 Okay, why don't we get started? I'd like to welcome everyone. My name is Rich Lesser. I'm the CEO of the Boston Consulting Group. And it's my pleasure to welcome to you to what I'm sure will be a really interesting panel to end this afternoon. Today, most of the sessions have focused on what's going on within Latin America. But we have the opportunity this afternoon to step back a bit and talk about Latin America in the broader global context. What are the things we see happening in the rest of the world and what are the implications for Latin America? And I'm joined here by just five terrific panelists. I'm here united by five excellent speakers. Each one of them has particular characteristics. And you know what happens in the world. I'm going to start with the one on the left. First, it's the minister, Manuel Gonzalesan. He's the minister of Costa Rica. To his left is Tom Shannon. Ambassador Shannon is a counselor for the US Department of State. He's the former US Ambassador to Brazil and the former US Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs. To his left is John Santa Maria. He's the CEO of Coca-Cola Femsa. And then to his left is Luisa Alberto Marino, who's the president of the Inter-American Development Bank. And finally at the far left is minister Tim Grocer. He's the minister of trade and the minister of climate change issues for New Zealand. There are so many topics that we could cover. The way we're going to orient the time is we're going to start on the macroeconomics of what's going on in the world and how we see that it's a very interesting time in the world with challenges and pressures, but some signs of life in Europe. An ongoing question about how China will evolve. The US is going slower, I think than most people had anticipated. And so I want to start with Luis and ask you, from your vantage point, how do you see the evolving global context in a macroeconomic sense? And how do you see that playing out for Latin America, particularly over the next year and a half or so? Well, thank you very much, Rick. It's a pleasure to be with this very distinguished group. First of all, I would say that definitely we have seen a change of wins to many emerging markets. What were those wins to most emerging markets? Clearly was high demand from Asia, which was combined with high levels of trade, and that brought about what most referred to a super commodity cycle that benefited most emerging markets. Equally, you had a cheap dollar, you had low interest rates, and all of this is now changing. That has meant, for many emerging markets, a situation in which every time you're doing good, you think you're very good, but then all of a sudden when things start to slow down, you wonder, well, what happened over here? And Latin America saw a period as did most emerging markets for over a decade where we had all these good wins to our sales. Now, take Europe. Europe looked pretty bad, as we all know, in the last couple years. It's now looking much better. There is now growth in some of the key European economies, and that's certainly good news for the world. What does that mean in terms of Latin America? I think there's more a relationship, on the one hand, to investment, because there's a lot of European investment, more so than trade. In fact, trade volumes between Latin America and Europe have basically remained stagnant. However, the quantitative easing that is taking place by the European Central Bank has allowed Latin American economies to begin to extend their euro curves, largely by placing bonds in euros, as did recently in Mexico, with a 100-year bond denominated in euros, and have other countries begun to do. And that market, that was not a very big market for many Latin American economies, is starting to grow. The second point, of course, is the U.S. economy. And to a large degree, in the developed world, is really the big engine, has always been the big engine, but now the U.S. economy is doing so much better. However, there are things that are interesting in the U.S. economy whereby still wages have not risen, and there's still a sticky labor market. And I think that has still implications. You have a very positive effect, which is really helping consumption, which is lower oil prices. Certainly it's bad news for oil producers, but it's very good news. In the case of the United States economy, about $1,000 per household, the savings that they are now realizing because of lower oil prices. And that's, of course, money that can be translated into more spending. On the other hand, the appreciation of the dollar with regard to the rest of the currencies in the world is kind of like that shopping event, that you wonder why is it, as we were talking earlier, that American companies are not shopping around the world. Certainly Latin America and the emerging world and Europe, for that matter, has become much cheaper in relative terms. It would be a great opportunity for America, and you would imagine American corporates beginning a big buying spree, but it's something, it's a question mark that we all have, it's a variety of reasons. The same way that you saw this huge liquidity sitting in balance sheets of American corporates that delayed their time to really begin a lot of the M&A activity. So in sum, what this all means for Latin America, well, it depends where you are. If you're in Mexico, the healthy U.S. economy is good news, and it's certainly good news for the Caribbean and Central America, and to some degree, to Northern South America. Now, in terms of the slowdown in China, which as you recall, we were looking at China growing at double digit rates, now growing closer to 6.5% means that it affects the trade that these countries have with Asia. And in fact, more and more, you find a very close tracking between the business cycle in Asia, especially in that of China and that of South America. So that's what I would say in general, kind of the cause and effects, and we are definitely in a low growth period, which is like when you go to the doctor and you're fat, you basically get two recipes, more exercise, more diet. Just to pick up on one of your points, I also think it's very interesting, we're not seeing more outbound M&A from the U.S. right now. And I personally wonder if it's related to the tax rate issue, that last year we were