The Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) and CAF (Development Bank of Latin America) presented the prize to the Argentine winner of the second edition of the university essay contest Ideas for the future. Nazarena Marano Suffern, a graduate of the University of Buenos Aires and a student at the Torcuato Di Tella University, presented the essay Rethinking Latin America’s Free Trade Agreements: A Tool to Increase Exports?
The certificate of recognition was delivered by authorities of the BCRA and CAF. During the ceremony, held virtually, the Deputy General Manager of Economic Research of the BCRA, Germán Feldman, pointed out that “the thematic axes of this year’s award became even more relevant in the current context of the pandemic: how to avoid falling into the middle-income trap; how to balance the social agenda with macroeconomic stability; how to establish adequate mechanisms for the expression of social discontent; what areas are urgent to accelerate the region’s development; how to make SMEs more competitive and offer higher quality employment”.
Santiago Rojas, CAF’s representative in Argentina, highlighted the relevance of the award. “Together with the BCRA, we seek to promote attentive training on the problems of the region, which allows the exchange and generation of ideas taking advantage of the great talent existing in young people,” said Rojas.
In her essay, the author highlights the role that exports have played in the literature dedicated to the structural problems of development in Latin America and proposes answers to the question of whether it is possible to think of export development policies solely from the external agenda. In his work, Marano Suffern reviews some elements that intervene in this debate and that are useful for thinking about the region’s trade agenda in the coming years.
The Ideas for the Future contest, organized by CAF in conjunction with the BCRA, aims to collect the vision of young university students on the development challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean. The national winners of the 19 CAF member countries will compete for three prizes at the Ibero-American level, within the framework of the CAF Conference, which will take place in Mexico City, on November 6, 2020.
