Zedillo says Latin America faces
"moment of truth"
As Latin America confronts the global economic crisis, its leaders face the critical decision of adopting bold measures to carry the region forward or retreating to failed policies of the past, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo said during a keynote address at the Institute of the America’s 25th anniversary gala.
“This is the moment of truth. We have to recognize how difficult the situation is. We have to accept that we are going to have to adjust,” said Zedillo. “But we should not forget that relative to where we were 20 years ago, we have made a lot of progress. Instead of back pedaling this is a moment for moving forward with reforms.
” Zedillo, who now serves as director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, delivered his remarks to an audience of almost 500 business leaders and government officials who traveled from throughout the Western Hemisphere to join the Institute on November 15 for its 25th anniversary celebration.
A Yale-educated economist, Zedillo faced a crushing economic crisis shortly after assuming the Mexican presidency in 1994. During the early years of his administration, Mexico was plagued with soaring inflation, labor unrest, a decline in investor confidence and a prolonged recession.
By the time Zedillo left office in 2000, however, inflation was low and the peso was strong. In the final year of his administration, the economy surged 7 percent, making it the fastest-growing economy in Latin America.
In past economic crises, Latin America’s response has devastated the region and delayed efforts to deliver social programs to improve the lives of the region’s impoverished people, Zedillo said.
As Latin America faces the worst economic downturn in 50 years, the question once again facing Latin American countries is, “Are we going to worsen our circumstances and impair our future, or improve our prospects for growth and prosperity?
“At precisely those moments of truth most of our countries retreated, adopted the wrong policies and reacted the wrong way,” Zedillo said.
“We ended up being poorer countries than we were before. We fell behind and we fell behind while others were moving forward. This has had lasting consequences in our countries. It has taken too long to recover."
He noted the region has achieved impressive growth during the past two decades, giving Latin American countries the ability to withstand the crisis.
“If we overcome this new moment of truth we will emerge with a new strength and a new vitality,” Zedillo said. “Then it will be possible to say that Latin America, or most of Latin America, has taken the decision to be the region of the future and has become a model of the 21st century.” See Gala reception photos
COMMISSION CALLS ON U.S., LATIN TO BUILD 'GENUINE PARTNERSHIP' The Brookings Institution urged the U.S. and Latin America to build a “genuine and sustained partnership” in a comprehensive report released Nov. 24 by its Partnership for the Americas Commission.
The commission, which was first convened by the Brookings Institution in May 2008, is co-chaired by former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo and Thomas R. Pickering, a long-time diplomat and former under secretary of state.
The commission’s members are prominent U.S. and Latin American policy makers, including Jeffrey Davidow, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico and Venezuela who now heads the Institute of the Americas.
“The key challenges faced by the United States and the hemisphere’s other countries – such as securing sustainable energy supplies, combating and adapting to climate change and combating organized crime and drug trafficking – have become so complex and deeply transnational that they cannot be managed or overcome by any single country,” the report said.
“If a hemispheric partnership remains elusive, the costs to the United States and its neighbors will be high, in terms of both growing risks and missed opportunities.” To read the complete report by the Partnership for the Americas Commission,
click here
Bush and Schwarzenegger laud IOA for strengthening international relationships
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President
George W. Bush commended the Institute of the Americas for its efforts to “enhance progress and prosperity throughout the Western Hemisphere” in a letter commemorating the Institute’s 25 anniversary.
“International trade and cooperation strengthen our relationships with other countries, help advance peace around the world and contribute to economic growth,” President Bush wrote in a letter to IOA President Jeffrey Davidow. “By building mutual understanding between countries and expanding opportunities, you are helping write a hopeful new chapter in the history of our times.”
California Gov
. Arnold Schwarzenegger added his own congratulations in a letter that praised the IOA for its “innovative programs and research..”
“I commend your outstanding efforts to create partnerships across borders,” the governor wrote. “By promoting effective government policies and strengthening international relationships, you help ensure the success of our state and the Americas.”
Weaver elected IOA Chairman
David R. Weaver, the managing partner and chairman of
Intercap Institutional Investors LLC , has been elected Chairman of the Institute of the Americas’ board of directors. Weaver succeeds Gastón Luken, who served as chairman from 2002-2008.
"Ï see the Institute as an organization that can recognize an opportunity, organize and act on it," Weaver said. "I see us coming up with solutions that governments and businesses can build into a road map for the future."
Richard C. Hojel has been elected Vice Chairman of the Institute’s board of directors. Hojel is the chairman of the board of Mexico City-based
Corporación Frigus Therme.
The Institute of the Americas was honored by the Mexico Business Center with a Distinguished Service Award during a Sept. 10 ceremony in San Diego.
