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Those of the new president of the United States, Donald Trump, have led the world to look at Panama in recent weeks after the president insisted on his intention to, vital for global maritime trade. Such is his interest in the country that will be the first stop of his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, on his first international trip this week. It will not be the only high -level appointment in the Central American nation, which this Wednesday and Thursday will house a meeting that wants to become a Latin American reference for discussions about the economic future of the region.
At a time when the Republican’s return to the White House implies one in international politics and economy, the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Forum, which is celebrated on January 29 and 30 in Panama City, represents an opportunity so that the region reflects on how. A conversation in the center of the continent made by and for Latin Americans and Caribbean. In the Panamanian capital, representatives of national governments, the private sector and first-class international organizations will discuss “innovative strategies that promote the productivity and well-being of our population in balance with nature,” says the president of CAF-Banco de Development of Latin America and the Caribbean, which organizes the event in alliance with the Prisa and World In Progress (WIP) group.
“An ideal network construction space”
The first edition of this meeting will be “an ideal space for construction of networks for government authorities, business leaders and the multilateral world,” says Díaz Granados in a video in which he invites you to participate in the event. This can be followed on CAF and the country America live.
Among the participants in the forum, there will be the presidents of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, and Paraguay, Santiago Peña; former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi; The Executive Secretary of the ECLAC, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, the Executive Secretary of the Biological Diversity, Astrid Schomaker, Grupo Prisa, Joseph Oughourlian, and the director of El País, Pepa Bueno.
There will also be six masterful talks by Rebeca Grynspan, general secretary of the United Nations Conference on Commerce and Development -Cetad; Stanley Motta, president of the Board of Directors of Copa Holding; Olivia White, senior partner and director of the McKinsey Global Institute, McKinsey & Company; Rachel Adams, founder and CEO of the Global IA governance center; Jeremy Rifkin, sociologist and economist; and Laura Richardson, generated withdrawal from the United States army.
The talks and conferences will address the pending challenges and challenges of Latin America and the Caribbean, a region as diverse as unequal, which, despite its natural and cultural wealth, has seen its stagnant economic growth, with an annual average that barely rounds the 1.6%, beaten by endemic evils such as labor informality, and still maintains high rates of
The president of CAF also identifies an additional challenge. “We are the only emerging region that ages without having solved central problems, such as poverty or malnutrition before,” said Díaz-Granados this week in an interview with El País. “The demographic bonus is no longer accompanying us with the same force as 30 or 40 years ago.”
The region must also seek that sustainable development in a context of climate crisis, in which regional biodiversity can be an important source of solutions. Therefore, in the forum, among other things will be discussed, about the need for the private sector to invest more and better, what should be the role of entrepreneurs, and the potential that Latin American countries have to accelerate the energy transition.
According to the Global Electricity Review report, the region based on renewable energies, double the world average. Analysis published by CAF have also warned that the energy transitions that the region is going through cannot be imported or inherited models, but under their own logics.
“We have stagnated and we have not completed the trip to development,” says Díaz-Granados, who considers that Latin America has the challenge of doing so “with greater environmental commitments than those who managed to get out of that trap at the time.” For this, in Panama we will talk about circular economy, sustainable and innovative ventures, financial inclusion through technology, and connectivity for regional development, in addition to aerial and port integration.
For all this, it is no accident that CAF has chosen Panama as the headquarters of this event that wants to become an annual event. “It is the ideal place: from its strategic location, extraordinary logistics and first level services,” says Díaz-Granados. Without a doubt, they are not easy times for Latin America and the Caribbean, but the development bank wants to offer a meeting point that helps to talk about what can be done so that the economy of the region grows and has an impact on the well -being of all .
