Ministers of Economy and Industry of the Americas and the Caribbean support a joint proposal with the OAS to create the Americas Competitiveness Network.
In the context of the III Americas Competitiveness Forum, September 27-29, Ministers and Vice Ministers of 16 countries of the region gathered together on September 29th in Santiago, Chile, to share their visions and experiences in issues related to competitiveness. In the same line, one of the objectives of this meeting is to move forward towards a strategic vision for growth and competitiveness. In this context, the definition of policies and initiatives in the countries of the region becomes crucial for creating high impact agendas, programs and measures with strong competitiveness potential in international markets.
One of the important outcomes of this meeting was the launch of the Americas Competitiveness Network, an initiative proposed by Chile along with the Organization of American States (OAS).
In this respect, the Ministers welcome the initiative and entrust the OAS to follow up on, give structure to, and support this effort. They also urge the different public, public-private and international organizations that generate competitiveness strategies and policies in the hemisphere to join this initiative. The 17 countries that participated in the meeting of the competitive and innovation councils of the Americas have given their support to the proposal and are committed to participate in it.
The initiative was discussed in the Ministers meeting, presided by the Minister of Economy of Chile, Hugo Lavados, where it was stated that under the current situation it is even more necessary to increase the competitiveness of our countries and, at the same time, have a vehicle to exchange experiences, promote cooperation for follow up on the conclusions of the Forum, and propose topics for future meetings, among others.
Among those who attended the meeting, there were representatives of Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estados Unidos, Guatemala, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Perú, Puerto Rico, Santa Lucía, República Dominicana, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay.
The Ministers and the Vice Ministers were also able to analyze the repercussions of the financial crisis in the region, evaluating the implementation of measures and policies undertaken to diminish its impact. In this context, the high level representatives of the governments of the region, in order to make progress, discussed the need for plans to assure quality employment and cooperation among countries in these matters, particularly the importance of including regional and local levels, and micro, small and medium sized businesses.
The attending government officials agreed on the importance of increasing competitiveness to assure prosperity and sustained development for our countries. That is why one of the issues discussed were pro- competitive polices for both public and privates sectors to increase our competitive positions in international markets.
During the meeting, authorities also advanced towards planning for the next gathering, the IV Americas Competitiveness Forum, set for fall 2010 in Atlanta, USA. On that occasion, they will follow up on the advances of the implementation of the Americas Competitiveness Network.
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