10/07/03—Boston College Law School is pleased to announce that Ambassador Julio Lacarte, a world-renowned expert on global trade, will speak at the first session of the new Globalization and Inequality Series on Wednesday, October 8, 2003, at 4:30 PM in Gasson 305 on Boston College’s main Campus. He will discuss "The Crisis in the World Trading System: How Can Small Countries Compete?"

"Ambassador Lacarte has been a pioneer in the GATT and in trade development policy for half a century,” said BC Law Professor Frank Garcia, who is co-chairing the planning group for the Globalization and Inequality Series of lectures. “ In 1997 I had to travel to Uruguay to consult with him, and our students are very fortunate that his international diplomatic work has brought him to the US, so we can give them the chance to gain his counsel right here in Boston. His mission to advance the cause of the developing world through international trade fits well into BC's historic concern for social justice, and his lecture is an exciting launch to the 2003-2004 BC Law/Globalization and Inequality Program co-sponsored trade lecture series."

Ambassador Lacarte brings a unique level of knowledge and experience to this topic. He has been involved with the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade – an international forum that oversaw the international trading system) and the WTO (World Trade Organization – the international body that deals with the rules of trade between nations) for over fifty years. He served as the Deputy Executive Secretary of GATT as well as Uruguay’s Permanent Representative and the Chairman of the GATT Council and he was also an original member and the first president of the Appellate Body of the WTO (a post from which he recently retired). The author of several books on economics and trade, he served as the Director of Economic Cooperation among Developing Countries at UNCTAD (the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development).

The Globalization and Inequality Series is a forum for Boston College students and faculty to explore some of the key ethical challenges of the new millennium. The Series website can be found at http://www.bc.edu/gis.