Timing is Everything When Doing Business in Latin America

A book I started recently has really grabbed my attention. The book, “No Lost Causes,” by the former president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe Velez, provides fascinating first hand stories about the challenges Uribe faced as he took on the task of clearing the country of terrorists and returning the nation to a state of economic growth.

Having a Latin American bent to my personal history makes reading this book interesting and reminds me of a challenge I took on to help GE Energy return to Colombia.

When Uribe took office in 2002, several paramilitary groups and Marxist terrorist organizations controlled half the country's territory. Every year, an average of 3,000 citizens were kidnapped and 28,000 killed.  Drug traffickers generated $3 billion annually. Unemployment was close to 16%.

In the late 90's I worked for GE, and this company, like many other multi-national companies, had pulled out of Colombia as the country’s political and social environment worsened. For example, in the business I worked in, GE Energy Services, we pulled out all expats and sold off all local operations and maintenance contracts.

The departure of the international business community tore important economic vitality from an already troubled nation.

But in 2005, after four years of the Uribe government, and as things seemed more positive for the nation, due to Uribe’s hard line approach, I took on the challenge of preparing a case to convince GE that the time was right to reenter the country. Security had improved enough to make this a viable idea and there was potential for GE Energy to re-establish a presence and grow their business there.

I pulled together a detailed country update and found proven opportunities in both the power generation and oil & gas businesses. As a result of this effort, GE Energy’s president at the time, John Krenicki, authorized the hiring of a country manager and a return to doing business in Colombia. This important decision paved the way for GE to re-establish itself as an energy player in Latin America and take advantage of Colombia’s economic rebirth.

Timing was everything and both GE and Colombia benefited.

Please refer to the following Wall Street Journal book review by Alvaro Vargas Llosa, titled, “The Man Who Saved Colombia” for a more detailed account of Mr. Uribe’s achievements.

From Impasse to Opportunity, U.S. - S. Korea Nuclear Cooperation

This October, I thoroughly enjoyed participating in a panel discussion at Georgia Tech between the Center for International Strategy, Technology and Policy (CISTP) and the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) concerning the prospects for strengthening nuclear energy cooperation between the U.S. and South Korea. 

As part of an effort to advance respective national deliberations on the renewal of this important partnership, CISTP and KAIST convened a panel of esteemed scholars and policy experts to explore key technological, economic, political and strategic dimensions to the issue.  

Topics ranged from projected market trends to technical, economic and nonproliferation aspects of nuclear fuel cycle development. Those present provided a unique and important international perspective on nuclear technology in both the power and arms arenas.  

Of particular note were the discussions about the recent South Korea-UAE nuclear plant sale and the affect that will have on upcoming negotiations for the renewal of the U.S. - South Korea nuclear cooperation agreement, a prerequisite under Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act for nuclear trade.

My take-aways from the meeting included: 

-- If there is a lack of vision on the part of the US for how to meet the needs of S Korea’s nuclear agreement, this will put in question the U.S. technical leadership role for nuclear technology.

-- There is a substantial geo-political impact to what is happening now in Asia as far as nuclear development is concerned. The impact of the recent South Korea - UAE sale is not just commercial. If South Korea acquires fuel reprocessing capability as part of the 123 agreement, this will affect Northeast Asia nuclear strategy and the proliferation of nuclear technology internationally.

To read more about this conference and see a list of panelists at the event, please click here.