San Salvador, El Salvador - Latin America and Spain on
Thursday at the 18th Iberian American Summit in San Salvador demanded
a greater presence in global financial decisions at a time of crisis.
Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Argentina, among other countries,
called for a fairer multilateral world order that would take into
account the views of emerging countries in the face of a crisis that
developed in industrialized nations and threatens to hit developing
countries particularly hard.
'The crisis has made the under-representation of emerging
economies in the governing of multilateral credit institutions
unsustainable,' said Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.
Bachelet promoted a special declaration on financial turbulences
that the summit is set to sign on Friday.
She said the current condition of the world economy has exposed
'the absence of an active role from international institutions
created in Bretton Woods,' referring to the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
She further stressed that reform 'must include the views and the
vision of emerging and developing countries.'
A model that was believed 'indestructible' has failed, said
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, while Brazil's
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pointed out that global financial
institutions failed to predict the current crisis.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said any
redefinition of the role of the IMF and other organizations must
reflect 'the new geopolitical reality.' To his great displeasure,
Zapatero has not been invited to the emergency economic summit of the
G-20 that the United States is hosting in Washington on November 15.
'This crisis cannot be tackled without an effort of international
coordination, and effort which would be unfair if it did not count on
the participation of developing countries,' Lula said.
'It is necessary to refound the mechanisms of global governance
with a greater participation from developing countries. We cannot
accept a decision-making process which practically excludes us,' he
said.
Bolivian President Evo Morales, a left-wing populist, noted that
'some want to save capitalism.' He stressed, however, that
capitalism, with its faults in the fields of the economy, energy and
the environment, 'will never be useful for development.' In this
context, he too called for a democratization of the world economy.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon said the current crisis sprung
from the false premise that financial systems can regulate themselves
and from excessive risk-taking.
'They say it is the worst crisis since 1929. It's true, with the
difference that in 1929 there was no global economy like the one we
have now,' he noted.
Calderon called for the creation of a new international order that
allows for a balanced design between the market and the state, with
much more strict supervision and regulation.
He further said that Latin America needs to ensure that it will
remain on the receiving end of investment flows, by becoming more
attractive than other regions around the world. In this context, he
called for greater regional economic integration.
'Latin America today has to consume Latin American products, to be
able to integrate our markets much faster,' he said.
'We need Iberian America to support Iberian America,' Calderon
stressed.
The 18th Iberian American Summit was discussing a draft
declaration on the global economic outlook that blamed industrialized
countries for the crisis and expressed the region's commitment to
protecting jobs, investment and credit.
Further, it made a call to keep promoting social policies and
demanded the urgent success of the Doha Round of talks at the World
Trade Organization (WTO).
USA
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