Foreword

This book is one result of the REDIMA experiment and it is dedicated to the memory of two exceptional cosmopolitan citizens who are insufficiently well known but whose visionary thinking remains useful today for making progress on the road to regional cooperation and integration: Francisco de Miranda, the “most universal of Latin American citizens”, born in Caracas, a soldier in and hero of the three main revolutions that shaped the Western World —the United States independence, the French Revolution and the Spanish American emancipation— and Robert Triffin, the internationally renowned Belgian economist whom President John Kennedy described as “our first Atlantic citizen”. Triffin was a key player in the European integration process, through his inspiration for the European Payments Union, the European Monetary System and the single European currency, the euro, and through the advice he gave to many governments and central bankers. Although they lived in very different times and acted in very different ways, these two precursors share fundamental ideas on regional integration and international cooperation as ways to improve national governance and ensure higher levels of sustainable development. They devoted their entire lives to “trying to make possible tomorrow what appears impossible today”.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure