Source:
IGTN
Graciela Rodríguez
Mon Oct 26 2009
In September, the Ministry for Coordination of Economic Policy and the Technical Committee for the creation of a New Financial Architecture of the Ecuadorian Presidency organized the "Latin American Summit on Mechanisms for Cooperation and Trade, Financial and Monetary Integration" in Quito. The meeting was attended by the different actors from civil society and academia in South America, including the HAS – Hemispheric Social Alliance, to discuss the effects of the financial crisis in the region and establish a dialogue between the concerned countries of UNASUR.
This call followed up the process that started in 2007, when civil society in the region also participated in a debate, convened by the then UNASUR Pro-Tempore Presidency of Bolivia, to discuss the mechanism for the participation of civil society in the integration process. Indeed, and as a result of this debate and pressure from social movements in the region, the mechanism of social participation was finally included in the Constitutive Treaty of UNASUR, adopted at the Presidents Summit in Brasilia in May 2008.
Now, this seminar was an opportunity to get different analysis on the crisis from the social organizations of the continent and some intergovernmental public bodies such as ECLAC, UNCTAD, SELA, etc., trying to integrate efforts to think about regional integration and the development of a new regional financial architecture as an alternative way out of the global crisis, including helping to fuel this debate from the experiences encountered in the national levels.
Proposals such as the advancement of the provisions and standards for a Regional Development Bank, starting from the recent creation of the Bank of the South, the creation of a Regional Contingency Fund and the South American Monetary Union, and the launch of initial ideas for the formulation of a Court of Dispute Settlement, were among others, the proposals made and the in-depth discussions.
In the process of building the South American regional financial architecture, the Chiang Mai experience and the errors identified in the European case were considered, while the progressive political process that the region lives was also assessed as the appropriate landmark for this construction, despite the conflicts that cannot be left aside.
Finally, given the context of global economic politics and the international agenda for the last quarter of the year - with the WTO Ministerial Meeting and the UN Conference in Copenhagen - the discussions also contributed to the advancement of the regional positioning.
Related Information:
-> One more step in Latin American financial and trade integration
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