CAF will hold its 24th Annual Conference on 9, 10 and 11 September

Although the pandemic is hitting Latin America hard, it is time to look for solutions and start recovering from the difficult situation that has brought about 2020. With this objective in mind, CAF will organise its 24th Annual Conference on 9, 10 and 11 September, according to the organisation in a note sent to the media. More than 30 experts from different sectors in Latin America will discuss the main challenges facing the region at the current juncture.

The event has been convened by CAF, the Inter-American Dialogue and the Organization of American States (OAS), and will address the effects and opportunities that the COVID-19 pandemic presents to improve the well-being of the population and the complexity of the region, among other issues. The conference will include businesspeople, academics and authorities from the region, who will discuss around six sessions during the three days of the event: 

- Wednesday 9: Post-Covid-19 Economic Recovery and the Future of the Social Contract in the Americas. 
- Thursday 10: Successes and failures: our health systems under pressure; a conversation on the coronavirus, climate change and the environment: what challenges for Latin America and the Caribbean; opportunities and risks of the digital transformation in the region.  
- Friday 11: politics in times of pandemic: the impact on democracy and the rule of law in Latin America; and the US presidential elections: implications for Latin America and the Caribbean.

 
The 24th Annual CAF Conference will be attended by leaders such as Luis Lacalle Pou, President of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay; Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Prize winner for economics; Carissa F. Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Regional Director for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO); Carmen Reinhart, Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank Group; Paula Santilli, Executive Director of PepsiCo Latin America; Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Luis Carranza, Executive President of CAF; Michael Shifter, President of the Inter-American Dialogue; and Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS). 

Panelists who will also participate include Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., co-chair of the Inter-American Dialogue and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs; Luis Felipe López Calva, regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Programme; Rebeca Grynspan, Ibero-American Secretary General (SEGIB) and former Vice President of Costa Rica; and Brigitte Baptiste, rector of EAN University and former director of the Alexander Von Humboldt Biological Resources Institute.