Colorado's trade with the European Union, which brings billions to the state and has been growing, is the subject of a conference in Denver this month.
In 2007, the Front Range area exported $1.4 billion worth of goods to the European Union. In the first quarter of 2008, trade with the EU increased by 27 percent over the same period of the previous year.
Understanding this large market is the focus of a Jan. 16 business-outreach conference to be hosted by the Colorado European Union Center of Excellence at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The luncheon event at the Tivoli Center in Denver is not open to the public.
The conference will feature a keynote address by Dan Hamilton, director for transatlantic relations at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. In a talk titled "Deep Recession, Deep Integration," Hamilton, author of "Transatlantic Economy 2009," will address Europe, America and the global financial crisis.
Sandi Moilanen, trade and investment director at the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, will outline Colorado's trade and economic trends with the EU. And Markus Bierl, chief information officer of the Franke Foodservice Systems, will discuss EU business in light of the economic downturn.
The newly formed Colorado European Union Center of Excellence at CU-Boulder has been hailed as a strategic coup.
The center advances a "transformational" initiative in Flagship 2030, CU's strategic plan, university officials said. A key goal of Flagship 2030 is "building a global crossroads," in which leading thinkers of the world visit, work and study at CU.
"The Colorado European Union Center of Excellence is another example of how our Flagship 2030 strategic plan is being implemented faster than we imagined," CU-Boulder Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson said. "A key component of Flagship 2030 is constructing a 'global crossroads' at CU, and the CEUCE embodies that important goal."
Last fall, Joseph Jupille, CU associate professor of political science, was awarded a three-year grant from the European Union worth 300,000 euro -- about $375,000 at today's exchange rates -- to establish the center, which will study and teach the interactions between the EU and the United States.
For more information, contact Myka Dunkle, CEUCE's assistant director at 303-492-4314 or ceuce@colorado.edu. For more information on the Colorado EU Center of Excellence, visit the Web site at .