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Just a few years ago, globalization appeared to be set in stone, with economies inextricably interlinked across different regions. However, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused ongoing challenges for global supply chains, countries are increasingly turning toward greater self-sufficiency. Many are exploring how to bring critical industries back home to stabilize domestic supplies of goods and services, and minimize dependence on other nations.
How do individual countries navigate this fracturing economic order? What role does diplomacy play in maintaining international economic relationships? Is economic globalization truly a thing of the past?
Join Perry World House for a roundtable conversation with the diplomats who tackle these difficult issues every day. As ambassadors from Singapore, the African Union, and Uruguay, they are at the front line of high-level negotiations, and play a critical role in developing international economic ties. In a conversation moderated by the New York Times' Edward Wong, they will discuss how deglobalization is affecting both their regions and the wider global economy, and how the international community can still work together on economic issues.
This keynote conversation forms part of Perry World House’s 2022 Global Order Colloquium, “A Fracturing World: The Future of Globalization.”
This will be a hybrid event, with virtual access provided via Zoom – details of how to take part, either virtually or in-person, will be found in your order confirmation email.
Speakers
Ashok Kumar Mirpuri took up his appointment as Singapore's ambassador to the United States in July 2012. Prior to his current appointment, he served as ambassador to Indonesia from 2006 to 2012, high commissioner to Malaysia from 2002 to 2006, and high commissioner to Australia from 2000 to 2002. A career diplomat, Ambassador Mirpuri joined Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in 1984. In 1994, he was appointed director of the MFA's Policy Planning & Analysis Directorate I (Southeast Asia). In 1997, Ambassador Mirpuri was seconded to Shell International Ltd in the United Kingdom as corporate advisor (Asia-Pacific). He was subsequently assigned to the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta in 1998 as minister-counsellor and deputy chief of mission, having previously served in Jakarta as first secretary (political).
Hilda Suka-Mafudze has been the permanent representative of the African Union to the United States since November 2020. She is a career diplomat with experience that spans the African continent. Prior to coming to the US, she helped lead diplomacy for more than two decades in a variety of top government positions in her home country of Zimbabwe. From 2000 to 2005, she served as an elected member of the Parliament of Zimbabwe. Well-known as a “quiet champion of democracy,” Ambassador Suka-Mafudze held ambassadorial positions representing her country in Khartoum, Sudan and South Sudan, where she led important high-level political processes that continue to move the entire region toward greater peace and security, and Malawi, where she chaired the group of regional ambassadors representing the South African Development Community, a regional economic community comprising 16 member states. Ambassador Suka-Mafudze has also served as an international observer for elections in Africa.
Andrés Augusto Durán Hareau was appointed as the ambassador of Uruguay to the United States in September 2020. Ambassador Durán has over 20 years of experience in the private sector; prior to taking office as Ambassador, he acted as executive advisor for Latin America in the private equity and real estate division of Ashmore Group. Previously, Ambassador Durán was a founding partner of the law firm Bragard & Durán from 2011 to 2018, and a partner and associate of the law firm Hughes & Hughes from 1998 to 2011. He also spent time working as a visiting attorney with Slaughter and May in London, and worked in the legal division of the Inter-American Investment Corporation (now known as IDB Invest) in Washington, DC. He has written various articles related to company formation, mergers and acquisitions, and foreign investment in Latin America. Ambassador Durán holds a JD from the Catholic University of Uruguay; an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he was a Sloan Fellow; and an LLM in international legal studies from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a Fulbright Scholar.
Moderator
Edward Wong is a diplomatic correspondent at the New York Times who reports on foreign policy from Washington, D.C. He has worked for the Times for more than twenty-three years, reporting for thirteen of those as an international correspondent and bureau chief from China and Iraq. Wong has been a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and has taught journalism at Princeton University and U.C. Berkeley. He was also a recent fellow at the Wilson Center and at the Belfer Center at Harvard Kennedy School. Wong is a recipient of the Livingston Prize for his reporting on the Iraq War, and he is a member of a Baghdad bureau team that was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.
COVID-19 Guidelines
Perry World House is continuing to follow the University of Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 guidelines. In-person access to our events is open to the Penn community as well as the general public. In keeping with the University’s latest update on COVID-19 protocols, masks are optional for all visitors to Perry World House. PennOpen Pass and PennOpen Campus screenings are no longer required for entry to our events.
We will continue to provide virtual access to all events planned with hybrid programming. Zoom details will be available in your order confirmation email.
Please note that our current arrangements are subject to change as guidelines evolve, and other restrictions may be put in place. We will share an email ahead of each event with the latest information on how to take part. If you have any questions, please contact us at worldhouse@pwh.upenn.edu. If you are not already on our mailing list for news and updates, you can sign up here.
