While we continue to act locally and regionally to provide good governance, uphold democracy and facilitate economic growth, we have to think globally and take common action. It is estimated that at present about 40 percent of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean are below the poverty line. There is obviously urgent need for change. We do not see democracy, regional integration, free trade and economic growth as ends in themselves. For even in democracies, it is possible to have economic growth with the rich getting richer at the expense of the poor.
Democracy is essential for economic growth and human development.
Equally, human development is necessary for the sustenance of democracy. Free trade, by itself, does not bring universal prosperity. Nothing in theory or in practice tells us this is so. The net costs and benefits to the constituent parts are very different. The weaker and smaller economies cannot be equal partners in hemispheric free trade, even allowing for longer phasing-in periods.