.

This session will be conducted in English. Spanish translation will be available.

Neotropical Biodiversity: Irreplaceable, Threatened, and Key to Combating Climate Change

The American tropics (the Neotropics) are the most species-rich realm on Earth, and for centuries, scientists have attempted to understand the origins and evolution of their biodiversity. For that, amongst other reasons, there needs to be a collective action to conserve this biodiversity and enhance its benefits for people. This session will identify opportunities and challenges in conserving biodiversity, and will highlight how a collaborative effort is required across governments and many stakeholders within the LAC region. This session will be conducted in English. Spanish translation will be available.

Latin American and Caribbean economies are projected to shrink by more than 8 percent in 2020 due to COVID-19, with widespread social and political reverberations to be felt for years to come. Yet we’ve seen time and time again that the region’s economies tend to have some of the greatest entrepreneurial energies in the world. With the right policy frameworks, the region’s economies can become ideal launching pads for future innovation. For that very reason, this may be the exact moment for these economies to pursue ambitious digital transformation.

This Strategic Dialogue, sponsored by Google, will highlight the concept known as “Digital Sprinters,” — which looks at how emerging economies, by becoming more digital, have the potential to sprint ahead toward sustainable economic development.

This session will be conducted in English. Spanish translation will be available.

For this first 25 minutes of this session, you are invited to hear real-time reactions, critiques, and rebuttals from today’s young leaders on what they’ve heard from mainstage sessions. It will provide an opportunity for young people to share their reactions around how world leaders and global organizations are addressing today’s challenges. In particular this session will focus specifically on Technology, Digital Inclusion & Workforce Development, highlighting the role of innovation and technology in advancing the region.

For the last 20 minutes, we invite you — the audience and attendees — to join and network. We will invite you to turn on your camera and ask the young leaders directly your thoughts and insights. This will also be an opportunity for you to share the work you are doing on Technology, Digital Inclusion & Workforce Development in the region.

This session will be hosted in Spanish. There will not be English translation.

• Policy and the Private Sector: How to Jumpstart Economic Recovery in the Americas
• Relying on Technology for Sustainable Futures

Giving Latin America & the Caribbean Something to Smile About

Oral health is an overlooked and underpublicized health issue, stemming from lack of access to and affordability of quality dental care, particularly for vulnerable populations. People in Latin America suffer twice the number of dental cavities than do the citizens of North America, according to the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO). Oral diseases may directly affect a limited area of the human body, but their consequences and impacts affect the body as a whole. This session, featuring social enterprise Unspoken Smiles founder Jean Paul Laurent, will present a better way forward to ensure oral health in the region, starting with our littlest smilers: children.

This session will be conducted in English. Spanish translation will be available.

Innovation & Technology as Catalysts for Change in Latin America

The private sector is increasingly playing a central role in society, not only by driving economic growth, but also as an agent of change and post-COVID recovery through the promotion of innovation and new technologies. Enabling and sound regulatory frameworks are needed for industry innovation to contribute positively to society, to the economy and to protect consumer citizens. However, the pace of regulation has failed to keep up with the demand for innovation in Latin America and elsewhere. This panel will explore industry and public perspectives as to why this incongruence exists, and what can be done through enhanced industry transparency and public private partnerships.

This session will be conducted in Spanish. English translation will be available.

Creative(Cities): Entrepreneurial Environments and Emotional Development

Growth is the primary intention of most cities, as it ignites the ability for greater advancements. Therefore, creating an environment that assists a population in achieving their goals ultimately functions in the best interest of both the individual and the community at large. Within this session, Camilo Hoyos Gómez, Executive Director of Fundación Gratitud, which is also Fonseca’s foundation, will embark on a discussion outlining how a city can best incorporate functions that appease entrepreneurial desires and the city’s emotional development. Given that these factors go hand in hand with elevating growth, ultimately a city that chooses to adhere to these qualities will be more effective in reaching their desired goals. This session will be conducted in Spanish. English translation will be available.

Working with Data in Latin America: Strategies and Challenges

The collection of qualitative and quantitative data provides critical insights to major issues. However this process of data collection in regions such as Latin America presents unique challenges. It’s important to understand the obstacles associated with data collection, and what companies can do to overcome them. This session seeks to explore how data collection is being used to solve issues in industries such as waste & recycling, deforestation in the Amazon and illicit trade. 

This session will be conducted in English. Spanish translation will be available.

The Next Four Years of the Western Hemisphere

The 2020 U.S. presidential campaign made it clear that a potential change in U.S. administration would come with significant policy implications for the political and economic future of the Americas. Although the nature of the relationship has changed over the years, the United States remains a vital partner for most Latin American nations. This is why it is of utmost importance to evaluate what lies ahead with Joe Biden as President and what can be expected from his administration. The U.S. Government and political representatives from both sides of the spectrum will hold a conversation on the future of the Western Hemisphere over the next four years and answer questions such as what type of foreign policy can be expected from the next American administration? How will US-China relations affect the region? How will new leadership continue building upon their historically progressive relationship?

This session will be conducted in English. Spanish translation will be available.