Regional integration and foreign trade are crucial to consolidate growth in the region and eradicate poverty, said Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) at a regional meeting on Aid for Trade for Latin America and the Caribbean being held on 13 and 14 September in Lima, Peru.
Entitled "Mobilizing Aid for Trade: Focus Latin America and the Caribbean," the conference was organized by the IDB and World Trade Organization (WTO), in association with the World Bank and government of Peru, to highlight activities in the region under the Aid for Trade initiative launched in December 2005 at the WTO's Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong.
The purpose of this event is to help governments, donors and the private sector meet specific trade-related challenges in the region, prioritize Aid for Trade needs and find joint solutions to trade challenges.
"We all share the same objective of promoting job creation, economic growth and social welfare," said Moreno in his opening address. "What can we do to consolidate the growth currently being posted in the region? Few people would disagree that we need to invest the windfall from this bonanza into bringing the benefits of growth to the poor equitably and sustainably. And integration is one of many ways of doing so, considering that trade accounts for over 50 percent of GDP in all but five countries in Latin America and the Caribbean."
Without foreign trade it would be impossible to maintain employment, finance imports, sustain foreign debt payments and ensure exchange rate stability. It would also be impossible to eradicate poverty, Moreno added.
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