Mexico hosts finance talk for Americas
By Patrick Moser
MEXICO CITY (AFP): Mexico, a staunch defender of globalization, is set to host a major meeting of finance ministers and multilateral institutions that will notably discuss financial crises, debt management and poverty.
The meeting, to be held at the Caribbean resort of Cancun on Thursday, will bring together ministers from across the Americas -- with the exception of Cuba -- as well as the heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
It will come a few days after Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, lauded global trade as a boon to the poor, lashed out at what he called "globophobes" and warned that strict environmental and labor standards would rob poorer countries of their competitive edge.
In his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zedillo said that any country that overcame poverty did so "by participating in globalization."
In his opening statements in Cancun, World Bank President James Wolfensohn is due to address the region's efforts to alleviate poverty.
IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus and Interamerican Development Bank President Enrique Iglesias are also scheduled to speak at the opening session, discussing the continent's economic situation and efforts to integrate its economies.
It will be the third such gathering of the 34 finance ministers from the western hemisphere since the December 1994 Summit of the Americas in Miami, Florida, launched the idea of creating by 2005 a massive free trade area ranging from Alaska to Tierra de Fuego.
"This Third Meeting of Finance Ministers is an excellent opportunity to increase international cooperation and move ahead in the process of economic integration of the continent," the Mexican Finance Ministry said in a statement.
Among the key topics on the agenda is the role of the private sector in resolving financial crises. Mexican Finance Minister Jose Angel Gurria says that while private sector financial institutions are often behind such crises, it is the taxpayer who ends up paying for the broken eggs.
"This issue of how to involve the private sector in the solution of problems, which in a good measure have been created by the private sector itself at an international level, is a question that has not been resolved and that will continue to be explored," Gurria told officials preparing Thursday's meeting.
He cited the example of the recent financial turmoil in southeast Asia, as well as the 1994-1995 peso crisis in Mexico, which was followed by a US$65 billion bailout of banks, many of which had gone on a lending spree, offering credit to high-risk companies or consumers.
Discussions will also center on ways to ensure more stability of the international financial system, in a bid to avert global crises. "This will mainly imply discussion of the strengthening of regulation and supervision of financial systems," said Gurria.
Debt management is also on the agenda, with several Latin American countries likely to call for restructuring of their foreign debt.
Participants will also discuss currency systems, though Gurria stressed the idea was not to determine which is the best, but to discuss the experiences the various countries have had with their respective exchange rate regimes.
The agenda also includes discussion of white collar crimes such as corruption, tax evasion and money laundering.