08:00 - 08:30

Registration

08:35 - 08:45

Remarks by Sergio Díaz-Granados, Executive President of CAF

08:45 - 08:55

Remarks by José Raúl Mulino, President of Panama

08:55 - 09:05

Remarks by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil

09:05 - 09:15

Remarks by Pedro Heilbron, President of Copa Airlines

09:30 - 10:00

From Resilience to Growth: Macroeconomic Outlook 2026

This high-level dialogue will address how the region can sustain growth and attract investment in a more uncertain global environment, balancing macroeconomic stability and productive ambition. The conversation will focus on smart fiscal discipline, spending efficiency, and strategic investment for energy transition, infrastructure, and competitiveness. Taking a regional perspective, it will seek to identify shared priorities to strengthen confidence, expand fiscal space, and accelerate a cycle of sustainable expansion.

10:05 - 10:45

Economic Outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean: Between Stability and Growth

This panel offers a strategic overview of the economic landscape in Latin America and the Caribbean, focusing on the decisions that are defining the balance between macroeconomic stability and sustainable growth toward 2026. The conversation will address responsible debt management, spending efficiency, and public policy signals that strengthen confidence and drive investment, productivity, and economic diversification. The space will highlight how to preserve social progress while expanding the fiscal space to respond to a more demanding and uncertain global environment.

10:50 - 11:30

Rewriting the Rules of Trade: Challenges and Opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean

Multilateral trade is facing its greatest crisis since its creation, with rising protectionism, geopolitical tensions, and the search for strategic autonomy by the major powers. We will explore how LAC can navigate this new environment, rewrite its trade strategies, and take advantage of emerging opportunities. Leaders who have been at the center of global negotiations will discuss topics such as 21st-century trade agreements, regional value chains, digital trade, and sustainability. They will also discuss the potential role of LAC as a leader in more inclusive and sustainable trade.

17:00 - 17:40

Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe: towards a new shared strategic agenda

Amidst a changing international order, with tensions between major powers, wars, energy and food crises, and a green and digital transition underway, the relationship between Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe needs to take a qualitative leap forward. This panel will address how to build a new shared strategic agenda that transcends traditional cooperation frameworks and is based on mutual interests in trade and investment, energy and food security, climate action, digital transformation, and the defense of multilateralism.

17:45 - 18:25

United States - Latin America and the Caribbean: A Look at a Shared Future

A high-level bipartisan dialogue to align a shared vision of the US-LAC relationship at a time of redefinition of global priorities. With the complementary perspective of US senators, the conversation will seek to identify concrete principles and commitments to strengthen political trust, promote more effective cooperation, and build a modern, stable, and results-oriented economic agenda for both parties.

08:00 - 09:00

Registro

09:00 - 09:20

Remakrs by Daniel Noboa, President of Ecuador

09:20 - 09:30

Remarks by Joseph Oughourlian - Grupo Prisa

09:35 - 10:15

“A Century of Plenty” McKinsey Report

10:20 - 10:50

Transforming Growth: How AI and the Digital Economy Are Redefining Competitiveness - Michio Kaku

This keynote address will address the impact of artificial intelligence and the digital economy on productivity, employment, and economic competitiveness. Using empirical data from cutting-edge research, it will explore how AI is reshaping entire sectors of the economy, what skills and capabilities will be critical in the future of work, and how Latin America can avoid falling behind in this technological revolution. The presentation will offer insights on public policies, investment in human capital, and business strategies necessary for the region to take advantage of the opportunities of the digital economy while managing its disruptions.

11:40 - 12:00

Participation of Felipe Chapman, Minister of Finance of Panama

12:00 - 12:20

Participation of Javier Martínez-Acha Vásquez, Foreign Minister of Panama

12:25 - 13:05

Philanthropy for Development

This panel will bring together leading entrepreneurs and architects of the philanthropic ecosystem in Latin America and the Caribbean to demonstrate, through case studies and metrics, how strategic philanthropy—both corporate and family-based—can catalyze development in education, health, productivity, and social innovation, and how to scale its impact through public-private partnerships, impact investing, and blended finance mechanisms.

