International Meeting of Economists addresses the global economic crisis

Havana is currently playing host to its 11th International Meeting of Economists from March 2-6. This year’s conference is on “Globalization and Development Problems,” zeroing in on the current fiscal and economic crisis. Apparently, the event has drawn around 1,500 participants from 50+ nations. Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is in attendance (and provided the opening keynote address yesterday), as is Dominican President Leonel Fernandez; and Three Nobel Prize winners in Economics from the United States are among the many other distinguished attendees—Robert Mundell and Edmund Phelps of Columbia University, and Robert Engle of New York University.

Dr. Esther Aguilera, the vice president of Cuba’s National Association of Economists and Accountants (ANEC) and president of the Forum Academic Committee, assured press that the panels and speakers in the conference would present a number of varying viewpoints, as presenters have come from a range of world regions and a range of traditions. Some will argue in favor of neoliberalism, some will present entirely new models for development.

One focus of the forum will be on the pursuit of effective integration in the financial, productive, energy and environmental spheres as a way to respond to the crisis. Latin America has long struggled with goals of integration, and this conference will seek to again spur the side of political will to cooperate.

Leaders from the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), the Latin American Association of Integration (ALADI) and other organizations will participate, as well.