On December 8, 2011, the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), Oregon-Columbia River Chapter, presented its 24th annual Forecast Breakfast, which features the region’s commercial and residential real estate experts discussing the market outlook for the coming year. This year’s breakfast was held at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland and was attended by more than 650 local real estate professionals. Otak CEO, Nawzad Othman, was invited to give the keynote address, which concluded the three-hour conference. Nawzad’s presentation, “Time of Uncertainty, Age of Complexity: Observations of an Optimist,” covered a range of global and macro-economic factors that are affecting Oregon’s – and the nation’s — economy.
While the U.S. economy struggles with high unemployment, slow growth and a looming debt crisis at home and in Europe — our largest trading partner — many countries around the world continue to experience strong economic growth. China, India, Brazil and other countries in Asia and South America are achieving GDP growth rates as high as 9-10%. In addition, the “Arab Spring” uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa are accelerating the desire for democracy and free-market economic reforms in those regions.
Nawzad remains optimistic that the United States can rebound from its current economic doldrums and maintain its role as a world economic engine, if we invest in:
• Energy – The U.S. needs a bold energy strategy for both traditional and renewable sources
• Infrastructure – We need to address more than $2 trillion in accumulated needs
• Education – The U.S. ranks only 17th globally for math and science education
• R&D/Innovation – This has been our hallmark and will be the engine of future growth.
Most important, we need private leadership and political will to achieve our goals.
A copy of Nawzad’s inspiring keynote presentation, along with presentations from other regional real estate experts, is available on IREM Oregon’s website under the News section:
http://iremoregon.org/irem/2011transcript
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