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CAF-LSE Conference 2024: A PIVOT TO LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN?

Hosted by the LSE IDEAS

Shaw Library, Old Building, LSE, United Kingdom

This year seems to be the year where the world turns towards Latin America and the Caribbean. The region’s challenges and opportunities are becoming a more important concern – not only for the West, but especially for the rest.

Latin America and the Caribbean are a fundamental concern for the upcoming US elections. Issues that are intrinsically linked to Latin America and the Caribbean like nearshoring, immigration, and infrastructure investments are large-looming topics for the US election campaign. However, Asia and the Pacific also devote more attention to Latin America and the Caribbean. China’s Xi Jinping is bound to visit Peru in November, and the 2024 APEC Summit will also be held in Lima this year. South-South Cooperation is on the verge, which is also exemplified in Brazil’s G20 presidency this year, culminating with the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro in November.

The 2024 relaunch of the CAF-LSE Conference will explore what this “new pivot” to Latin America and the Caribbean will mean for the region and beyond. Hosted by the LSE Global South Unit and LSE IDEAS. Chaired by Professors Alvaro Mendez and Gareth Jones.

More information about the event

LSE IDEAS (@lseideas) is LSE's foreign policy think tank. Through sustained engagement with policymakers and opinion-formers, IDEAS provides a forum that informs policy debate and connects academic research with the practice of diplomacy and strategy.

Programme

14:00 –14:30 OPENING CEREMONY

  • Opening Remarks: Prof. Alvaro Mendez, Director, LSE Global South Unit at LSE IDEAS/IRD
  • Welcome Address: Prof. Larry Kramer, President, LSE
  • Keynote Address: Sergio Diaz Granados, President, CAF

14:30 – 16:00 FIRST PANEL: “LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN’S CLIMATE DIPLOMACY”

As outlined in the CAF RED2023 and RED2024, climate change, energy transition, and the preservation of biodiversity are an ever-increasing challenge for Latin America and the Caribbean. The deteriorating impacts of climate change also have consequences on social inequality in the region. Brazil’s current G20 presidency envisions to fight against inequality, promote sustainable environmental and social development, foreshadowing COP 30, which will also take place in Brazil. COP16 on biodiversity will also be held this year in Colombia, highlighting the region’s importance for coordinated international climate action. Latin America emerges as a new leader in climate diplomacy. The region’s management of natural resources, social inequality, and climate justice will be discussed in the first panel, as well as regional and international diplomatic efforts to coordinate climate policy in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Chair/Discussant: Prof. Gareth Jones, LSE Department of Geography and Environment

SPEAKERS

  • Prof. Kathryn Hochstetler, Department of International Development, LSE
  • Dr Irene Mia, Senior Fellow for Latin America, Conflict, Security and Development, IISS
  • Dr Alicia Montalvo, Manager Climate Change and Positive Biodiversity, CAF
  • Dr Denyse S. Dookie, Grantham Research Institute, LSE

16:00 – 16:30 COFFEE BREAK

16:30 – 18:00 SECOND PANEL: “A NEW ERA: LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN’S TURN TO ASIA?”

Over many years, Latin America and the Caribbean have been majorly influenced by the US. However, over the past two decades China has emerged as a new superpower, dominating the region, possibly securing a new sphere of influence. But China is not the only Asian nation that gained in importance in Latin America and the Caribbean. South-South cooperation appears to be a newly emerging trend. The second forum will discuss the challenges and opportunities of Latin America’s increasing interactions with Asia.

Chair/Discussant: Prof. Alvaro Mendez, Director LSE Global South Unit

SPEAKERS

  • Dr Laura Waisbich, South-South Cooperation Research and Policy Centre (Articulação SUL)
  • Dr Stacy Richards Kennedy, Regional Manager for the Caribbean, CAF
  • Prof. Gregory Chin, York University in Toronto
  • Margaret Myers, Director of the Asia and Latin America Program, Inter-American Dialogue
  • Prof, Chris Alden, Director LSE IDEAS

18:00 – 18:30 COFFEE BREAK

18:30 – 19:45 CLOSING ROUNDTABLE: FINANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT

This roundtable will take place at the Alumni Theatre at the Cheng Kin Ki (CKK) Building (54 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3LJ)

The Closing Roundtable will be a dialogue where solutions to the challenges of climate crisis and a changing world order will be debated from the perspective of development finance. Insights into how sustainable finance can be achieved in Latin America and beyond will be discussed. The dialogue will foreshadow the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), scheduled for 2025, in Spain.

The closing roundtable will revolve around how to shape the global financing agenda and advance sustainable development goals.

Chair: Dr Rohan Mukherjee, Associate Professor IRD & Deputy Director

IDEAS SPEAKERS 

  • Dr Sebastian Nieto, Head of Latin America and the Caribbean, OECD Development Centre
  • Dr Zhongjing Wang, CEO, Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF)
  • Dr Iliana Olivié, Senior Analyst, Real Instituto Elcano
  • Gabriel Felpeto, Vice President of Finance, CAF

CLOSING REMARKS

  • Dr Veronica Frisancho, Knowledge Manager, CAF
  • Prof, Chris Alden, LSE

19:45 – 20:30 WINE RECEPTION

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