14:00 - 14:40

Commercial banking as an engine of development in Latin America and the Caribbean

This panel analyzes how commercial banking can consolidate its position as a key enabler of economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The conversation will focus on what is needed to deepen productive and long-term financing: clear rules, more sophisticated risk management, greater competition, macro stability, and better institutional quality. It will also explore how to coordinate private banking with development banking and the public sector to expand digitization, reduce access gaps, and scale up investments in housing, infrastructure, and productive transition.

14:45 - 15:25

Inclusion of the private sector in transportation projects

Latin America faces an investment gap of hundreds of billions of dollars in transportation infrastructure. Innovative public-private partnership (PPP) models in transportation projects will be discussed, from roads and ports to subways and urban mobility systems. Successful cases, lessons on contract design, risk mitigation, structured financing, and regulatory frameworks that attract private capital while maintaining the public interest will be brought to the table. Panelists will discuss how to structure bankable projects, the role of development finance institutions, and how to ensure transparency and social benefits in long-term concessions.

15:30 - 16:10

Clean Energy and Energy Transition

The global energy transition is a climate imperative and an unprecedented economic opportunity for Latin America. With abundant energy resources and critical reserves of lithium, copper, and other minerals essential for clean technologies, the region is positioned to be a key player in the global green economy. This panel brings together global energy and climate experts to discuss decarbonization strategies, financing the energy transition, developing critical mineral value chains, and how Latin America can industrialize around clean energy rather than just exporting raw materials. Challenges related to infrastructure, regulation, financing, and regional energy integration will be addressed.

16:15 - 16:55

The strategic minerals agenda in LAC

This panel will bring together key representatives from the main strategic mineral-producing countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to discuss how to transform the potential of resources such as lithium, copper, nickel, and rare earths into sustainable development, added value, and social inclusion. The conversation will address the challenges of designing stable regulatory frameworks, attracting long-term investment, promoting local production chains, and developing technological and industrial capacities in the region, while ensuring high socio-environmental and community relations standards. Based on concrete experiences, the discussion will focus on what should be the shared agenda for LAC in the face of the global energy transition, geopolitical competition for critical minerals, and the need for the region to move beyond being merely a supplier of raw materials to become a relevant player in the value chains of the green economy.

11:40 - 12:20

Blue Economy: leading ocean action from LAC

Latin America and the Caribbean, home to more than 25% of the world's marine biodiversity, have unique potential to lead the sustainable blue economy. This panel will bring together governments, multilateral organizations, and private sector actors to present initiatives that integrate ocean conservation, technological innovation, and inclusive economic development, addressing challenges such as the protection of corals and mangroves, sargassum management, conservation beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), the decarbonization of maritime transport, and the transition to sustainable ports. The dialogue will highlight how nature-based solutions and international cooperation can turn the ocean into an engine of climate resilience, green jobs, and regional competitiveness, to outline a Latin American blue action agenda with commitments to financing, innovation, and coordinated public policies.

12:25 - 13:05

Security and Development in the Face of the Challenge of Illegal Markets: Evidence, Cooperation, and Regional Action

The panel will focus on analyzing the relationship between security, illegal markets, and development, highlighting how organized crime and illicit economies have become a structural challenge to regional prosperity, affecting investment, institutional trust, social cohesion, and democratic governance. Through an evidence-based approach, the panel will highlight how initiatives such as DAVACrim make it possible to transform information into public policy, strengthen regional cooperation, and promote more comprehensive and sustainable citizen security strategies.

