On Thursday, October 2, an online discussion session was held between students in Professor Ryohei Nakagawa's seminar at the Faculty of Global Management Studies and Mr. Erich Morales Arispe, Senior Director at Fitch Ratings based in London, who is an expert in sovereign risk analysis.

Through the dialogue, participants deepened their understanding of the relationship between overall country risk and sovereign debt, as well as key perspectives for assessing a nation's macroeconomic, political, and social risks. The students are currently preparing a country report on Costa Rica and are aiming to complete it with valuable advises from Mr. Arispe.

A lively Q&A session in English took place, with topics extending to Mr. Arispe's work as a sovereign risk analysis expert and his career path. Born in Bolivia, Mr. Arispe received his undergraduate and graduate education in the United States and has worked in the financial sectors in New York and London. He also shared the story of his life journey—how he, who once aspired to be a politician and studied political science in his youth, came to become an expert in sovereign risk analysis.