CAF Annual Conference: Trade, Growth, Equity, Governance and Freedom of the Press

The annual meeting to discuss Latin America’s challenges to advancing its international insertion and adapting to global political, economic and social dynamics will be held on September 5-6 at the Newseum in Washington D.C. The meeting was convened by CAF-development bank of Latin America- along with Inter-American Dialogue and the Organization of American States (OAS).

The 22^nd Annual CAF Conference will bring together more of 1,000 world leaders including representatives of governments, international organizations and civil society, entrepreneurs, investors, policy makers, analysts and journalists, who will discuss new prospects for trade and investment between China and Latin America; what to do in the region to achieve sustained growth; how to narrow the productivity gap; how to think beyond short-term policy to reach consensus towards sustainable development; the challenges of the 21^st century for freedom of the press; and elections and political developments in Latin America, with a focus on Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay and Venezuela.

“We are very pleased with the consolidation of this forum, which will allow us to debate on issues that are critical to the development and prosperity of the region. The challenges are enormous, and that is why we must encourage regional understanding and international projection of Latin America, which is now facing a changing global dynamic, to which we also have much to contribute,” said Luis Carranza, executive president of CAF, who will be the keynote speaker together with Luis Almagro, Secretary-General of the OAS and Michael Shifter, President of Inter-American Dialogue.

This year we expect to have more than 30 high level panelists including Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC; Rebeca Grynspan, Ibero-American General Secretary; Rogers Valencia, Peru’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism; Miguel Braun, Secretary of Commerce of Argentina; Dyogo Henrique De Oliveira, President of Brazil’s National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES); Dulcidio De La Guardia, former Minister of Finance of Panama; Jorge Familiar, Vice President of the World Bank for Latin America; Alejandro Werner, director of the Western Hemisphere Department of the International Monetary Fund; Marty Baron, an editor of the Washington Post; Carlos Roberts, an editor of Argentina’s La Nación; and Roberto Pombo, chief editor of Colombia’s El Tiempo, among others.

The impact of monetary standardization of developed economies and the trade policies promoted by the United States is also one of the issues to be discussed in the meeting, which you can follow live here and make comment using the hashtag #DiálogoCAF2018.