The president of the United States, Joe Biden, inaugurated this Wednesday in Los Angeles the ninth Summit of the Americas, where he hopes to seduce the region’s leaders with financing and with the intention of opening an era of closer cooperation with Latin America.
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During his speech, he urged the leaders of the continent to unite to verify that democracy “is the essential ingredient for the future”as an implicit response to the exclusions of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.
Biden came to this Summit, the most important forum in the region, with hardly any good intentions, and a promise to open a dialogue with the countries of the continent to see how to move forward.
In his speech, he called for the “responsibility” of the countries regarding the migration crisis, one of the most critical issues in the region and for which his government has been strongly criticized.
“Safe and orderly immigration is good for our economies, including the United States. But irregular immigration is unacceptable,” he added.
To achieve this goal, the Democrat announced the signing of the Los Angeles Declaration on migration, which “will represent a commitment by all to find a reasonable solution and improve stability.”
Alliance for Economic Prosperity in the Americas
In turn, by officially opening the summit, Biden sought to turn the page by publicizing an initiative that the White House created exclusively for the event: the ‘Alliance for Economic Prosperity in the Americas’, a new regional economic pact.
“This historic agreement will be essential to deepen our economic cooperation”, indicated senior White House officials when presenting the new vision.
Despite the pomp of the presentation, Biden’s plan for Latin America does not currently have figures or concrete measures, or any major commitment from the United States for the region.
Following the conclusion of the Summit of the Americas, the Biden administration said it would open “formal negotiations” with countries in the hemisphere, likely by the end of this year, in the early fall, and starting with the “closest partners.” kindred”.
“We’re looking at this as the beginning of a conversation that we want to have with, obviously, a set of countries in the region, really starting with our closest economic partners,” Democratic administration officials said.
The plan has five pillars. The first seeks to “revitalize” the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and its private arm, IDB Invest.
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The effort is far from new. The region has been locked in a discussion about the need to recapitalize the IDB practically since President Mauricio Claver-Carone, now under investigation for an ethics scandal, took over as president of the bank.
This historic agreement will be essential to deepen our economic cooperation
The second is to have “more resilient” supply chains. The third is “to explore how to broaden participation in the formal economy”. The fourth is to advance in the decarbonization of the economy and the improvement of biodiversity.
The last pillar is to guarantee “inclusive and sustainable trade” with the development of new customs, digital trade, labor, environmental and corporate responsibility regulations.
Biden’s new economic proposal for the region joins another initiative that the White House had presented at the G-7 summit in the middle of the previous year, called Build Back Better World (BW3), which sought to create an ambitious infrastructure agenda global for emerging and developing countries.
So far, the White House has also made no concrete progress with that plan beyond initial aspirations. The new initiative to strengthen economic ties with the region comes at a time when China is making steady progress in the region, both in trade with the countries of the continent and in its infrastructure projects with its ‘Belt and Road’ strategic plan. .
Concern over China
Washington views China’s advance in Latin America with suspicion and concernbut has so far not offered a solid strategy to compete with the Asian giant.
Experts and officials in the region often point out that the United States lacks the resources to compete with Beijing, but also shows no interest or political will to go out and play as equals in a region that many see as too fragmented and in turmoil, without reliable partners. .
Without companies of its own like China, the US government chose to encourage investment from private companies. In fact, the Biden administration has made it clear that his strategy for the region is to forge “partnerships” in which private capital plays a central role and leads the effort to strengthen ties.
RAFAEL MATHUS RUIZ
THE NATION, ARGENTINA
GDA
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