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The «Global Forum @ Casa de Campo: Trends in a world of transformation» concluded with a reiteration of the call for regional integration and international solidarity to successfully face the harmful effects and new challenges that are generating the coronavirus pandemic on a global scale.  The conclusions of the Forum were presented by the former president of the Dominican Republic and president of the Global Democracy and Development Foundation (Funglode), Dr. Leonel Fernández, and the journalist and writer Juan Luis Cebrián, on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 30.  “We must seek new ways to ensure that the entire population is vaccinated,” proclaimed Fernández, after considering that only in this way will it be possible to prevent new variants of the virus from emerging.  The former president indicated that the current situation is complex, and to face it successfully requires a return to regional integration and international solidarity at all levels.  On his side, Cebrián also appealed to the joint efforts in the face of a crisis that, according to what he said, it is not known when it will end.  “The solidarity that is claimed will have to have a consequence: the release of patents on vaccines,” he said. Cebrián stated that if patents are not released, it will be difficult to get the world’s population vaccinated.  The forum video is available on the YouTube channel Funglode Multimedia

Final panel of experts 

The final intervention by Fernández and Cebrián was preceded by a face-to-face and virtual panel in which Melani Cammett, professor and researcher at Havard University ; Daniel Titelman, head of the Economic Development Division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) , and Raúl Féliz, professor at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) , of Mexico, with Emil Chireno as moderator, director of the Council of International Relations of Funglode.  Dr. Cammett affirmed that the crisis of the coronavirus pandemic has generated a dangerous trend for democracy in the world, since many citizens are thinking that autocratic governments are more effective than democratic ones, because of the way they have faced the situation.  While Titelman, who participated in a virtual way, affirmed that the social crisis in the region does not show signs of a solution and that, on the contrary, it continues to generate uncertainty, since poverty is increasing, as well as inequality and other ills not. less worrisome.  While Raúl Feliz, professor at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE), in Mexico, stated that to recover investment and employment, a strategic look is required for the immediate future.   “Fiscal policy must accelerate public investment and encourage, attract and complement private investment,” he stressed. 
* Information and photos courtesy of funglode.org/