14:00 - 14:40

The digital leap in LAC: innovation, productivity, cybersecurity, and new investment opportunities

Digital transformation represents a unique opportunity for Latin America to accelerate its development and close productivity gaps. The panel will explore how the region is leveraging digital technologies in sectors such as fintech, e-commerce, agtech, healthtech, and digital services. Entrepreneurship ecosystems, digitization policies, digital infrastructure, modern regulatory frameworks, and investment opportunities in the Latin American digital economy will be discussed. Panelists will analyze how digitization can boost business productivity, create quality jobs, and position Latin America as an exporter of digital services and technology solutions.

14:45 - 15:25

South-South Connection: CELAC-Africa partnerships towards new global leadership

It is a strategic look at the historic opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Latin America and the Caribbean and African countries as a growing axis of influence on the international stage. The regions of the Global South share challenges and capabilities that can be mutually enhanced. The dialogue will examine how CELAC and Africa can build economic, technological, and political alliances that promote productivity, innovation, food security, climate resilience, and shared value chains. It will also explore mechanisms to deepen South-South cooperation, diversify strategic partners, and project a joint voice in global debates on sustainable development, international governance, and finance for development.

15:30 - 16:10

The Voice of the Private Sector: priorities for development and competitiveness in LAC

This panel offers a strategic perspective on the role of the private sector in the economic transformation of Latin America and the Caribbean. Faced with a changing global environment (marked by technological advances, energy transition, and new geopolitical dynamics), the region needs to prioritize productivity, innovation, and a stable investment climate. The conversation will address the main obstacles and opportunities for improving competitiveness, boosting formal employment, and taking advantage of trends such as nearshoring. The goal is to outline a clear and practical business agenda that contributes to more dynamic, sustainable, and integrated growth in LAC.

16:15 - 16:55

Taking Off Toward the Future: Airport Infrastructure and Air Connectivity in LAC

This panel will address the paradox of aviation and tourism in Latin America: a region with world-class destinations, unique biodiversity, exceptional cultural heritage, and a middle class that wants to travel more, but with outdated airport infrastructure and air connectivity. Based on this gap, the conversation will explore how to transform Latin American airports into true catalysts for economic development, regional integration, and tourism competitiveness, analyzing successful models of modernization and expansion via PPPs and concessions, strategies to strengthen intra- and interregional connectivity, regulatory frameworks that promote competition and efficiency, and the synergy between aviation, tourism, investment, and employment. The panel will propose viewing airports not only as transportation infrastructure, but as economic ecosystems that position cities and regions in global networks.

11:00 - 11:40

Rail infrastructure as a driver of connectivity and economic growth in the region

Freight and passenger rail projects are fundamental to Latin America's physical integration, but they require massive investments and long maturation periods. This panel brings together government authorities and multilateral financiers to discuss innovative financial structures, development bank participation, green bonds, PPPs in railways, and regional coordination. South American integration projects, bi-oceanic corridors, and mass urban transport systems will be explored. Panelists will discuss challenges of financial viability, institutional design, coordination between countries, and how to mobilize the capital needed to develop the rail network that Latin America needs.

12:30 - 13:10

The Voice of the Private Sector: priorities for development and competitiveness in LAC

This is a strategic look at the role of the private sector in the economic transformation of Latin America and the Caribbean. Faced with a changing global environment (marked by technological advances, energy transition, and new geopolitical dynamics), the region needs to prioritize productivity, innovation, and a stable investment climate. The conversation will address the main obstacles and opportunities for improving competitiveness, boosting formal employment, and taking advantage of trends such as nearshoring. The goal is to establish a clear and practical business agenda that contributes to more dynamic, sustainable, and integrated growth in LAC.

14:30 - 15:10

Returns that transform: the impact investing revolution

Impact investing is transforming the global financial landscape, demonstrating that it is possible to generate attractive financial returns while creating measurable positive social and environmental impacts. This panel brings together pioneers of impact investing in Latin America to explore how this ecosystem is evolving, which sectors offer the best opportunities (financial inclusion, health, education, sustainable agriculture, clean energy), how impact is measured and verified, and what regulatory frameworks and investment vehicles are emerging. Success stories, scaling challenges, mobilization of institutional capital toward impact investing, and the future of purpose-driven finance in the region will be presented.

