Monday, August 27, 2007

Heading South


First, introductions are in order. We are all seniors at Furman University. Elizabeth Bradley is the lone economics major, the rest of us study political science. Elizabeth hails from Birmingham, Alabama. Alli Buckner is from Lincolnton, North Carolina. Pete DeMarco is from Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. Anna Ready is from Greenwood, South Carolina. We will be joined in our travels by professor of political science and scion of the Riley Institute, Dr. Don Gordon.

This Wednesday we will depart for Sydney, Australia to attend the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Leadership Week. Formed in 1989, APEC is a group of 21 countries from around the Pacific Rim. Member economies account for almost two thirds of world GDP and nearly half of world trade. APEC aims primarily to facilitate regional trade liberalization, although its portfolio also includes a broad range of issues like human security and climate change. APEC is a forum for consensus building, so its agreements are all non-binding (a critic might say toothless). Leaders Week will be attended by heads of state, high-level ministers, and business leaders from across the globe. And of course our own hardy band will be carefully blogging on all of the meetings, activities, and Russell Crowe sightings we can.

Our trip is coordinated through Virtual Trade Mission’s Voices of the Future program. We’re fortunate to have the assistance of Furman grad and National VTM Fellow, Cindy Youseff.

Please feel free to comment on our posts. We are all tremendously excited and look forward to updating you on the experience.