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OAS Secretary General Highlights “Unprecedented Opportunity” for Economic Growth in the Americas

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza, said today in a conference at the Palm Beach Strategic Forum, that there is an "unprecedented opportunity" in the coming years for sustained economic growth in the countries of the hemisphere.

At the event, organized by the International Economic Forum of the Americas, which brought together more than 70 global business leaders, politicians, and academics to discuss the topic "The Path to Economic Growth," Insulza delivered a keynote address on the state of economic integration in the Americas.

The leader of the regional body said that "as the hemisphere’s population approaches one billion, governments, business and international organizations have an unprecedented opportunity to work in partnership to position Latin American and Caribbean countries to maximize their individual and joint capacities to reap the benefits of deeper economic integration and to achieve sustained growth, stability and prosperity.”

In this regard, he highlighted the existence of "a newfound sense of optimism" largely due to "the fact that the economies bounced back so quickly (from the great recession of 2009) just one year after many of the leading economies experienced even negative growth rates.” In short, he said that “if you compare the region throughout the last decade, from 2002 to 2012, that period saw more growth than the two previous decades put together.”

The quick recovery that occurred in several countries was not solely due to the increase in prices of commodities, said the Secretary General, "but also to the fact that their economies were better prepared and were managed in a much better way than in previous crises.”

As for the economic integration of the region, the head of the hemispheric organization said that "hemispheric trade has grown substantially” in the last 20 years. “The countries of the Americas have signed over 80 free trade agreements” he said, adding that “the success of intra-regional trade agreements is such that by 2015 these agreements will have freed more than 95% of the covered products at the regional level.”

But the Secretary General warned that, despite the sense of optimism, the countries of the Americas face serious challenges, including a lack of domestic investment, adequate infrastructure, and a well-trained workforce. Poverty and inequality continue to be among the most serious problems facing the economies of the region, he affirmed.

In the area of democracy, the OAS leader emphasized that, "in Latin America, our democracies are not perfect, but the region has come a long way in recent decades." The challenge today, he insisted, is to "build on the improvements in democracy in the region, where today elections are clean, the majority of the citizens vote, and the results reflect the actual vote.”

Insulza acknowledged that governance faces challenges in the region, but stressed the progress made in the last decade and a half: "In the fifteen years from 1990 to 2005, eighteen elected governments ended their mandates prematurely, by coups, resignations in the midst of severe upheavals, or impeachments. From June 2005 to this day, only two such events have occurred," he said.

Institutional weaknesses in Latin America represent a challenge to democratic governance, the Secretary General continued, because "we have weak and poorly funded governments to address such serious problems." For that reason, he said, "government reform should start with fiscal reform that will increase government revenue and, at the same time, become a legitimate method for redistribution of revenue, as occurs in all countries of the developed world.”

Personalities from around the world are participating in the Forum, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica, A. J. Nicholson; the Minister of Energy and Mines of Nicaragua, Emilio Rappaccioli, the Governor of the State of Texas, Rick Perry; the Governor of the State of Florida, Rick Scott; former President of Bolivia, Jorge Quiroga; the Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland, Màr ​​Guômundsson; the Chairman of the Council of the Americas, John Negroponte; and the Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida’s 22nd district, Lois Frankel.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-130/13