Academia Panamericana de Ingeniería
Academia Pan-Americana de Engenharia
Pan American Academy of Engineering
Activities 2005
Position of the Academy against Bribery and Corruption
On the first days of January 2005 the Academy diffused among its Member the original and a translation to Spanish of the document adopted on October 20, 2004 by the Board of Directors of the American Society of Civil Engineers – ASCE – entitled “Guidelines and Policies to Encourage Zero Tolerance for Bribery” ( www.asce.org/inside/global/?id26 ). Included with this document were the conclusions of a Workshop summoned by ASCE on October 21, 2004 in Baltimore, with the presence of relevant personalities from world engineering and that was part of the Annual Conference that had as a main theme “the war against bribery and corruption in engineering and construction contracts” ( www.asce.org/inside/global/?id34 ).
Diffusion of these documents and the theme of burning importance in all countries was well received by the Charter and Corresponding Members who sent the Presidency congratulatory letters of support for an eventual campaign of the Academy.
The Board of Directors decided to create a Task Force in charge of writing up a Declaration that committed the Academy on “Bribery and Corruption in Engineering and Construction Contracts”. The Task Force incorporated the following Academicians: Dr. Jose Ramos Salinas (Mexico), Dr. William Carroll (USA), Eng. Mario Ivan Casco (Honduras) and Dr. Luiz Carlos Scavarda do Carmo (Brazil).
This attitude of the Academy prompted the authorities of ASCE to invite President Eng. Yadarola to commit the Institution as signatory of the document “Commitment Statement” ( www.asce.org/professional/zero.cfn ).
As a contribution to the work of the Task Force, Academician Dr. William Carroll proposed a draft Anticorruption Policy that was analyzed and discussed by email with the Task Force and later with the Members of the Board of Directors. The final version of the document “Anti-Corruption Policy” was approved by the Board of Directors at its annual 2005 meeting held on October 13 in Aruba.
The document was widely diffused among the delegations of Members of UPADI that were in Aruba for the International Board Meeting (October 11-13) and during the following week (October 16-21) among the participants in the technical meetings and General Assembly of WFEO, held in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The complete version of the “Anti-Corruption Policy” can be found in the link “Declarations”.
Along the same lines of the Academy and ASCE, WFEO decided to debate the matter of corruption linked to engineering services in a Forum “Overpowering Corruption: A path for the Professional Engineer” held on the morning of Friday, October 21 at the Hilton Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in which the Speakers were:
- Eng. Kamel Ayadi, President WFEO
Welcome Address. Justification of the meeting.
- Dr. José Medem Corresponding Academician API – Past President WFEO
Theme and Speakers - Introduction.
- Ing. William P. Henry , P.E. F.ASCE – President ASCE.
Strengthening the Role of the Individual Engineers.
- Ms Nancy Zucker Boswell , Managing Director Transparency International – U.S.A.
The changing landscape: The Growing Risk.
- Mr. Maarten de Jong , World Bank
Corruption and Development Banks – A World Bank Perspective
- Prof. Miguel Angel Yadarola – President API – Past National Member WFEO ExCo.
The commitment of the Pan American Academy of Enginering with Ethics and Integrity..
- Dr. William J. Carroll –Charter Academician API – Past President WFEO and ASCE.
The Anti-Corruption Policy of the Academy and its impact on professional and entrepreneurship relations of engineers.
- Ing. José Ramiro Rodríguez Perazza . Rapporteur
Brief Summary of the presentations.
First Focus Session
In response to several suggestions received from Academicians of several countries, the President of the Academy decided to summon in Aruba, on the three days before the meeting of the Board of Directors (October 10-12) an informal meeting which he called “Focus Session” , with an open invitation to all Charter and Corresponding Academicians, in order to analyze and discuss ideas and proposals for the future activities of the Academy, search for strategies and define possible actions for the short and medium term.
The president, Eng. Yadarola, justified this meeting in the following manner.
“We are traveling through the fifth year of life of our Pan American Academy of Engineering with the satisfaction of seeing her consolidated as an institution committed with the study and the proposals of action Policies aimed at strengthening and dignifying the engineers profession as a basis for the development of the countries of the Continent. We must continue on this road with firm steps in the right direction in order to project our Academy in the Continent and in the world on the basis of a enlightened vision of the future scenarios for technology and engineering and their roles to satisfy the needs of society”.
