Recap: GZERO Summit explores challenges and opportunities facing Latin America

Every year, Eurasia Group's GZERO Summits bring together hundreds of participants and top global speakers and business leaders for discussions on the major issues shaping our leaderless GZERO world. With coronavirus preventing in-person gatherings in 2020, Eurasia Group and B3 (Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão) launched the first ever virtual GZERO Summit Latin America on 14 and 15 December 2020, featuring interviews with heads of state and government officials as well as panel discussions with private sector leaders addressing the political and economic challenges facing Latin America.

Some key summit takeaways:

• The more difficult political troubles from Covid-19 are yet to come, even if global conditions buy some time: Not only has coronavirus hit Latin America particularly hard among emerging markets; the region might also be one of the slowest to rebound.
• Policymakers seem aware of these challenges: Speakers like Colombian President Ivan Duque, Argentine Economic Minister Martin Guzman, Mexican Economic Minister Arturo Herrera, and Brazilian Central Bank President Roberto Campos Neto all seemed keenly tuned in to the struggles ahead.
• Mexico and Brazil represent a sharp contrast in strategies: Brazil entered the pandemic with a high debt burden in comparison with other emerging market economics, but it was quite generous and aggressive in both its fiscal and monetary response. Mexico, on the other hand, entered the crisis with a more manageable debt burden, but it spent little on extraordinary measures to traverse a lockdown. Accordingly, the two countries face very different challenges ahead.
• The energy transition is starting to pick up steam, but this varies by country: Venezuela and Mexico are ill prepared, while Brazil and Chile are in a better position to invest in renewable energy. Brazil will encounter difficulties with the Biden administration given Biden's ambitious climate and energy transition agenda.
• US-China tensions will impact the region: Policymakers will hope to have their cake and eat it, too, benefiting from cheaper sources of funding and investment.

GZERO Summit Latin America included:

• Seven regional public sector leaders, including a president, ministers, a central bank president, and members of congress
• Leading private sector figures, who reflected on pressing issues like economic and fiscal challenges, the role of the business community in the post-pandemic recovery, geopolitical trends impacting the region, and business trends such as sustainable finance and low carbon transition
• More than 1,100 people who joined live from around the world
• Coverage in international media, including Bloomberg, La Nacion, El Informador, Poder 360, and Infobae

Thanks to everyone who made our first GZERO Summit Latin America a success. We look forward to gathering with you in person in 2021.