Britain's
Prime Minister Cameron stands with other leaders during the family photo
session of the G20 Summit in Seoul (Courtesy Reuters).
2012 will
be a year to watch Latin
America’s rising role on the multilateral stage. The hints of Latin
America’s growing stature were already there in 2011. In November,
International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Christine Lagarde toured the region, meeting
with Brazil, Mexico and Peru to ask for help (and extra funds) to stabilize
Europe and the eurozone. But 2012 will be the real stage, as both Mexico and
Brazil – the region’s largest economies – take the reins.
The first
stage will showcase Mexico’s role at the helm of the G20. Its year of
leadership will culminate in the annual summit to be held in Los Cabos in June
2012. Given the eurozone crisis, fights over currency valuations, and volatile
financial markets, the path will be choppy at best. Mexico ambitiously
wants the issues of the estructure of international financial regimes, food
security and financial inclusion all on the table, with the goal of
transforming, at least somewhat, the role and mandate of this vital
multilateral institution for the future.
The second
major event will be the 2012 Earth Summit to be held in Rio De Janeiro
(just one day after the Group of Twenty meet). It commemorates the first
groundbreaking 1992 Earth Summit (also in Rio), where the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted, and which still
forms the basis of the global climate change regime today. But the Brazilians
hope for more — to push forward with international negotiations, perhaps even
setting the agenda for the next twenty years. There are real doubts as to what
can actually be achieved (particularly given what little happened in Durban,
South Africa, which hosted the last UNFCCC negotiation late last November).
But, whatever the odds stacked against it, Brazil will be at the fore, burnishing
both its environmental credentials as well as its aspirations for global
leadership.
Neither
climate change nor world financial stability are easy sells today. But both
depend on multilateral actions. And whether progress is made in 2012 will very
much depend on the leadership of Latin America.
Taken from
Latin Intelligence credits,
Published
in conjunction with Latin America’s Moment at the Council on
Foreign Relations.
Posted on January 6th, 2012 in Brazil,
México
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