Martinelli

President of the Republic of Panama Ricardo Martinelli will deliver a public lecture on development and Panamanian culture Thursday, April 11, at 5:15 p.m. in Call Auditorium, Kennedy Hall. The lecture is open only to the Cornell community but will be live streamed.

Martinelli's talk is the keynote address of the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA) 2013 Spring Colloquium Series. Admission is by ticket only; free tickets are available at the Willard Straight Hall ticket office.

Elected president of Panama in 2009 in a landslide victory, Martinelli owns a supermarket chain in Panama. He served as director of the Panamanian Chamber of Commerce, president of the Association of Food Merchants of Panama and the Italo-Panamanian Chamber, and is a member of the Panamanian Association of Business Executives.

While on campus, Martinelli will participate in a roundtable discussion of public policy and development challenges in Panama with CIPA faculty members and sign a memorandum of understanding between Panama and CIPA for sponsorship of Master of Public Administration students at Cornell. He will also visit with MBA students and faculty, with faculty members from the Cornell Latin American Studies Program and with Provost Kent Fuchs.

Martinelli's visit is sponsored by CIPA and the Office of the Vice Provost for International Relations, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, Latin American Studies Program and Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.