Alejandro Foxley: “Economic growth by means of productive innovation is "the" subject of the future”

The former Chancellor and former Minister of Finance of Chile, Alejandro Foxley, highlighted the economic and social achievements in several countries of the region in the past decade, and considered that the challenge now is "to walk toward the other half of the road to become advanced economies and mature democracies", a process that requires, according to him, a jump in productive innovation, attracting foreign investment, and deepening regional integration. 

During the eleventh edition of "Conversando con CAF", together with Enrique García, Executive President of CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, Foxley stated, "This is a particularly important moment to be able to innovate and be creative, to provide a new boost to the economies. Economic growth by means of productive innovation is the great subject of the future". 

The former Chilean Chancellor, who currently presides the Corporación de Estudios para Latinoamérica (CIEPLAN) Corporation for Latin American Studies), stated that although Latin America is innovating much more than in past decades, "today we have to give this innovation a shared meaning, especially between the countries that share one same region". In this line, both Foxley and García coincided in the need for the region to advance toward a productive integration to be more competitive in global markets. 

 CAF's Excutive President stated that "the fundamental pillar to achieve a high, sustainable, and efficient growth is productive transformation. This is achieved through real, pragmatic integration, no only between governments but also between companies. Traditional integration belongs to another era". 

Foxley coincided in the need to deepen this process. "If we take a look at the region, we see many integration structures that are legally perfect, we have signed treaties and documents. What we are missing is a real integration process starting from the productive structure, to compete with Asia and other regions in the world, We need to have many more multilatina (multilatin) companies" He also highlighted the contribution of CAF and other organizations to regional integration in matters regarding infrastructure.  

For García, achieving productive transformation is what will enable "to go from traditional competitive advantages based on pure raw materials, to competitive advantages that are dynamic and competitive".  

CAF's Executive President added that innovation and technology play a key role in this equation, with education being a key factor. He stated, "We have to think of an education of the XXI Century". 

Another axis of the conversation was the need for the region to attract foreign investments to advance. Foxley highlighted that "Latin America needs to leave behind the ideological prejudice that multinational companies are dangerous", adding, "We have to attract the best, learn form them, and push forward".   

In the framework of the recent historic visit of Barak Obama, President of the United States to Cuba, the former Chilean Chancellor considered that reestablishing relations between the countries "is something we were expecting for a long time". 

Foxley pointed out, "We always thought that it was obvious that the only way that Cuba would feel it had a real place in Latin America was if it was not discriminated in any respect. I hope the blockade imposed by the United States Congress disappears as soon as possible". He added that the new era also poses challenges for the region, stating, "for all of us in Latin America it will be a very attractive challenge to go to Cuba and learn from them too".  

To watch the dialogue between Alejandro Foxley and Enrique García click   here.