In this First Focus Session the following Academicians participated: C. Bauer y M. A. Yadarola (Arg.), V. Mendizábal (Bol.), L. Lerner, L. C. Scavarda y W. Lang (Br.), G. Jiménez E. (Col.), J. Medem (Esp.), P. Realpozo, M. Porraz and J. Ramos S. (Méx.), W. Carroll, W. Butcher, R. Jones, R. Kersten, J. I. Guerra, P. Galloway (USA – Will join API in Atlanta). Also partially present were several observers from USA, linked to the organization of the Atlanta 2006 meetings: Daniel Clinton, Jr., Arthur Schwartz, Luther Graef, Michael Sanio, Diana Turner (Georgia Tech).
The Agenda for the Focus Session included the following themes (synthesis):
Theme 1: Critical analysis of the five years of life of the Academy. What we did right, what was wrong and what we did not do.
Theme 2: Human resources existing in the Academy. How to involve more Members in the activities, with enthusiasm for work and the pride of belonging.
Theme 3: Sectors in which the Academy should work. Expectations of those Sectors.
Theme 4: Participation of the Academy jointly with other Institutions in areas of common interest.
Theme 5: Financial resources and their destination. New sources of income.
Theme 6: Continuity in the direction and conduction of the Academy with each new Board of Directors. Partial rotation of members. President Elect and Past President?
Theme 7: Internal information system. Electronic bulletin (e-newsletter).
Theme 8: Future meetings of the Academy. Forums on engineering Policies. Themes for the next 6 years.
Theme 9: Continuity of the Anti-Corruption Policy.
Theme 10: Code of Ethics for the Academy.
Theme 11: Brain Drain and UNESCO and WFEO policies on Capacity Building.
Theme 12: Awards. Reasons and addressee.
Annual 2005 Meeting of the Board of Directors
It was held in the Conventions Center of the Hotel Renaissance in Orangestad, Aruba, on Thursday October 13. With the participation of the following Directors: M. A. Yadarola – President, P. Realpozo – Vice President, L. Lerner – Treasurer, G. Jimenez – Director, L. C. Scavarda – Director, W. Butcher – Director, J. I. Guerra – Election Committee, V. Mendizabal – Nominations Committee. Almost all the remaining Academicians that participated in the Focus Session were also present at this meeting of the Board of Directors.
During the meeting decisions were analyzed and approved on the following matters:
• Short and medium term working plans
• Anti Corruption Policy – Approval of the document proposed by the Task Force
• Critical analysis of the 2004 Mexico Forum, its organization and results
• Convenience of modifying the By Laws. A Committee was appointed with Academicians E. G. Bendinger, G. Jimenez E. and Luiz Scavarda.
• 2006 Meetings in Atlanta. Days of meetings for the Academy, September 18 and 19. Forum “Ethics and Integrity in Providing Engineering Services”. Approval of the Program, Speakers and Rapporteurs presented by the Coordinator Academician R. Kersten.
• Summons to Plenary Extraordinary Meeting – By Laws
• Academy Finances – Institutional Current Account in a USA Bank. L. Lerner and W. Butcher
• Membership. Process of selection for 2006 of new Members. Quality in selection. Members that are inactive and lacking communication.
• Web Site. Suggestions and congratulations to the Secretary
• Code of Ethics for the Academy. Committee: Academicians W. Carroll, C. Bauer and J. Medem
• Engineer of the Americas. Symposium in Lima, Peru (Nov.- Dec. 2005). It was decided to support the Declaration proposed by Academician R. Jones and approved by the Board of UPADI.
New Web Site for the Academy
Following the disposition of the 2004 Plenary Ordinary Session in Mexico, it was decided to authorize the new Secretary, Eng. Ernesto Guille rmo Bendinger, in consultation with the President and the Treasurer, to open a new Web Site for the Academy.
On the basis of this assignment, the Secretary began to gather background material that should form part of the new Site, since it was not possible to use any information from the first Site that was located since 2002 at the headquarters of the previous secretariat.
The Secretary, together with the President and the cooperation of an expert Mr. Tomas Behrend, have produced the pages of this Site with the intention that they be revised, corrected and enriched by the Members of the Academy.