The IOA was recognized for “25 years of service to the Hemisphere” at an International Tribute Awards gala dinner hosted by the Mexico Business Center and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.
During the awards presentation, the IOA was praised for its leadership in bringing together representatives of government, civil society and business to improve the lives of people in the Americas. The Mexico Business Center credited a “small group of visionary men and women, led by Ambassador Theodore Gildred Jr. and UCSD Chancellor Richard Atkinson” for their determination “to create in San Diego a focal point for the United States’ relations with the rest of the hemisphere.”
The IOA was among five recipients of an International Tribute Award. Other awards presented during the ceremony attended by more than 100 people were:
International Tribute: Luis Tellez Kuenzler, Mexico’s secretary of communications and transportation. Tellez is overseeing the bidding process for the $4.8 billion Punta Colonet megaport and rail project south of Ensenada, which would provide a new route from Asian goods to American markets.
San Diego/Tijuana Citizen of the Year: Malin Burnham, chairman of the Project Smart Border 2010 Initiative and member of the Institute of the Americas board of directors.
Special Service to Region Awards: Ambassador Luis Cabrera and Minister Counselor David Stewart. Ambassador Cabrera was Mexico’s Counsel General in San Diego before his current posting as Mexican ambassador to South Africa. Minister Counselor Stewart was the United States Consul General in Tijuana before his posting to the U.S. Embassy in Berlin.
Outstanding Cultural Achievement Award: XLNC1, a classical music radio station that transmits from Tijuana and broadcasts from Chula Vista. The station, at 104.9 FM on the radio dial, plays the “top 400 classical hits from the past 400 years.”
EXPERTS SEE OPPORTUNITIES FOR LATIN AMERICA IN FOOD CRISIS
Nearly two dozen academic, business, financial and government experts met in August at the Institute of the Americas in La Jolla under the sponsorship of the Andean Finance Corporation (CAF) to discuss the alarming increase in food prices throughout Latin America and the Carribean (LAC). They noted that while the increase has been positive for major regional food producers, the majority of LAC countries are both net importers of food and fuel and have suffered a double disadvantage as prices of both have skyrocketed. Government and multilateral bank intervention to safeguard the poorest of the population is obviously needed.
But the situation also demands medium and short term policies to increase local food production to take advantage of the opportunities of higher producer prices. Many LAC countries have the resources -- abundant land, biodiversity and tradition -- to do so, but current policies do not encourage increased productivity. The experts also identified the use of foodstocks -- particularly corn in the United States -- as one of most significant causes for the rise in food prices and suggested policy changes in this regard.
Click here to read the full summary.
IOA FEATURED IN TELEVISA DOCUMENTARY
IOA President Jeffrey Davidow is a featured commentator in an hour-long Televisa documentary on the impact of the Latino vote in the U.S. presidential election.
“Voto Hispano 2008: Llego La Hora,” which was broadcast on the Televisa network in July, also included an interview with IOA Information and Communication expert Harrison Morrison on the role the Internet, text messaging and other technologies in reaching young Latino voters.
The documentary, which noted that 9 million Latinos are registered to vote in the U.S. presidential election, showed how the campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain are attempting to win those votes in the hard-fought presidential election.
“Make no mistake about it,” Obama said in a campaign speech to the National Council of La Raza. “The Latino community holds this election in its hands.”
To see the documentary,
click here
IOA ENREGY EXPERT JEREMY MARTIN TESTIFIES ON CAPITOL HILL
Institute of the Americas energy expert Jeremy Martin testified during a July 31 hearing before the congressional subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere on the production profile and the investment climate of major oil-producing nations in Latin America. With Latin America home to three of the largest suppliers of petroleum to the United States, Martin said the region’s major oil- and gas-producing nations have the existing and potential reserves to aid the hemisphere’s energy balance. Yet in many cases, Martin said, poor policy planning, regulatory hurdles and changing rules of the game can be more important than the geology of the country. To read a transcript of Martin’s testimony,
click here.
IOA PRESIDENT URGES RAPID CONGRESSIONAL ACTION TO PROTECT US CITIZENS ABROAD
In an op-ed piece published in the Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald and the San Antonio Express News, IOA President Jeffrey Davidow urged urgent congressional attention to a situation caused by a recent Supreme Court decision that weakens US adherence to the Vienna Convention on Consular Rights. That international treaty, signed by the United States and 170 other countries, guarantees detained foreigners access to their consular representatives. The Court ruled that the US Congress had not passed specific implementing legislation to put the treaty into force. Davidow warned that if the United States fails to support the treaty, other nations will feel less obliged to offer arrested US citizens the access to US consular officers.
Click here for the article. For more news on the IOA and commentary by the Institute's experts, click here
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