Beijing, 14 April 2008, Cheung Kong GSB has started the Spring season with several high caliber business lectures by professors and outside speakers attended by foreigners living and working in Beijing. With its central location at Oriental Plaza, Cheung Kong GSB Beijing campus is an ideal venue for pre-work breakfast seminars and evening networking events, whether in the library on the third floor or in the state of the art classrooms with a view onto the CBD on the twelfth.

On Wednesday 2 April, Professor Cardoza from IE Business School was invited to present his research on a history of development with strong links to his own background. A native of Columbia, Prof. Cardoza used quantitative data to compare and contrast various indicators (such as GDP, savings, investment, Internet penetration) underlying the various rates of economic growth over the past two decades in three geographic areas: East Asia, Latin America, and Iberia (Spain and Portugal). The figures showed East Asia with a significant lead in nearly every category, including education.

Prof. Cardoza noted the vast natural resources located in Latin America, and expressed his hope that Latin American countries and their governments could learn from the virtuous circle of savings and investment seen in East Asia, while putting more focus on education. He further pointed out that Chinese investment is welcomed by Latin America without the same degree of suspicion as that seen in the US and other developed regions.

An audience of over fifty expatriates living in Beijing, including an attaché from the Ecuadorian Embassy and twenty executives from IE Business School’s Cheung Kong GSB organised China residency program, posed challenging questions to the professor and stayed on for Iberian-themed discussion over a glass of wine and some traditional Spanish tapas.