hearing about inversions in the U.S., and the challenge of that, the flip side of it is when the currency appreciates the ability to do outbound M&A to the degree you would think would be available. Minister Gonzalez-Sanz, I'd like to shift you. You co-chaired the first ministerial meeting of China SILAC, the community of Latin American and Caribbean states forum that took place in Beijing with 19 other foreign ministers from the region earlier this year. How do you think the shifts in China's economy will impact the region over the next decade, and particularly over the coming few years? Well, thank you. We Costa Rica held the presidency for temporary for SILAC in the course of 2014. So the event in Beijing earlier this year was part of the activities that we conducted during our presidency. And I think it's one of the big steps that the whole region took in relation to its working methods and its relation with extra regional partners. China is one of them. We have others like Korea, Japan, Turkey, and some international organizations. I just want to make a brief clarification on what SILAC is. It is not an organization. It is a mechanism that allows political dialogue among the members. And the members are the Latin American and Caribbean countries. So we're talking about 600 million people, 33 countries in the region. And it's not easy to deal with this bunch of countries with so many sub-regions involved. The Caricom, SICA, Mercosur, Unazur, the Alba countries, and many others around the block. So it was quite challenging. It's based on consensus. Everything that is all statements or decisions have to be based on consensus. So it's not easy when you have so many shades in the region and so many ideological influence from many different countries with different goals. But there is one where a few goals in common, for instance, defied against poverty and extreme poverty in particular. That was the main theme, the main topic of the SILAC summit that took place early this year by the end of January in San Jose, Costa Rica. The China SILAC forum was launched in general terms in July in Brazil by President Xi Jinping. It outlined the concept of 136, one program, three engines, basically trade, investments, and cooperation, and six different areas in which these three engines should work, infrastructure, science and technology, agriculture, education, financial cooperation, and some others. So the good thing about this proposal, which was rounded up in the launching of the forum early in January in Beijing, is that it puts money on the table. We're talking about a program of about $35 billion, not donations. It's loans and grants and different approaches. It's not forgiving. And the other good thing is the principles on which the program is based. Voluntary approach, we have to keep in mind that one third out of the 33 countries that form part of SILAC do not have diplomatic relations with China. Nevertheless, they are part of SILAC, and they are part of the forum with China. So that's an interesting feature. So for those countries, this forum serves as a bridge to get in contact and to approach China in a much broader manner that they have been able to do until now. The other thing is that all countries, China plus the order 33, recognize that we are all developing countries. We are, well, I have my doubts about China in that regard, but that's the way they define themselves. So we take advantage of that, of course. The conditionality to approach or to have access to these programs is almost non-existence. This is not an ideological approach. And China is not trying to impose itself on ideological in any ideological way in Latin America or the Caribbean. It's not a condition. They are not asking for you to push forward any kind of reforms, fiscal or social or political or economic reform in any way. So it's based on mutual benefit. Of course, not everything that shines is gold. We have to recognize that and be careful on some issues. But another thing that is beneficial is that this doesn't harm or affect in any way the bilateral relations that already exist between China and the countries of Silak. For instance, Costa Rica is the only country in Central America that has diplomatic relations with China. They started seven years ago. And of course, we have to play that card when we have to take advantage of that situation. And so they can see Costa Rica as a way to enter into other markets, both in the Caribbean and the Central American region. It's starting. We are in the first steps. We just had ministers meeting the day before yesterday in Ecuador to redefine how we are going. The next stage is how we are going to access this money and these programs and how we are going to participate in the program without running against the throat of each other. And at a time when, certainly on the resource side, China is purchasing less than investing less, does this, to you, seem like a meaningful way to accelerate the trade with China? Do you think it will have a substantial change in the trajectory around it? Well, the expectation is that within the next 10 years, China will be investing $250 billion in the region, and the intra-regional trade will go up to $5 billion, which is a challenge, but it's possible, regardless of the acceleration that we are seeing in China. And that the acceleration is still not big enough as to prevent Latin America from taking advantage of many of the issues that are taking place in China. That's perfect. I wanted to shift minister Grozer. Could you talk about, I mean, you've been a big advocate for deepening the economic ties with China. New Zealand had the first free trade agreement, but you've also been an advocate for trade around the world and traveled widely in that regard. How do you see trade in a Latin American context with China, but more broadly? Can I just pick up on the China element of this discussion because we have a slightly unorthodox view on this issue. First of all, China is our largest trading partner. Not only we have a comprehensive FDA with China, we negotiated, there are three constituent parts of the Chinese Triangle, and there are three independent WTO members of China. China itself, Hong Kong, and Chinese Taipei, otherwise known as Taiwan, and we've got FTAs with all three of them, which is unique. Our