Most Latin American leaders are missing in action at the economic forum in Davos. Shame on them! | Opinion

When I read that 52 heads of state were planning to attend this week’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, but only three of them were from Latin America, an old joke came to mind: Latin America never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Indeed, the heads of state of Germany, Spain, Finland, South Korea, the Philippines and dozens of other European, Asian and African nations — as well as more than 600 CEOs of multinational firms including the heads of JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — were scheduled to be at the meeting, which ends Friday.

There also are 56 finance ministers, 19 central bank presidents, 30 trade ministers, 35 foreign ministers and the heads of the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund, according to the list of attendees in the WEF’s website.

Among the ministers present are the top trade representatives of the United States, China and the European Union. The forum offers a rare opportunity for countries to promote their investment, trade and tourism opportunities to world business leaders.

But, amazingly, Latin America is practically absent. There are only three Latin American heads of state in attendance — the presidents of Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica — among all the others.

Mexico, which could be the biggest beneficiary of the growing trend toward a regionalization of world trade, didn’t even send its finance minister. Worse, not one single Mexican government official is listed as attending at the meeting.

Argentina, whose populist government claims to be successfully carrying out an IMF program to revamp its economy, is equally absent. As of Wednesday, there were no Argentine officials on the WEF’s list of public figures attending the meeting.

Likewise, there are no government representatives from Chile. Brazil and Peru sent their finance ministers and other high-ranking officials. But, overall, the Latin American presence was minimal compared to that of Asian and African countries.

Granted, the World Economic Forum has its share of critics, many of whom say it has become too focused on environmental and social issues at the expense of economic matters. JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon has been quoted as describing the WEF’s annual meeting as “the place where billionaires tell millionaires what the middle class feels.”

Still, Latin American leaders should have used this opportunity to woo desperately needed foreign investments to their countries.

The region’s economy is projected to grow by only 1.3% this year, less than half of its growth last year, according to the World Bank. Latin America’s poverty rate has risen from 28% in 2014 to 32% today, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

And nowadays, unlike what happened in recent decades, Latin America can no longer rely on China as its economic savior, because China’s economy is itself going through a major slowdown.

“This won’t be a good year for Latin America, economically speaking,” ECLAC’s Secretary General Jose Manuel Salazar Xirinach told me in a recent interview.

Ironically, despite a wave of populism in the region, Latin American countries have a great opportunity to attract investments, because major U.S. multinational firms are eager to diversify their supply chains away from China.

Big corporations got scared during the COVID-19 pandemic when they couldn’t get face masks, auto parts and other supplies from China because factories there had closed down. And many multinational companies fear further import disruptions if U.S.-China trade tensions continue to rise or if there is an international conflict over Taiwan.

Apple recently announced that it is moving production of its iPhone 14 from China to India. Other multinationals are moving some of their factories to Vietnam and other Asian countries.

The leaders of Mexico and other Latin American nations could have gone to Davos to tell the CEOs there, “Come invest in my country! Our wages are the same as China’s, if not lower. Plus, we are in the same time zone as the United States and much closer to the U.S. market than China.”

But instead, most Latin American leaders stayed home and didn’t even send their top economic aides to the meeting. They missed a fantastic opportunity to attract investments, help their economies grow, and reduce poverty. Shame on them.

Don’t miss the “Oppenheimer Presenta” TV show on Sundays at 7 pm E.T. on CNN en Español. Twitter: @oppenheimera