Issues on the agenda included trade, the H1N1 flu pandemic and the battle against illegal drugs.

Shannon O’Neil, a fellow in Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, joins Martin Savidge to discuss the summit and the biggest challenges ahead for the U.S.-Mexico relationship.

There are more than 12 million adults and children around the world in forced labor, including those forced to provide sex. The United States has put 52 countries on a watch list, suspected of not doing enough to combat human trafficking. These countries could face sanctions unless they improve their records.

E. Benjamin Skinner, a fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University, and author of “A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern Slavery,” joins Martin Savidge to discuss modern slavery and how the economic crisis is playing into the problem of human trafficking.

Marcus Mabry, the international business editor of The New York Times, joins Martin Savidge to analyze the deepening economic downturn and provide a look at what comes next in the European recession.

The year 2007 was a turning point for the world, marking the first time when the majority of the global population lived in cities rather than in the country.

The world’s population is expected to surpass 9 billion by 2050, and increasing urbanization will push the urban-rural divide even further.

Do the world’s cities have the jobs, infrastructure and space to support this kind of growth? The answer might be found in the explosion of world slums over the past decade. The United Nations predicts that 2 billion people worldwide will live in slums by 2030.

In his 2006 book “Planet of Slums,” urban historian Mike Davis paints a dark picture of the future to come, writing:

The cities of the future, rather than being made out of glass and steel as envisioned by earlier generations of urbanists, are instead largely constructed out of crude brick, straw, recycled plastic, cement blocks, and scrap wood. Instead of cities of light soaring toward heaven, much of the twenty-first-century urban world squats in squalor, surrounded by pollution, excrement and decay.

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored urbanization and the rise of slums, examining how such deplorable conditions might be addressed, even as the global economic crisis looms.

Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests.

Erhard Berner is an associate professor of developmental sociology at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. He has done extensive research on urban poverty and community responses in the Philippines and elsewhere and served as a consultant to UN-Habitat, NGOs, and government institutions.

Robert Neuwirth spent two years living in shantytowns across the developing world to write “Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World.” He is now at work on a book chronicling the global reach of the informal economy.

Mary Wiltenburg is an independent reporter, now following a year in the life of a refugee family in the U.S. and Tanzania in a series called Little Bill Clinton, a real-time multimedia project with The Christian Science Monitor and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Worldfocus producer Ara Ayer is in Manila and sends in this report of the conditions he’s witnessing:

 

Below, view a slideshow of life in five major world slums.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Bijan Rezvani, Nicole E. Foster and Katie Combs

In Germany, a poll of business executives also indicated growing confidence about economic recovery.

Roben Farzad, a senior writer and columnist for BusinessWeek magazine, joins Martin Savidge to dicuss the optimism about the global economy in Europe.

Reginald Dale, a senior fellow in the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, joins Martin Savidge to discuss this divide, the popularity of President Obama verus Candidate Obama in Western Europe and whether Russia will respond to President Obama’s pledge to ”reset” its relationship with  Russia.

Roben Farzad, a senior writer at BusinessWeek, outlines the American automobile industry’s 2009 prospects and discusses the effect of falling gas prices.

OPEC recommends that non-oil producers like Russia join in the cuts rather than benefit from higher prices while producing the same amount of oil.

Geoffrey Heal, a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, explains the effect these production cuts will have on the U.S. and how they will continue to function in the future given potential lack of adherence by OPEC member nations and a developing U.S. energy policy.

Andrew Ross Sorkin, a financial columnist at The New York Times, speaks with Martin Savidge about the losses faced by foreign investors and how huge banks like HSBC could be led into the scheme.

Bruce Kogut, a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, discusses whether or not protectionism will ultimately hurt the American automotive industry if foreign automakers tax imported American cars.

Analyst Maryann Keller speaks with Martin Savidge about the developing situation worldwide and considers the options for the U.S. auto industry.

International finance expert Roben Farzad of BusinessWeek evaluates these plans and considers the future of the American automotive industry.

Joseph Foudy, a global economics professor at New York University, discusses the automotive industry’s turmoil and the role of the “Big Three” automotive companies – General Motors, Ford and Chrysler – in the American and global economies.

Jagdish Bhagwati, senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, speaks with Martin Savidge about the meeting’s accomplishments. They discuss the possibilities of a forthcoming G-20 meeting with Barack Obama in office and The Wall Street Journal’s assertion that the economic plan could prove problematic.