2025 WTCA Latin America Conference Recap

This article is part of a new series, "WTCA Member Spotlight," a series of articles written by WTCA team members to give readers a glimpse into the diversity and dynamism of the global WTCA community.

Penned by Magdalena Torres, WTCA Business Coordinator, Latin America 

The 2025 WTCA Latin America (LatAm) Conference took place in Curitiba, Brazil on August 12 and 13 with the participation of 30 delegates representing 22 LatAm World Trade Center businesses. During the first morning of the seminar, we joined the Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná’s 5th International Business Seminar with the participation of more than 800 business delegates, which gave WTCA great exposure among the business community. 

DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS

Following the seminar and welcome remarks from WTCA Executive Director-Member Services Crystal Edn, LatAm WTC delegates participated in two panels. The first panel discussed the recently signed trade agreement between the E.U. and MERCOSUR, with Luciano Menezes, CEO of WTC Lisbon, representing LA as a panelist. The second panel was comprised solely of WTC delegates and discussed the future of industrial development in Latin America, with panelists including: Ignacio Del, General Manager of WTC Montevideo; Edgar Braham, CEO of WTC Saltillo; Eugenio José Reyes Guzmán , Director of WTC Monterrey; Lucas Ferran, Professor of Economics at the São Paulo School of Economics (EESP) from the Fundaciao Getulio Vargas (FGV); and Kelly Meiman Senior Counselor, McLarty Associates from the Washington International Trade Association (WITA) and a partner of WTC Washington D.C. The moderator of this panel was Remy Swaab, Executive Director of WTC Panama.

During the afternoon, following a WTCA strategic report given by Crystal Edn, Professor Marcos Troyjo, an economist and political scientist, gave a world-class speech on the impact that the U.S.-China trade war is having on Latin America. Afterwards, the LatAm Regional Office presented the results of the 5-year effort of publishing the bi-annual WTCA Prime Office Index (LatAm). The afternoon concluded with a panel that featured WTC São Paulo Club, WTC Uberlândia Club and WTC Curitiba Club, where they shared their journey in the formation of their business clubs. This exercise encouraged other WTC businesses to set up their business clubs.

DAY 2 HIGHLIGHTS

On the morning of the second day, delegates discussed the way that AI could help WTC businesses and Ignacio Del presented a special package of AI for interested Members. Following the AI session, we listened to presentations from WTC businesses, including:

• WTC Goiania
• Former Member, Quito, was present and is aspiring to re-join the association, so they also made a presentation
• WTC Ribeirão Preto
• WTC Santa Cruz de la Sierra
• WTC Uberlândia

The Conference concluded with a review of the pilot program to support WTC businesses in event planning, which has been done so far with WTC Ibague.