15:15 - 15:55

Agriculture and Food for Sustainable Transformation in LAC

This panel explores how Latin America and the Caribbean can mobilize and scale up the financing needed to transform their agri-food systems toward more sustainable, resilient, and regenerative models. Based on specific experiences in the region, the panel will discuss how to combine public, private, and international cooperation investments to drive productive, technological, and institutional innovations that increase productivity without compromising natural resources. Emphasis will be placed on ensuring food and economic security for the most vulnerable populations by promoting inclusive value chains, climate-smart agriculture, and better policy frameworks and incentives.

11:00 - 11:40

Mobilizing Investment for Development: New Opportunities and Challenges for LAC

This panel will analyze how Latin America and the Caribbean can accelerate the mobilization of investment for development in a global environment that rewards speed, scale, and certainty. The conversation will focus on the critical conditions for attracting long-term productive capital: stability and clear rules, robust and bankable project portfolios, more effective PPP schemes, deeper capital markets, and risk management aligned with sustainability criteria. With the perspective of public and private actors, the panel will seek to establish a practical agenda for converting strategic opportunities into real investment, employment, and productivity.

11:45 - 12:25

New horizons: LAC facing Asia and the Middle East

In an increasingly multipolar world, Latin America has the opportunity to diversify its economic and geopolitical relationships beyond its traditional partners. This panel will explore the prospects for economic, trade, technological, and investment cooperation between Latin America and the dynamic regions of Asia and the Middle East. Panelists will analyze the complementarities between these regions, opportunities in trade, infrastructure, energy, and technology, as well as cultural, logistical, and regulatory challenges.

12:30 - 13:10

Cities, digitization, and innovation

This panel brings together mayors from Latin America and the Caribbean to discuss how digital transformation translates into concrete changes in everyday life and greater urban competitiveness. It will analyze how cities are using data and technologies to integrate interoperable public services, improve mobility, strengthen citizen security, modernize tax collection and land registration, promote environmental management, and leverage public procurement of innovation. The dialogue will focus on local political leadership, digital governance models, partnerships with the private sector, and remaining barriers, with the aim of showing what makes a digital city also a more inclusive, sustainable, and attractive city for investment.

14:30 - 15:10

Water and the future: the urgent agenda for water security in Latin America and the Caribbean

A high-level dialogue to put water at the center of development: how Latin America and the Caribbean are ensuring water security in the face of droughts, floods, and watershed degradation, while expanding universal access to water and sanitation, decarbonizing their systems, protecting ecosystems, and closing urban-rural gaps. The conversation will focus on three areas: i) governance and regulatory frameworks that integrate watershed management, human rights to water, and cross-border coordination; ii) investment and finance (tariffs, PPPs, blended finance) for gray infrastructure and nature-based solutions; iii) innovation and data.

15:15 - 15:55

Launch of the report Unlocking Growth in a Changing World for Latin America and the Caribbean

This panel will present the main findings of a report that argues that Latin America and the Caribbean remain trapped in a pattern of incomplete development, marked by historically low GDP per capita growth, large productivity gaps with advanced economies, and deep territorial inequalities. In a global context of green, digital, and demographic transitions, and growing geopolitical and protectionist uncertainty, the region faces the challenge of promoting a comprehensive growth agenda that combines greater accumulation of physical and human capital with strong productivity gains. The discussion will focus on three pillars: reducing informality, increasing innovation, and improving the level and sophistication of international integration, taking advantage of natural wealth and the role of services as drivers of productive diversification and quality employment. The panel will also examine the capacities of national and subnational governments to design, finance, and implement this agenda in an environment of fiscal constraints, with the aim of removing barriers to growth and advancing toward truly comprehensive development in the region.