The general director of CEOE Internacional and permanent secretary of CEIB, Narciso Casado, spoke at the 5th edition of the Global Youth Leadership Forum (GYLF), which is being held these days in Santander, under the slogan “Towards a Sustainable Globalization process for the century XXI ". Today's conference, titled “More Iberoamerica” and moderated by the general director of GYLF, Giogiana Martínezgarnelo, also participated the general director of SMEs and Entrepreneurship of SEGIB, Esteban Campero, and the undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Secretariat of Foreign Relations of the Government of Mexico, Maximiliano Reyes.
During this forum, which began on Monday 26, representatives from all regions of the planet participated. At the opening session, the Commissioner for the Promotion of the European Lifestyle, Margaritis Schinas; the president of the government of Cantabria, Miguel Ángel Revilla; the councilor of Santander, Noemí Méndez; and the president of the Forum, Jacobo Pombo. The event was attended by, among others, the Ibero-American Secretary General, Rebeca Grynspan; the Minister of Defense of the Government of Spain, Margarita Robles; the Minister of Education, Isabel Celaá; his counterpart in Innovation, Pedro Duque; and the Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), José Ángel Gurría. At the closing of these days, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Government of Spain, Arancha González Laya, and the Mayor of Santander, Noemí Méndez, among other authorities participated.
Resilience, social dialogue and public-private collaboration
The permanent secretary of CEIB and general director of CEOE Internacional, Narciso Casado, highlighted that, since the beginning of the pandemic, both the Ibero-American Business Council and SEGIB have been working on “a roadmap that allows us not to only to resist this crisis, but also to provide solutions, moving forward in the face of adversity and demonstrating a great capacity for resilience ”. In this sense, he assured that the title of the panel “More Iberoamerica” is not a coincidence, but also represents the commitment of institutions such as CEIB, SEGIB and FIJE (Federation of Ibero-American Entrepreneurs), with companies, workers, society, and with the future of our Region. The motto, he explained, emerged in the middle of the pandemic, and has remained as a corporate identity and as a mark of many of the joint actions that have been carried out. “Más Iberoamérica” is a reality in which we must work every day, in order to achieve a more prosperous, cohesive, innovative, sustainable and inclusive Ibero-American space, he stated.
Casado insisted that, to achieve these objectives, it is crucial to bet on committed leadership, defend social dialogue, and try to build a new social pact that allows us to contemplate a more promising, fair and resilient future. In these months, he noted, it has been possible to see how companies have gotten the best of themselves when offering solutions, through the implementation of solidarity initiatives and collaboration with public institutions. "This crisis has valued the importance of public-private cooperation, placing it at the center of all policies, and guaranteeing the survival of the most vulnerable sectors and the most affected groups," he said.
The permanent secretary of CEIB recalled a reflection by the Ibero-American general secretary that perfectly defines this unprecedented situation, and that is that “when we thought we had all the answers, all the questions changed”. The crisis has served to demonstrate, he stressed, that in exceptional situations exceptional responses are required, and this has been precisely what companies have shown, managing to maintain hope in the midst of the pandemic and betting on digitization, innovation, investment in research, science and technology, taking into account the productive chains and access to new markets. "Values such as unity, solidarity and regional cooperation have been and will be essential to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth in Latin America," he considered.
Casado also stressed the importance of being more preventive and proactive than reactive in the face of this and other future crises, and mentioned one of the main problems that Ibero-America already had before the pandemic: productivity. Therefore, he insisted, the CEIB considers it essential to promote intra-regional trade as one of the great pending issues, since, in Latin America, it only accounts for 16.8%, compared to other regions, such as Europe and Asia, where it is between 60 and 70%. In addition, the set of exports and imports of barely account for 7.12 and 7.21% of the world total and the volume of trade in Latin America falls by 23%, compared to 17% globally, according to data from ECLAC last August. These are the worst figures in the last eighty years, said Casado, and this implies making joint efforts to recover the integration agenda, strengthen regional value chains and strengthen intra-regional trade, which is undoubtedly key in this scenario.
Faced with this panorama, the CEIB representative guaranteed that collaboration is the only way out. “It is time to join forces, to invest, to bet on sectors with high added value. In short, make everything add up ”, he considered. It is also important, he stressed, to defend values such as multilateralism, freedom and progress, fair and inclusive work, development, the strength of institutions, transparency, legal security, international trade and the fundamental values of democracy. .
