Mayor, Chilean ambassador to join WTC panel

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Maryland businesses have strong ties to the Latin American country of Chile, but local executives and Mayor Sheila Dixon planned to make a pitch for further investment in that country and the region.

Dixon and Chilean Ambassador Mariano Fernandez were scheduled to be part of a Wednesday night panel at the World Trade Center discussing Maryland’s trade connections with the county.

Scheduled to join Dixon and Fernandez on the panel were M&T Bank Vice President of International Trade and Finance David Cooke; Dr. Leslie Mancuso, CEO of Johns Hopkins-affiliated international health organization JHPIEGO; and Paula Singer, president and CEO of Laureate Education Inc., a co-sponsor of the event.

“Chile is a great example of a very open economy that's dependent really on trade, and prospered since 1990 by trade with copper and other materials,” Cooke said. “It’s a classic open-market economy and they've thrived as a result.”

Cooke said Baltimore-based investment in the country dates to 1973, originally as 1st National Bank, which became Allfirst, and was eventually acquired by M&T Bank. The bank has had up to $15 million invested in three Chilean firms, Cooke said, starting in 1989 and running through 2003.

“In Chile you get open process for doing business and making investments. It's an open market — the business standards and ethics are what you would expect from a partner kind of market,” Cooke said. “Chile is really in a class by itself in Latin America.”

Chile also represented an opportunity for Laureate Education, after its government guaranteed a K-12 education for all its citizens, said Ana Sanchez, spokeswoman for the company.

“Since that happened, demand for college has grown, but in many of these countries the public system doesn’t have enough capacity,” Sanchez said. “Through these universities, we try to help meet the demand.”

Since 2000, Sanchez said the company has acquired and expanded three universities in Chile with programs ranging from graduate research to vocational training.

acahall@baltimoreexaminer.com

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