Mission structure

Working dimensions

The Mission addresses internationalization as a comprehensive growth strategy for the country that aims to integrate Colombia into knowledge flows that will allow technological adoption, productive transformation, participation in links with greater added value in the Global Value Chains, and the empowerment of agents of change who can quickly connect companies and institutions with global opportunities and with the production of goods and services.

In this sense, there are four dimensions or channels under which technology flows can better help integrate the country with the rest of the world: Individuals; Firms; Trade in Goods and Services and technology upgrading and Institutions.

Steering Committee

Ricardo Hausmann

B.Sc. in Engineering and Ph.D. in Economics. Thematic leader of the Internationalization Mission. He is the founder and director of the Harvard Growth Laboratory and Professor Raiki of the practice of international economy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

During 1992 - 1993 he was Minister of Planning of Venezuela and head of the "Presidential Office for Coordination and Planning". Between 1994 - 2000 he served as Chief Economist of the Inter-American Development Bank.

Richard E. Baldwin

B.A. in Economics, MSc in Economics, and Ph.D. in Economics. Professor of International Economics at the Graduate Institute of Geneva since 1991 and founder and Editor-in-Chief of Vox since June 2007. He was President/Director of CEPR (2014-2018), and a visiting professor at Oxford (2012-2015), and MIT (2003). Author of numerous books and articles, his research interests include international trade, globalization, regionalism and European integration. He offers advice and consultancy to numerous governments and international organizations on international trade issues.

Caroline Freund

B.A. in Mathematics and Economics, and Ph.D. in Economics. Dean of the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy, Caroline Freund is an expert in international trade and economic development. Prior to joining GPS, she served as Global Director of Trade, Investment and Competitiveness at the World Bank. Freund also served as a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. In addition, she has worked as chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank, after working for nearly a decade in the international trade unit.

Marcela Eslava

B.A., MSc, and Ph.D. in Economics. Professor and Dean of Economics at the Universidad de los Andes. Her current research agenda focuses on the relationship between business dynamics, productivity, and regulations.

AnnaLee Saxenian

B.A. in Economics, MCP in City & Regional Planning, and Ph.D. in Political Science. Professor in the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley. Her scholarship focuses on regional economies and the conditions under which people, ideas, and geographies combine and connect into hubs of economic activity. She was Dean of the School of Information from 2004-2019, and upon stepping down she received the Berkeley Citation "for distinguished achievement and notable service to the University”.

Marcela Meléndez

B.A. in Economics, M. Sc. in public and Private Management, and Ph.D. in Economics. Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean at UNDP. Her research and consulting activities have focused on the design and evaluation of public policies, and on issues related to antitrust policy and the regulation of infrastructure services. Currently at UNDP, she leads the production of content to support the countries of the region in making decisions.

Carlos Ignacio Gallego

B.A. in Civil Engineering and MBA. President of the Grupo Nutresa S.A., Carlos Ignacio has been the lead of 5 different companies and is currently chairman & General Director at Fundación Grupo Nacional de Chocolates, General Director at Fundación Nutresa, and Chief Executive Officer for Grupo Nutresa. He is also a member of ANDI´s Fondo Social and sits in the board of 12 other companies.

Bruce Mac Master

B.A. in Economics and M.Sc. in Economic Development. President of Colombia’s National Association of Manufacturers -ANDI. Bruce was one of the founding partners of Inverlink, the first investment bank created in Colombia in the mid-eighties. Well-known in the investment banking field, he has also been in charge of Colombia’s most important transactions in infrastructure, transport and telecommunications.

Mauricio Reina

B.A. and M.Sc. in Economics, and M.Sc. in International Relations. He is currently an Associate Researcher at Fedesarrollo, where he works in the areas of international economics, sectoral analysis, and economics and culture. He carried out permanent work as a commentator in the media, where he has served as an advisor to Semana journal, a columnist for Portfolio newspaper and El Tiempo, among others.