July 02, 2009
July 15, 2009
Prospects for Change: Obama’s International Economic Diplomacy
1:30pm – 5:00 pm
National Press Club, Washington, D.C.
Has the current economic crisis impacted how developing countries think about finance and trade? If the current crisis was partly triggered by radical financial deregulation and the shrinking of national policy space through new trade commitments, why are world leaders intent on signing more agreements and finishing the Doha Round of WTO talks? What are the implications of a massive re-capitalization of the International Monetary Fund?
Presenters in this session looked at how the economic crisis is impacting developing country economies, and what this means for the future of both the International Monetary Fund and the US “free trade” agreement (FTA) model.
Because the economic crisis has also overwhelmed many of the checks and balances built into democratic polities, this session delved into how the crisis has played out in Peru—the United States’ most recent FTA partner—and examines the prospects for countries in Latin America to pursue alternatives to IMF and FTA policies.
Keynote Presentation:
Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director, Center for Economic Policy Research
“The Global Economic Crisis and its Implications for Developing Countries”
Video
{youtube}1LnXarEuthY{/youtube}
2:30 – 3:45pm Panel Presentations:
Peter Riggs, Forum on Democracy & Trade — Foreign FTAs and Investor Rights
Lori Wallach, Public Citizen — Obama’s Agenda, or Bush’s Leftover Trade Agreements
Andrew Miller, Amazon Watch — A View from Peru
4 – 5pm Discussion Groups:
* Local and regional resistance movements—lessons from the Peruvian Amazon
* Rethinking rights and responsibilities of foreign investors in Latin America
* The future of the IMF in Latin America, and alternatives to the IMF
