São Paulo – The World Economic Forum (WEF) on Latin America, held in Rio de Janeiro on April 15th and 16th, ended on an optimistic note, with a forecast of a new cycle of development in the region, despite the international financial crisis. “The Latin American participants sense that they are able to face the crisis in better conditions now than ever before,” said Ricardo Villela Marino, CEO of bank Itaú/Unibanco in Latin America and one of the event’s co-presidents, according to information from the Website of the Forum.
According to the site of the event, the editor-in-chief of North American magazine Foreign Police, Moisés Naím, declared that the “mood” has shifted since the annual meeting of the Forum, held in Davos, Switzerland, three months ago. “We are no longer free-falling, we are no longer in that calamitous mood that was felt in Davos,” he said.
Marino also stated that many of the requirements for a new cycle of sustainable development are already present in most countries in the region, such as a strong financial and banking system, abundance of natural resources, clean and renewable energy supplies, balance between natural resources and population size, consolidation of democratic institutions and a good resistance of macroeconomic foundations to the crisis. “Latin America is now a source of solutions,” claimed the general director of the WEF, Robert Greenhill.
The executive of Itaú/Unibanco, Brazil’s largest banking institution, however, stated that Latin America now needs to pay a different kind of debt, not the financial one, but the “social debt.”
At the end of the event, according to a release issued by the organisers, participants underscored the need for greater collaboration between the public and private sectors for facing the crisis and fostering this new development cycle. This is part of the declaration that should be passed on to the heads of state of the continent in the Summit of the Americas, held this weekend in Trinidad Tobago. “While distinctive features drive private and public initiatives, a stronger collaboration is needed to address the global economic turbulence,” goes the text.
According to the document, the cycle must be structured around principles such as “a solid international financial architecture, sound educational opportunities, clean technologies, sustainable use of natural resources, diversified sources of energy and an equitable socio-economic setting.”
“We need a new dawn in international cooperation, based on enlightened values and mutual trust,” states the declaration, according to which government and private sector efforts “should focus on strong institutions, free trade and sustainable technologies.”
To that extent, the text lists five priorities for the region: supporting funding for international agencies and development banks to provide programme assistance and resources for counter-cyclical policies; encouraging short-term liquidity through bilateral and multilateral systems; promoting efforts to reinvigorate world trade and investment, preventing trade barriers and protectionist measures; extending well-targeted social protection networks; and leading global cooperation on climate change initiatives towards a "green economy that includes clean technology, sustainable energy sources and ecosystem conservation."
The declaration was submitted to the secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, in Washington, in order to be presented at the Summit of the Americas. In a videoconference, Insulza underscored the great expectations of Latin America regarding the administration of the new United States president, Barack Obama. “Especially when he [Obama] says that he really wants to implement policies ‘with us,’ rather than ‘for us’,” said the secretary general.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
