CONFERENCE IN PERU HONORS

PROFESSOR BORIS KOZOLCHYK

In April 2009, the National University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru, in collaboration with other leading Peruvian academic institutions and bar associations, sponsored Peru’s first International Congress on Contract Law in honor of Dr. Boris Kozolchyk, president and executive director of the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade in Tucson, Arizona and Evo DeConcini Professor of Law at the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona.

Dr. Kozolchyk was recognized for his considerable work in the area of international contracts, with particular emphasis on international commercial contracts. Dr. Kozolchyk’s recently published textbook, Comparative Commercial Contracts, is used in law schools throughout the world, including Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Peru, Chile and the United States.

During the Peruvian conference, the Antonio Guillermo Urrelo Private University of Cajamarca conferred upon Dr. Kozolchyk the Degree of Doctor Honoris Causa (Grado de Doctor Honoris Causa) as well as an Honorary Professorship (Profesor Honorario) at its School of Law and Political Science. He was also appointed Honorary Life Member of the Bar Association of Lambayeque. Dr. Kozolchyk was bestowed these honors based upon his distinguished professional, academic and humanitarian career and his valuable intellectual contributions and professional prestige in international commercial (including contract) law.

The Peruvian conference honoring Dr. Kozolchyk was held in Chiclayo, Lambayeque, Peru from April 23-25, ending with a session organized by the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade (NLCIFT) and chaired by Dr. Kozolchyk on secured transactions law and registries. The panel showcased recent and ongoing legal reform in the area of secured transactions throughout the Americas – starting with the 2002 adoption of the Organization of American States’ Model Law on Secured Transactions and subsequent national reform efforts patterned after the OAS Model Law — including Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Dr. Kozolchyk has written and published extensively and widely on the topic of secured lending/transactions and its poverty reduction effect for the developing world.

The NLCIFT has played a leading role in these various reform efforts: the April 25 panel in Chiclayo presented the case for similar reform in the Andean Community, with a particular emphasis on Peru and Colombia.

The international development community, including the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and national country development and aid agencies, has embraced secured transactions reform as a key component to economic development and poverty reduction in the developing world. Such reform facilitates asset-based lending and, consequently, access to commercial credit at affordable rates of interest for the benefit of micro, small and medium-sized business enterprises so that they can become meaningful and enduring economic engines for their respective societies.