The World Affairs Council held its Distinguished Speaker Series Wednesday, June 18, 2008. The featured speaker, Greg Delawie, is the director of the Office of Bilateral Trade Affairs in the Bureau of Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. He came to Columbia to promote three free trade agreements being debated in the United States Congress for the nations of Colombia, South America, Panama, and Korea.

He stressed the mutual economic and political benefits of bilateral trade agreements for the nations involved. He said that historically, data shows that imports do not relate negatively to the unemployment rate in our country. Trade leads to investment in our economy, and there is a strong correlation between political freedom and economic growth.

Free trade agreements open valuable new markets, reduce poverty in other countries, help promote democracy and civic freedoms, and strong, and forceful labor standards can be implemented globally.

The concept of globalization predicts that all nations of the world will be in increasing contact on an infinite number of levels. Cooperative agreements such as the free trade agreements create structure and level ground for all nations to compete in the world market.