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The Growth Lab's Development Talks is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working in international development. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both the practice of development and analytical work centered on policy.
Speaker: Andres Valenciano, John F. Kennedy Fellow, HKS MC/MPA '23
Moderator: Alejandro Rueda-Sanz, Research Fellow, Growth Lab
Whether attending in-person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public.
Lunch will be provided. Please arrive at 11:45 am to allow for lunch, seating, and a prompt start at 12 pm.
About the speaker:
Andres is currently a John F. Kennedy Fellow at the MC/MPA program at Harvard Kennedy School. Previously he was the Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica, responsible for Costa Rican foreign trade policies, export promotion, and attraction of foreign investment, as well as the official representation before several multilateral organizations, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). During his tenure, he was responsible for leading the final stage of the accession process for Costa Rica to become the 38th member of the OECD. In this period, Costa Rica became the number one country in the world in greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction.
Before becoming Minister, Andres was the Executive President of the Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje, where he oversaw technical and vocational education in Costa Rica and led the most important and far-reaching transformation the organization has undergone since its foundation in 1965. Previously, he was Executive Director of local and international NGOs, and worked in education, health, social housing, and economic development projects in over 12 countries in 3 continents, in partnership with IADB, UNDP, PAHO, ILO, among others.
Andres is an Industrial Engineer from the University of Costa Rica, with a Master’s degree in International Business from The Fletcher School - Tufts University, and a Lee Kuan Yew School Senior Fellow from the National University of Singapore.