Contributions from Jason Marczak
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez called for passage of the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement and improvements in Cuba’s human rights at COA's annual Washington Conference on the Americas. He announced a May 21, 2008 White House event to “shine a spotlight” on political prisoners in Cuba.
In the opening remarks at the 2008 Washington Conference, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon emphasized the “ultimately positive and hopeful” transformations that are occurring across the Americas and the importance of the U.S. to build policies around these changing dynamics.
Speaking at the 38th Washington Conference on the Americas, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn called for increased private and public investment and greater productivity as key factors for sustaining recent economic growth. A rebalancing of China’s exchange rate and policies to reduce the growth in food prices will be some of the next challenges facing the region and the world.