“There is no growth without social inclusion.” This was the affirmation of Luis Alberto Moreno, the president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and the sponsor of the Business Forum: Latin America and the Caribbean Global 2014 – an event held on Tuesday morning (June 10) in São Paulo. Throughout the day, businessman, Brazilian and international authorities and experts in the sector discussed issues such as infrastructure, energy, the environment and sports in Latin America. Organized jointly with the municipal authorities of the city of São Paulo, the event also had the support of the Lula Institute. Former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva participated in the closing ceremony at 1800 hrs.
In opening the conference, Moreno said that the timing of the conference – on the eve of the Brazil Soccer World Cup – was designed to call attention to the activities discussed at the Forum. He also highlighted the fundamental role of women, as chief of state or in other important decision-making arenas, and in the results, including economic results, today achieved in Brazil. He called attention to the fact that Brazilian inflation which was 77% in 1986, is today less than 7%.
The increase in purchasing power, the president of the Inter-American Development Bank assured the audience, is based on the increased access to education and on the guaranteed inclusion of the poorer segments of the population. “Lula, followed by Dilma, brought income to those who least had it.” And, he added: “this is why they applaud the initiative of President Dilma so that miles and miles from here students are getting an education at the best universities in the world.”
The host of the Forum, the mayor of São Paulo, Fernando Haddad, highlighted the dimensions and the financial and cultural importance of the city for Brazil and for the world. The municipality accounts for almost 12% of the GDP of Brazil, almost all of this generated in the metropolitan region. “For every R$5 produced in Brazil, R$1 is produced within a 30 km radiusof the center of the city.”
The thirteenth largest producer of knowledge in the world, São Paulo enjoyed considerable leverage and an increase in opportunities in the social and educational field due to the close ties with the public sectors, through public-public partnerships, in the opinion of the Mayor, who also stressed the importance of public-private initiatives. Haddad believes that São Paulo advanced the relationships between different federal areas of influence. Alongside the governor of the state Geraldo Alckmin, who is also present at the head table, he pointed out that political party interests are never placed ahead of the public interest. “Brazil is finding its way to federal maturity,” he said.
The Minister of Planning, Miriam Belchior, highlighted the social advances in Brazil that took place as a result of the Accelerated Growth Program (PAC), that among other achievements improved highway conditions through the construction and/or duplication of roadways, highways and services, like the startup of 21 MW, and 19,000 km of transmission lines added to the national electric transmission grid. (She also commented on the question of world economic crisis, pointing out that “Brazil and the countries of Latin America are now better prepared to confront these crises.”
Paulo Fernandes Tigre, the vice president of the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), focused the important domestic market that exists today in Brazil but also pointed out the need to increase the competitiveness of Brazilian industry in international terms. “Brazil is today in seventh place with regard to the domestic market, but in the external market it occupies 24th place.” According to Tigre, the events of the morning and activities sponsored by the CNI are designed to promote “an international dialogue of the Americas and regional integration.”
See also the text about the other discussions at the meeting that were held during the morning:
América Latina: formação de mão de obra e PPP podem alavancar economia
