Noticias

Donwload Image

The meeting, which gathers regional ministers and businesspeople between September 27th and 29th, was inaugurated by the Minister of Economy of Chile Hugo Lavados before an audience of 600 people at the Hotel Sheraton Santiago. Plenary and simultaneous sessions of the Forum will conclude with a meeting of the Ministers of the continent and the Competitiveness Councils of the Americas.

The Minister of Economy of Chile, Hugo Lavados, inaugurated today the III Americas Competitiveness Forum before an audience of 600 people at the Hotel Sheraton Santiago.

“We are in the middle of a long road, it is a route that we must walk with increasing speed, because it has no shortcuts,”  Lavados said in his opening speech for the meeting, which is being held for the first time outside of the United States –the two previous versions took place in Atlanta.

With the participation of Ministers, businesspeople and leading thinkers of the Americas, the first plenary, divided in two sessions, begun with the President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, and the Head of State of Guatemala, Álvaro Colom, who spoke about “Politics and economics in the context of crisis.”
On the occasion, the Chilean leader said that “at the bottom of this lies a crisis of politics” and “what the crisis teaches us is that we need a better State and a better market.”

In regards to the subject of the Forum, President Bachelet added that “competitiveness is decisive for the future.”

During his participation in the Forum, the Head of State of Guatemala praised Chile and set it as an example to follow for his country.  He also said that “competitiveness is a sum of wills, such as decision, collaboration and productivity (…) We cannot remain in the crisis.”

The subjects of the Forum

The U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Gary Locke, and the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Alicia Barcena spoke during the second part of the plenary. “Competitiveness: The vision of regional organizations.”
The president of the Brazilian Development Bank, Luciano Coutinho, the president of Antofagasta Minerals PLC, Chile, Jean Paul Luksic, and the Minister of Economy of Costa Rica, Eduardo Sibaja Arias, will also participate during the first day of the Forum, in the plenary session “Competitiveness in Times of Crisis.”

Today will also include the participation of the Minister of Production of Ecuador, Nathaly Cely, the Minister of Energy of Chile, Marcelo Tokman, and the Minister of Economy of Guatemala, Rubén Morales Monroy.
The private sector will also play a leading role at the III Americas Competitiveness Forum.  Several distinguished businesspeople of the region, such as the President of Wal-Mart Latin America, Vicente Trius, and the creator of Patagon and current co-executive director of Bling Nation, Wenceslao Casares, will participate in the dialogue on competitiveness.

On the second day of the Forum –which ends on Tuesday with a meeting that will gather together all the attending ministers, and another that gathers the Competitiveness Councils of the region – the speakers will continue debating on issues such as the crucial role of  infrastructure and financing in times of crisis, with the participation of the president of the National Innovation Council for Competitiveness of Chile, Eduardo Bitrán, the Executive Vice President of the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), Luis Enrique Berrizbeitía, and Richard Lyons, Dean of the Business Haas School at the University of California, Berkeley, among others.

Chile as host

The active participation of Chile in the two previous versions of the Forum, in 2007 and 2008 respectively, encouraged the Chilean Government to request the organization of the event this year, becoming the first Latin American country to host this important meeting.