Building Bridges Business Leaders Discuss Global Opportunities With Diplomats

World leaders and businessmen are building an economy without walls, with some demolition required, foreign dignitaries and local experts said Thursday.

At what was probably the largest Spokane gathering of diplomats since Expo ‘74, commentators and representatives from a dozen nations discussed the emerging global marketplace and the opportunities for Washington businesses.

About 300 Spokane residents from more than 40 businesses and trade organizations also participated in the two-day event. The United Nations Association kicked off festivities Wednesday with an international fete in the Davenport Hotel lobby, where Korean dignitaries mingled with Argentine salesmen.

“We’ve never had an opportunity like this in Spokane,” said Mike George of the South Asian Cultural Association. Between sneaking samples of Bavarian cake, Russian pastries and French champagne, George schmoozed local and foreign business owners in hopes of uncovering new niches for investment.

“This is the start of a network that will benefit local businesses, and more important it brings culture to Spokane,” George said. “This opens the eyes of people around the world who don’t think Spokane is a place eager to accept foreign culture and business.”

Thursday’s presentations on regional economies were almost universally optimistic, with the Middle East the notable exception.

There, said League of Arab States Chief Representative Khalid Abdalla, continued tensions with Israel deter Moslem states from decreasing the resources devoted to defense.

Although he criticized the Israeli government for its behavior during the peace process, Abdalla also attributed some difficulties to misguided internal policies like those that de-emphasized agriculture in a drive for industrialization.

The result is a region that must import $10 billion in foodstuffs annually, he said.

Abdalla said richer Arab states and European nations must help solve Mideast economic problems before destabilization creates refugee and other problems that spill over into neighboring areas.

At the other end of Africa, South Africa’s democratization could end a wave of “Afro-pessimism,” that country’s consul general in Los Angeles said.

Hennie DeKlerk said last year’s election of Nelson Mandela as president in the first-ever election open to all South Africans put to rest long-standing concerns about a “bloodbath” if the black majority came to power.

Mandela, once a Communist, quickly moved to assert his government’s dedication to a free-market economy, DeKlerk said.

He said the stability that has followed the election is stimulating new foreign and domestic investment in South Africa, with particular opportunities in housing, energy, and heath services.

DeKlerk said South Africa’s success should assist other states in sub-Sahara Africa, with the longterm hope the continent will create economic “lions” akin to the “tigers” of Asia.

No tigers were present Thursday. Indonesia, Korea and Japan have advanced to different stages of development, with each confronting a unique set of challenges.

Consul General Ris Aliansyah described an Indonesian Archipelago spread across 3,200 miles with 300 ethnic and language groups. His nation needs foreign investment.

So does South Korea, said Washington State University Professor Sung-keuk Ahn. No longer a low-cost producer of goods, he said Korea must find partners who will provide the technology needed to thrive in the 21st Century.

Japan, Consul General Masaki Saito said, is trying to act as a mediator in the contest between Eastern and Western economies and values.

In South America - now relatively stable but scarred by political turbulence and 2,000 percent inflation in the early ‘80s - governments are particularly eager to court American investment and spur economic rebound.

“All of the people of Argentina welcome American investors. I don’t think foreigners would have any problems with taxes, ecological restrictions or language,” said Nelida Contreras de Ecker, deputy consul to Argentina.

Victor Vera, Latin America area manager for Wagstaff Engineering in Spokane, was effervescent about the prospects for profits in Latin American mines and agriculture.

Despite the December crash of the Mexican peso, Americans should eagerly embrace Latin American business ventures. Americans who are leery of Latin investments often forego profits because of pernicious stereotypes, he said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: See related story under the headline: Diplomats enjoy breath of fresh air