view of the China slowdown story is that that is not really the big story. The biggest story is the change in the Chinese developmental model. Just do a little bit of math here. Chinese economy at market exchange rates, not PPP, is around 10 trillion US dollars. Now whatever imperfections are built into the Chinese stats we'll assume they're built in historically. So China is growing at 7%, adds an increment of global growth equivalent to 700 billion US dollars. Eight years ago, Chinese economy was half its size, five trillion. Growing at 10% produces an annual increment of 500 billion or 200 billion less. So I think when people focus on the rate without looking at the base, I've asked people to go back to ECO 101 to think about this, really what a much bigger economy growing at a slower rate produces a larger increment. What is more significant in our view is the shift in the development model. Now this is all very new and controversial, but last year Chinese coal imports fell 10%. So if you're in the hard commodities business, say Australia or Brazil, I would argue that is a far more concerning development for your economy than the slowdown in the growth rate per se. The shift in the development model of China will have quite profound effects. So I just want to bring that into the dialogue because I don't think that is the orthodox view. I think the orthodox view is mesmerized by this number of it was 10%, now it's 7%. Yes, we would see the same thing, that the shift from an investment driven economy in the direction of consumption, it will happen over time, has a huge impact, not just on the absolute level of activity, but where it's occurring and in which parts of the economy. Why don't we shift to the US for a second, Ambassador Shannon. Obviously the US remains Latin America's largest trade partner by far. And could you share your perspective on how you see what's going on in the US right now in the implications for the relationship with Latin America in trade and economic development? Well, great, thank you very much. I really appreciate the opportunity and I'll just start by saying that I agree with the minister about what's happening inside of China. I think he might call it an unorthodox analysis, but I think he's on target. As far as the US relationship with Latin America goes, we've just come off a summit of the Americas, which obviously is bigger than Latin America and includes the Caribbean and Canada obviously. But that summit for us was remarkable for a variety of reasons. First was the inclusion of Cuba and the fact that this was the first time that all of the leaders of the hemisphere have met in a long, long time. Certainly since the modern summit process began during the Clinton administration. This was important. Also the decision by President Obama to remove China, I mean China, Cuba from the state sponsors of terrorism list also indicates that the only country that was on the state sponsor of terrorism list in the Western hemisphere has come off. So it creates an environment for diplomatic engagement and increasing economic engagement and social engagement, which is quite interesting and remarkable. But also with the help of the Inter-American Development Bank and the larger Chamber of Commerce structures in the hemisphere, we were also able to bring together businesses and CEOs from around the hemisphere for the first time linked to the summit. And what I think is a really significant advance because we're connecting not just the engagement of leaders but we're also connecting the engagement of businesses. And then along with that, we had a civil society summit. So effectively the summit process is increasingly becoming not just a whole of government process but a whole of society process. And I think this is indicative of a trend in the Western hemisphere which is remarkable from our point of view diplomatically which is that increasingly relations between countries are not being defined by governments, they're being defined by societies and peoples. And we see commerce and investment as a central part of this. And so as we pursue our trade agenda, whether it's through our free trade agreements and relationships with other countries in the hemisphere, whether it's through standalone agreements or whether it's through something like the Trans-Pacific Partnership in our effort to bring in the Pacific Alliance countries into the Trans-Pacific Partnership and then look for ways to dock other free trading partners into a TPP should we conclude that. This is about how we build the connectivity that uses markets not only to create wealth but within a democratic context to begin to address long-term social inequities like inequality, poverty and social exclusion so that our commerce and investment suddenly has a political and social point to it which I think is well understood and well accepted in the hemisphere. Minister Grocer recently said he thought TPP had a 70% chance of going through in some form this year. Did I quote you correctly? Where are your odds on that? Or would you be where he is? How do you see it right now? I think 70% is a good bet. That's good. John, you're playing a broadly across the region in Mexico of course but much broadly in FEMSA. We hear so much about the economics being slower right now. How do you find growth as a CEO of a company broadly participating in the region? How do you find growth right now? How do you see the prospects looking ahead for the region? Sure, thank you very much, Rich. And let me just for the sake of the audience explain who we are and what we do. We at Coca-Cola FEMSA are the largest independent Coke bottler in the world. We produce and sell 12% of the Coca-Cola volume globally. We operate in 10 countries. Nine of them in Latin America, one in Asia. And we have 50% of the volume in Mexico. We have half Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama franchises, all of Colombia, all of Venezuela. We operate in the states of Paraná, Sao Paulo, and Belo Horizonte in Brazil. It's about 45% of the volume in Brazil. And we also have Argentina, which is about half of the Argentine volume. And in Asia, we have the Philippines franchise. So we do, we are 12% of the volume. We have 120,000 employees. We have 64 plants. And I think we have a grasp of what's going on in the region. If we