Financing for Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Since the early 1990s, the nations of Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) have joined other developing countries in an effort to bring the issue of financing for development to the agenda of the United Nations. Although the discussion had begun earlier in the 1980s in the context of the North-South Dialogue, it was not until 1997, when a financial crisis hit many developing countries, that a decision was made to convene an international forum. What is the role and what are the sensitivities and perspectives of LAC in regard to financing for development? Financing for Development in Latin America and the Caribbean attempts to provide a comprehensive answer to this question, taking into account the need to prevent external crisis in the future, to reduce the vulnerability of the reigion, to reform the international finanicial system, and to minimize the social impact of these factors.

Andres Franco is Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations in New York.