U.S. Chamber’s Donohue to Promote High-Level, Private Sector Forum in the Americas

Will Meet with Presidents of Peru and Uruguay to Deepen Trade and Investment Ties

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue will travel to Peru and Uruguay this week to promote the establishment of a high-level, business forum across the Americas designed to provide ongoing input from the private sector into economic policymaking throughout the Western Hemisphere. The trip will also highlight trade and investment opportunities for U.S. companies in two of the region’s most promising economies.

“This is a pivotal moment in the Americas,” said U.S. Chamber President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue. “Our nations share a common set of opportunities and challenges, and we must work together to promote economic policies that will allow businesses to thrive, citizens to prosper, markets to open, and economies to grow throughout the Western Hemisphere.”

In Lima, Peru, Donohue will chair a summit of national business organizations from more than a dozen economies in North, Central, and South America. The business leaders, working with the Inter-American Development Bank, will initiate the formation of a new hemispheric advisory group to help inform policymakers on a host of business and economic issues. Donohue will also meet with Peruvian President Ollanta Humala and other business leaders and government officials to discuss bilateral commercial opportunities, as well as the status of the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.

Donohue will then travel to Montevideo, Uruguay, to meet with President José Mujica and discuss ways in which U.S. businesses can deepen their engagement in Uruguay and in South America’s Southern Cone.

“Presidents Humala and Mujica both represent a pragmatic, pro-business mindset currently shaping the economic outlook of countries across Latin America,” Donohue added. “We applaud their commitment to public policies that drive stronger economic growth and prosperity and look forward to continuing to work with these leaders, and others throughout the region, to promote trade and encourage economic engagement.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.