Infrastructures
Another priority factor to increase productivity in the Region, he mentioned, is the firm commitment to the development of infrastructures, both physical and digital and, for this, perfect coordination between public and private investment is required, as well as greater involvement of development banks to solve investment gaps. In this sense, he also highlighted the importance of the sectors with the highest added value, especially as a result of the pandemic, such as open innovation and the Orange Economy, the latter better known by the name of creative industries and its 7 I's: information, institutions, industry, infrastructure, integration, inclusion and inspiration, which sound a lot like business, the women and men who create them and make them grow, and the environment of business organizations.
Casado also highlighted another type of infrastructure for the Region, and that, in his opinion, is the most important: human infrastructure. He referred to training, training, education and above all to talent retention. At CEIB, he added, we consider that investment in human capital is essential for our societies, and should represent a priority for public policies and a long-term challenge.
By way of reflection, the permanent secretary of CEIB closed his speech with a series of concepts that perfectly define the world of business organizations, entrepreneurs and companies, and can be applied to almost everything, especially in these moments so complicated. He defined them as the 12 "is": State; Efficiency; Education; Equity; Effectiveness; Evaluation, something that entrepreneurs do constantly in their day to day; Success; Excellence; Stability; Spirit; Company and Employment. Reaching these goals, he concluded, is not a one-day job, but a work of continuity, effort, enthusiasm and determination, to do more Latin America and build a more prosperous, integrated, innovative and sustainable space.
In turn, the head of SMEs and Entrepreneurship at SEGIB, Esteban Campero, agreed with Casado by pointing out the intense activity that the Ibero-American Secretariat has carried out in recent months, together with CEIB and FIJE, to provide effective solutions to the crisis and contribute to the development of the Region. Campero considered that Covid can affect everyone equally, but not everyone will suffer the consequences in the same way, and Ibero-America is a clear example of this. In this sense, he mentioned some of the priorities to take into account for the sustainable growth of the area, among which are a greater support for SMEs, which represent 99% of the productive fabric of the Region; the relocation of global value chains to gain competitiveness; the importance of fostering and driving digital transformation; the development of infrastructures; strengthen public-private collaboration; and to bet, as Casado mentioned, to establish entrepreneurial ecosystems and promote open innovation and other sectors with high added value.
Measures against Covid in Latin America and the Caribbean
The undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of the Government of Mexico, Maximiliano Reyes, for his part, focused on the current context in Latin America as a result of the crisis generated by the Covid. In fact, he reported that from 2019 to 2020, people in extreme poverty have increased from 67 to 88 million and added that the population that is in a vulnerable situation has increased by 30 million during the same period. Reyes explained that Latin America is the most unequal region in the world, taking into account that 10% of the population accumulates 71% of the wealth that is generated and only pays 5% of its income, compared to other areas such as States United where this figure reaches 14% or Europe that can reach up to 20%.
Despite the delicate situation generated by the Covid, highlighted the representative of the Mexican government, the pandemic has also created great opportunities. In fact, taking into account the situation that previously existed in the Region, three important measures were adopted, aimed at alleviating the effects of the crisis. Among them, Reyes assured that a taxation that can reach up to 3% will be applied for the great fortunes of the Region; interest payments on the outstanding debt of Latin America and the Caribbean will be forgiven this year; and it is established that multinational companies reinvest their profits (not their profits) in the Region. All this, he said, would help generate new resources and could alleviate poverty, inequality and unemployment. In other words, these and other possible measures could contribute to the sustainable and inclusive development of the Region, in order to make “More Ibero-America”.
Global Youth Leadership Forum (GYLF)
The Global Youth Leadership Forum (GYLF) was born in 2016 with the aim of becoming a forum for debate and discussion where international leaders, experts, businessmen, representatives from different countries and international organizations meet with young leaders with outstanding profiles in their different areas of action, generating a single propositional framework that welcomes a serious, rigorous and firm debate in the search for solutions to the main problems facing the international community. This edition analyzed the main challenges that will have to be faced in the coming years, as well as the challenges to consolidate a sustainable globalization process. Along these lines, three fundamental issues were addressed, which are the Inclusive Economy / People's Economy, the Green Deal / Ecological Transition, and the Technological Revolution
The GYLF has been conceived with a permanent and inclusive vocation, forming a great international forum for debate on the main challenges that the world will have to face during the 21st century. For this, the Forum wanted to involve in this proposal the largest possible number of countries, regions, international organizations, civil associations and companies, giving rise to a rich, plural, inclusive and decisive space.
