Inter-American Dialogue 30th Anniversary Dinner
Remarks of Robert B. Zoellick, President, World Bank Group
Introduction
Thank you for the honor of your invitation to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Inter-American Dialogue.
The origins of this Dialogue stretch back to a discussion between Peter Bell and Abe Lowenthal on a park bench.
Peter and Abe were disturbed by the breakdown in inter-American exchanges during the Falklands/Malvinas war, and by the lack of ties with the rising democrats of Latin America. So they discussed bringing together leaders from across the hemisphere to set a new inter-American agenda. The Dialogue held its first ad hoc conference in late 1982.
Today, 30 years later, Latin America’s very success offers the opportunity to remake that Hemispheric partnership around new pillars:
· A revived free trade policy that will aid structural reforms for growth in all our countries;
· An energy transformation, ending the Hemisphere’s energy dependency;
· A new diplomacy infused with private sector pragmatism to solve public problems;
· Shared security; and
· The first Democratic Hemisphere.
|