Welcome to International Business!

Starting Spring, 2009, our program will include a unique three-week seminar in the Indian subcontinent.Your travel to India and Bangladesh will be part of an intensive 14-week immersion-learning program at Washington Semester that provides future entrepreneurs and leaders the analytical skills and real-world exposure to a rapidly changing global environment.

For centuries considered an exotic land of deep mysticism and spiritual wisdom, India in the 21^st century has placed herself at the epicenter of Thomas Friedman’s“flat world”. As India, along with China, transforms herself, the resulting reverberations are upending existing economic, political, and social environments – national and global. And the existing international framework of rules favored by the West–for trade, investments, security, and the environment – is increasingly being challenged. The collapse of the WTO-sponsored Doha trade negotiations in Geneva last month -- an outcome that was explicitly attributed to the veto power exercised by India, and supported by China -- is only the most recent illustration of the challenge posed by the economic rise of these two giants. The hope that the forces of globalization could be managed within a multilateral setting, anchored by a shared set of values and goals, may no longer be a realistic one. At the same time, the opening of India and China to the global market provides tremendous opportunities to the rest of the world – for prosperity, innovation, knowledge, and progress.Yet, these developing countries have to content with multiple challenges that affect us all – including global warming, poverty, the rise of Islamic extremism, food & energy security, etc.

What does all this mean for those future entrepreneurs and leaders amongst you who will need to act in an increasingly globalized world? As an investor in these emerging markets how would you evaluate country specific risks for your business? And how much could you rely on the various multilateral forums, market instruments, and global or bilateral enforcement mechanisms to lower your risks and protect your returns? Or, as an NGO, what would you expect in terms of agreement on common goals with like-minded partners in these countries? The slogan, “think global, act local” really means that as globalization increases, your ability to act will increasingly depend on the extent of your “local knowledge” – i.e. of the countries and people you will need to engage with. One cannot hope to engage with India and China merely through international forums and treaties – the U.N., WTO, Kyoto, etc. These countries will need to be understood on their own terms – their history, the values their people uphold, the changes being experienced, and their expectations for the future. Such local knowledge is crucial if you are to gain a better understanding of the opportunities and problems that globalization presents.

This unique study tour will widen the already significant opportunities that Washington Semester offers you for exposure to prominent entrepreneurs, key policy makers, and scholars at the various think tanks, multinational corporations, US federal agencies, NGOs, lobbyists and multilateral institutions in the US capital. Your visits to the main urban centers in India --Delhi, Bombay, and Bangalore will include a two-day stay at the Infosys campus – India’s largest IT company; a seminar with India’s WTO negotiators in Delhi; and discussions with the chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd., India’s largest industrial house.We will also visit Bangladesh’s capital city of Dhaka,where you will meet with progressive leaders and institutions that maintain a liberal outlook, strong entrepreneurial culture, and have been at the forefront of the microfinance revolution.

I am enclosing for your perusal a more detailed description of our travel program. If you are willing to be challenged and looking to be inspired, you should enroll in the program early as there is limited space available on our inaugural visit to the Indian subcontinent. If you have any questions on the program, please do not hesitate to contact my colleagues or me at Washington Semester.

With best wishes,

Nimai Mehta