The second annual Americas Competitiveness Forum (ACF) will be held on August 17-19, 2008, in Atlanta, Georgia. The Forum will provide an opportunity for business-to-business and business-to-government discussions yielding practical actions that can be taken to improve competitiveness and economic prosperity in the Americas.
The ACF is a business focused conference, where companies interact with one another, conduct meetings with over 30 foreign government delegations from throughout the Hemisphere, and learn about market opportunities directly from foreign governments. We received very positive feedback from the private sector on last year’s ACF (which was the inaugural ACF) and expect this year’s event to be even better! http://www.competitivenessforum.com
Why would your company want to be involved in the Americas Competitiveness Forum?
Insight on Market Opportunities: The ACF is a unique combination of a business conference coupled with a policy brainstorming session. Governments from the Hemisphere are coming prepared to share market opportunities in their countries with the private sector. Additionally, our Senior Commercial Service Officers (SCOs) who are posted at the U.S. embassies throughout the Americas will be in Atlanta for the ACF. The SCOs will be conducting one-on-one export counseling sessions with interested U.S. businesses who register for this service. These sessions will be held on Wednesday, August 20.
Opportunity to shape policy: The ACF panels will be interactive discussions on pressing topics relevant to the competitiveness of the Western Hemisphere. This is a perfect opportunity to discuss the kind of problems the private sector encounters when trying to do business in the region and the possible solutions to unleash the potential of your business.
Interaction with Government Delegations: ACF will provide a venue for companies and foreign government officials to meet and explore investment opportunities in the region. You can find a sample of the level of last year’s government participation at http://www.competitivenessforum.com/participant_07.html. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet with representatives from many different countries and only travel to Atlanta!
Dynamic participants: The inaugural June 2007 ACF welcomed over 1000 high-level government and private sector participants from the Americas including: 2 Vice Presidents, 3 U.S. Cabinet Secretaries, Minister level government officials, and hundreds of representatives from the business and academic communities.
The ACF is an ongoing initiative: Next year the ACF will be hosted outside of the United States, and we expect the Forum to become an annual opportunity for governments and the private sector to work collaboratively to build the kind of dynamic business environment in the Americas that will lead to increased competitiveness and prosperity of the region.
The 2008 ACF will be held on August 17-19, 2008 in partnership with the City of Atlanta and the International Training Center for Government Authorities (CIFAL Atlanta), a not-for profit organization created by the United Nations. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin is the Chair of CIFAL Atlanta’s Board of Trustees, and she will co-host the ACF with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez.
For more information, and to register, please visit www.competitivenessforum.com.