Latin America and the Caribbean must bet on productive transformation

These meetings, organized by CAF and the Vocento Group, are a space for debate and reflection, and include the participation of renowned personalities of the world of Hispanic American culture and thought. 

In the inaugural conference of this cycle of round tables, Fernández de Soto, shared a series of thoughts regarding the global context and its challenges, highlighting the world governance crisis and the need for leadership to face these challenges. 

In this context, the Director for Europe established eight global trends, which in his opinion will configure the world in coming years. The increasing weight of emerging economies, especially China and India; the fragmentation of international trade with an increasingly multi-polar perspective that will require new regulations; demographic changes and the increasing pace of urbanization; challenges regarding employment, housing, energy, and infrastructure; climate change and the competition for natural resources; the digital revolution which is transforming the paradigms of modern society; the complexity of international security; the emergence of social classes, and financial globalization. The Director for Europe detailed these subjects in his presentation. 

All these issues must be addressed from a global perspective, and in order to do so, the international system must "have institutions that adapt to these new challenges", said Fernández de Soto. 

Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced a transformation in this past years, achieving democratic and economic stability, but in recent times, the conditions have changed and, in this respect, Fernández de Soto pointed out that the deceleration of China and the expansive monetary policy of the United States are variables that impact the region. 

For these reasons, CAF's Director for Europe advocated for "productive transformation that will enable Latin America to increase productivity and develop regional value chains". To achieve this objective, Guillermo Fernández de Soto highlighted that "it is essential to close the infrastructure gap and include the private sector in long-term plans that contribute to minimize the risks associated to the change of priorities in the new administrations". Finally, he insisted on the importance of improving the quality of education and investing more on research, development, and innovation as essential for Latin America and the Caribbean to face their most immediate challenges. 

This inauguration also included the participation of Claudio Muñoz, Presidente of Telefónica in Chile, and Luis Enríquez, Delegate Advisor of Vocento.

After the presentation of Guillermo Fernández de Soto started the round tables of this second day of Future in Spanish. The first was entitled "Innovation and technologies in the development of cities with a future", with the participation of Mauricio Agudelo, Senior Telecommunications expert at CAF, Development Bank of Latin America; Claudio Maggi, Director of Competitive Development at CORFO; Eugenio Fontán, Dean-President of the Colegio Oficial de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación in Spain (Official School of Telecommunications Engineers); Juan Carlos Martínez Aguilar, Innovations Manager at Telefónica Chile, and Osvaldo Rosales, former Director of the International Trade and Integration Division at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).  Juan Luis Núñez, General Manager of the País Digital Foundation moderated this session. 

This debate between experts was followed by the round table "Nuevos modelos de desarrollo urbano en América Latina y España" (New urban development models in Latin America and Spain), which included the participation of Concepción Gamarra, Mayor of Logroño and Vice-President of the Red Española de Ciudades Inteligentes (Spanish Network of Intelligent Cities); Tomás Vera, President of the Ciudad Foundation and Director of the Ibero-American Forum on Cities; and Fernando Herrera García, President of the Urbanism Commission of the Chilean Chamber of Construction. Carlos Zeppelin, President of the Technological Development Corporation moderated this last debate. 

The closing presentation of Future in Spanish was in charge of Pedro Huichalaf, Undersecretary of Telecommunications of Chile. This edition ended with a private luncheon and a presentation of the last conclusions of the study "Valor económico del español: una empresa multinacional" (Economic value of Spanish: a multinational company), an initiative of Fundación Telefónica.