With record-breaking attendance and participation—exceeding 4,000 attendees and 50 debate panels, alongside the presence of prominent figures—this forum proved beyond doubt that Latin America (and the Caribbean) is claiming its own global space. 

As expected, geopolitical shifts, polarization, and the democratic decline occurring in numerous countries served as the backdrop for a forum where we heard, almost unanimously, cries for help regarding the urgency and necessity of regional integration—both as an antidote and an opportunity. 

This historic—and perpetually frustrated—longing for integration was followed by another series of calls for help from speakers, panelists, and attendees across all sectors regarding the need for long-term planning using “appropriate” regulations and public policies, fundamentally aimed at enabling investment through clear and stable rules of the game. Likewise, terms related to alliances, networks, and collaborative work were recurring themes throughout the Forum. 

An argumentative pattern I also noticed frequently in the panels and presentations could be summarized as: “we are increasingly convinced that [X issue] should not be entrusted to a single person but must be integrated transversally into the very fabric of [X organization or public entity].” This could apply to innovation, the use of technology and digital environments, or sustainability. It also applies to matters I did not necessarily hear explicitly on this occasion, such as responsible business conduct or respect for human rights. Connecting the dots, if this pattern repeats with such consistency—as patterns ultimately do—it suggests that there is a multiplicity of issues that cannot be entrusted to a single individual but must be an integral part of the fabric of every company, organization, or public entity. The result is clear: current times demand a radical change in mindset and in the ways we do things. 

I cannot view the outcome of this Forum any other way; I would refuse to interpret the call for clear rules as a call for “business as usual.” I leave hopeful that the call is truly for a total shift in how business and investments are conducted. 

I will highlight three concrete examples that caught my attention: James Robinson, 2024 Nobel Prize winner in Economics, in his presentation on the imbalance between the ideal and the real, did not fall into the cliché of saying that the solution to labor informality is formalization. On the contrary, according to his approach, Latin America’s social dynamics are an opportunity and a source of innovation; the millions of people in the informal sector have found ways to generate networks and access goods where the formal sector has yet to reach. In short, they solve problems. In their own way, but they solve them. Of course, neither this renowned economist nor I would want labor informality to persist; it is simply a call to rethink the issue through the region’s own unique characteristics. 

A second example was seen in the intervention of General Óscar Naranjo (Colombia) and Sergio Carrión (Ecuador), regarding the challenge of criminal economies vis-à-vis security and development goals. The consensus centered on the fact that insecurity has changed: with an inventory of nearly 1,200 criminal organizations in LatAm, the criminal economy now occupies almost a third of the region’s economies—the other two-thirds being formal and informal. Consequently, States find themselves facing a very strong competitor seeking to replace them in their territories. The solution to this phenomenon—which results in the inability to develop e.g. strategic infrastructure and energy projects—transcends the individual capacities of any single State’s borders. In this case, the call is to rethink the security strategy based on the region’s specific realities.

Finally, a third example appeared in the panel on the agenda of Middle Eastern countries in the LatAm region. With billions of dollars in investments, representatives from Middle Eastern countries confirmed they are strong players on the global stage. In the specific case of LatAm, they are providers not only in the financial sector but also in infrastructure, technology, and energy, with a significant presence already in countries like Suriname, Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay, Panama, Colombia, and Chile. Likewise, countries like Qatar are positioning themselves today as safe spaces for diplomacy, mediation, and peace dialogues in various international and internal conflicts. The historical monopoly of the great powers post-World War II has diluted, opening a very relevant space for South-South relations and alliances geared toward collaboration. The call here is to rethink how certain countries with economic capacity can invest in LatAm in an innovative way.

The change in mindset to which I refer, and which I carry with me as a hopeful message post-CAF Forum 2026, involves rethinking the way we do business. Latin America appears to be an ideal incubator where labor informality, insecurity generated by criminal economies, and investment from powerful countries in emerging economies often through an extractivist lens, can be positively transformed into truly just transitions that benefit both parties. At the very least, we now have a platform of enormous relevance for these debates, such as CAF. This is very positive news.

Perhaps we are beginning to take steps so that the historic desires for regional integration, legal stability, alliances, and a long-term vision are built upon the very things that have caused us problems: our instability and uncertainty. The paradox is that this may be our greatest virtue in times where traditional risk management has reached its end.