Latin America Defence and Security Briefing

Over 90 people from across government and the private sector came to hear from a number of regional and sector experts. After some words of welcome from Cristina Cortes, CEO of Canning House, and Simon Everest, Director of the DSO, the audience heard from Dr Vinicius Carvalho, of King’s College London, and Professor William Moreira, of the Naval War College in Rio de Janeiro. Their presentations gave the audience a comprehensive overview of the geo-strategic needs and challenges in Latin America. Valuable corporate experience of the region was then provided by Chris Goodwin-Hudson of Watchman and Nick Panes of Control Risks.

A special thank you to Dr Llyr Jones, Head of Regional Operations at BAE Systems and valued Canning House Trustee, who spoke about his in-depth experiences working with the Latin American defence and security sectors. Llyr provided us with an engaging presentation on the key markets in the region and the most effective route to market in a challenging but rewarding region.

George Middleton, of the DIT, concluded the first half of the event by outlining the opportunities provided by the UK government to companies looking to do business in the region. This led into an afternoon networking event, where UK and Latin American country specialists were on hand to answer questions and offer guidance about expanding in Latin America to our corporate guests.