Latin American businessmen asked to direct cooperation efforts between the private sector, governments, and cooperation agencies to aim at the recovery of employment in Latin America, hard hit by the crisis derived from the global pandemic of covid-19.
This was expressed during the first Extended Meeting of the Business Council of Latin America (CEAL), held in-person in Washington after three years of virtual meetings, with the participation of more than 120 businessmen who are members of the Council, as well as directors of the Financial Corporation International (IFC) and World Bank (WB), guests from the US Government and academics.
The president of CEAL International, Roberto Zambrano, indicated that in “collaboration with the IFC, we will seek to launch initiatives that promote development driven by the private sector and coordinate regional efforts, mainly with regard to the generation of jobs in Latin America to stop migration and make this region a more competitive area”.
In this sense, the managing director of the IFC, Makhtar Diop, and Paulo de Bolle, senior global director of the Group of Financial Institutions of the World Bank, reaffirmed their commitment to promote more investments from the private sector in Latin America and the Caribbean and to prioritize key issues such as climate change, digital innovation, and social inclusion.
In relation to migration and the creation of jobs in Latin America under the “nearshoring” or relocation modality, particularly in Central America, those attending the Extended Meeting “discussed, together with US government authorities, the CEAL proposal to generate full employment in this region by establishing incentives to attract American companies that are currently in China.
The CEAL assured that “this initiative could transform the economic activity of Latin America.”
The business meeting also explained “the Think Huge initiative and its proposal to generate sustainable jobs as a measure to reduce one of the causes of illegal migration to the United States.”
The Ecuadorian President, Guillermo Lasso, took part in this Extended Meeting, speaking of the strategies and plans of his Government “to transform Ecuador into a country of opportunities, as well as the commitment to develop reforms that favor investment and employment to generate greater prosperity”.
The author of the book “China Engages Latin America: Distorting Development and Democracy?” (China Engages in Latin America: Distorting Development and Democracy?), R. Evan Ellis PhD., “recounted his view on the impact in Latin America of China’s efforts to dominate global value chains, with political components, technological and military support”.
Within the framework of this first Extended Meeting, the CEAL members visited the Amazon offices in Washington, where they attended the presentations on the “AWS Innovation Culture”, and “Digital Innovation”.
CEAL was founded 33 years ago and is made up of business leaders who encourage the participation of the private sector in the socio-economic development of their countries, regional integration, and educational cohesion, according to information from the organization.
CEAL members are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, the Iberian Peninsula, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela.