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Panama Canal Conference
A Bridge to the 21st Century
Panama: December 12, 1999
Sponsors:
Global Academy Institute for Globalization, Human Rights and Leadership
City of Knowledge
Organization of American States
Smithsonian Institution
U.N.D.P.
U.N.E.S.C.O.
The handback of the Panama Canal in December 1999 marked a most significant moment in Panama’s history. As part of the weeklong series of events celebrating the handback, the Panamanian government invited the Global Academy Institute for Globalization,
Human Rights and Leadership to design the program for a conference that would run concurrently with the official celebrations.
Moderators:
Roberto Eisenmann, founder of La Prensa and MiBanco, special advisor
to the president of Panama, and leader of the National Education Consensus
Process.
Walter Link, chairman, Global Academy
Panelists:
José Miguel Alemán, Minister of Foreign Relations, Panama
Hanna Ayala, Ph.D., consultant, Panama Tourist Planning, U.S.A.
John Naisbitt, author, consultant, and entrepreneur
Theodore Panayotou, Ph.D., director of the Environmental and Sustainable Development Program, Center for International Development, Harvard University
As the world entered a new millennium, Panama, with the handback of the Canal, entered a new era, an era in which it gained sovereignty over all of its territory. This landmark occasion reinforced Panama’s position as a central gateway of exchange in the Americas and worldwide. This conference,
A Bridge to the 21st Century, celebrated Panama and the Canal as a symbol, a vital artery, connecting countries, economies, societies, people and ideas. Because of its geographic and economic importance, the Panamanian government sought to position the country as an international connection, meeting ground, and bridge to a new century of prosperity and sustainability.
The Global Academy Institute for Globalization, Leadership and Human Rights designed the program to provoke thought, dialogue and action amongst the attendees who included international political leaders attending the Canal ceremonies and the Foreign Ministers of Caribbean States summit, as well as leaders from business, civil society, education, media, and the wider public.
The conference’s intent was to create an ongoing dialogue between those who have groundbreaking visions and practical experiences and those who have the responsibility to lead our societies and main institutions into a successful, sustainable, and humane future. Conference themes addressed successful policies and best practices in the following areas:
 Peace prosperity and international cooperation
Policy and civil society
Social and environmental corporate responsibility
Health and renewal of body, mind, and spirit
Art, creativity, and culture
Opportunities and challenges of technology
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 This highly successful conference resulted in an invitation to the Global Academy to develop a series of similar educational programs to occur as part of the Ibero-American Summit 2000 meeting series. The Global Academy sponsored and designed the programming for two public conferences,
Education: The Road Towards Social Equality and
Health Today – Realities, Obstacles and Perspectives,
and presented an educational briefing to the meeting of health ministers of the Ibero-American Summit of Governments. |
Biographies of Participants:
José Miguel Alemán, is minister of foreign relations, Panama. Mr. Alemán received his law degree at Tulane University and practiced law before becoming involved in politics. He has held several positions within party politics, and in 1991 was appointed
vice minister of government and justice. He is president pro tempore of SICA, the Central American Integration System, and a member of the Council of Honor of the Panamanian National Academy of Lawyers.
Hana Ayala, Ph.D., is president of EcoResorts International and originator of the TCR economic development model which intertwines the growth of tourism and the hotel industry with conservation of natural and cultural resources and the advancements of science into a strategic partnership with the capability to drive sustainable development. Dr. Ayala is acting as a consultant for the TCR Action Plan for Panama. She is a landscape ecologist and former professor at the University of California, Irvine.
Roberto Eisenmann is both founding editor and former publisher of La Prensa, a leading Panamanian newspaper
and MiBanco, Panama's leading micro-credit institution. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Neiman Fellow at Harvard, Mr. Eisenmann is a successful businessman and banker. He left the paper he founded in 1995, but still writes articles for it. He is
president of Transparency International for Panama and chairman of the board of the Latin American Center for Journalism (CELAP).
Mr. Eisenmann is a special advisor to the president of Panama and leads the
National Education Consensus Process.
Walter Link is chairman of the Global Academy, whose work ranges from corporate responsibility and the environment to human rights, education, genetic technology, consciousness, and medicine.
John Naisbitt is the author of such best-sellers as Megatrends and
High Tech High Touch and eight other books, is a much sought-after speaker and advisor to many of the world’s leading corporations and heads of state. Mr. Naisbitt has been an executive with IBM and Eastman Kodak, as well as a successful entrepreneur. He holds 12 honorary doctorates in the humanities and sciences, has been a visiting fellow at Harvard University. He is currently Distinguished International Fellow, Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.
Theodore Panayotou, Ph.D., is the director of the Environmental and Sustainable Development Program at the Center for International Development, Harvard University. Dr. Panayotou specializes in natural resource management and environmental economics as they relate to economic development. He has served as a senior economic and environmental advisor to the governments of Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and Central and South America, as well as such international organizations as WHO, UNDP, and OECD. In 1991, Dr. Panayotou received the Society of Conservation Biology’s Distinguished Achievement Award.
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