Remarks by Jorge Kamine

If we focus on the past sixty years, which coincides with the founding of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), we can unequivocally say that there have been a number of notable and successful examples of “multilateralism” in Latin America in the context of economic development and integration. This assumes we define “multilateralism” broadly as groups of countries in Latin America (1) cooperating or participating in institutions, organizations, and initiatives that include more than two countries; (2) which include among their goals or objectives the advancement of economic development or economic integration in the region; and (3) which have produced or resulted in some economic outcome or benefit for the participating countries that we generally believe could not have been achieved by one country alone. While this definition may not perfectly follow John Ruggie's definition, my formulation of the definition of “multilateralism” ensures that we do not overlook or discount important examples of institutions formed by Latin American states and other states that are based on principles to address issues of common concern, namely economic development in the region. The advances and benefits that have been achieved through these institutions have been significant even if the more ambitious (and perhaps more aspirational) goals over the years of certain Latin American political leaders of a broader inter-American political and economic integration modeled on the European Union or even the narrower (but also ambitious) goal of projects focused on economic integration, like the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), have not been fully achieved. Based on the definition that I have proposed of “multilateralism” with its focus on economic development, I would highlight some common features of the examples and cases where we have seen successful multilateralism and common features of the challenges that have been encountered in advancing multilateralist projects.