could go out there and start looking at day to day where we're investing, I think we'd be looking at this in a very, very short-term orientation. What we've done and we continue to do is look at where this region is going to go, what the perspectives of growth are, and what the future looks like. And in that sense, we've taken one step back and looked at, first, are we in the right industry? We're doing the right things. Our non-alcoholic beverage industry is one that is continuing to grow at the rate of GDP or better. And what we have found is that 40% of our growth going forward in the next four or five years is going to come out of Asia still. And 40% is going to come out of Latin America. In Brazil, Mexico, and are going to be big players in that. And that's one of the reasons why, even though we knew there was a slowdown in Brazil, when the opportunity came and towards the end of 2013, we went out there and acquired certain companies to be able to continue to grow our footprint. I think in terms of growth, one of the things we've learned over being in the region for more than 12 years in South America and 125 years in Mexico, you have to play the cycles. And you have to go out there and continue to invest and believe that you have the favorable demographics and growth over time. So when things go bad, we continue to invest. We've invested over the last 12 years $21 billion in the region, and we continue to plan to invest at the same rate, about a billion, billion and a half every year. When things are bad, you have to continue to invest in Latin America. Because when things are good, you're going to grow disproportionately. And I think what we found is exactly that, through continued investment in infrastructure, continued investment in the marketplace, and continued investment with products and packages. We think that at the end, yes, we agree with what we said about it, this is definitely the end of the cycle. But it's also the beginning of an export. And that's typically what happens in Latin America. So I think you just have to be convinced that the region has favorable demographics. It has an emerging middle class. It has a growing population. So in the midterm, we will find, and I think each one of the countries will find solutions to their particular problems, although there's a lot of headwinds today. So I think if you're thinking about the next quarter, it may be a little bit challenging over the next three or four years. I think we're in the right place. Great. Can I ask you one follow-up around that? Mexico's embarked on such a broad set of reforms recently. And I just wonder if you could share from your vantage point, as a leading company operating here, what do you think the lessons learned are, the implications for the rest of the region, along with how you see it playing out in Mexico? Sure. I think what we're looking for, the region is challenged. And I think one of the region, what we need to see in the area is continued growth in terms of employment, continued growth in terms of people getting into workforce. I think what Mexico has done is opened up the ability for capital to move into Mexico, to be able to go out there and invest behind certain areas and bring in jobs. And I think when you look at Mexico, although the results are not necessarily there today, the structure is there today for very explosive growth. And we're very bullish on it. And I agree with what we saw. I think Colombia is also the example of this. I think Colombia continues to be an open economy, continues to be more competitive, continues to call for investment and is laying down a free trade agreement with a lot of different areas of the world on the Pacific side so that it would encourage this further. And we are very, very, very bullish on Colombia as well. We're investing heavily there with $200 million in a new plant. So we see a future there. So I think if you look back and say, OK, what do we need to do? We have to go through the labor reforms. We have to go through the fiscal reforms. We have to open up sectors. And eventually, we're just going to have to open up to foreign investment that is required in Latin America for accelerated growth. Great. So that was a very helpful and interesting discussion. Thank you all. I want to shift along with questions around the economy. The most frequent discussion I'm in as I travel the world is what's going on in technology right now in this digital revolution and how it's playing out across so many sectors of the economy in touching companies and governments, frankly, in so many different ways. And I thought maybe we could spend a few minutes on that. And Luis, I wanted to start with you because you wrote a very interesting book about Latin America and the Second Machine Age. Picking up on the book by Andy McAfee and Eric Bjorn, I never get his name correctly, Bjorn Jolson, and talking about that. I just, that book really focused on how we were entering an age of really accelerated growth in technology that was going to play out across industries, people's lives, the global economy. And we were early on in the S-curve of development. I just wonder if you could talk about the Second Machine Age in the context of Latin American. Well, thank you. I think certainly the speed of this revolution is something that is truly mind-boggling. If you look back in the Industrial Revolution, which is kind of the other time you had a major revolution, as described by these two MIT professors, Latin America came late to the Industrial Revolution. And as such, they did not benefit from the profound changes that came about with the Industrial Revolution. And I believe that despite the fact that we are, you know, with a lot of deficits today in terms of access to bandwidth, we currently have more telephones than people today in Latin America in big amounts. The reality is that if our challenges which are related to technology, to productivity, to inclusive growth, they all touch each other across what can be done with technology. And I think you look at a firm like FEMSA. A firm like FEMSA and those who compete against FEMSA, which is a pretty tough thing to do, are looking at technology in ways that they can reach their distribution chain, in ways on how you use the cloud, in ways of how you create new avenues for credit. And so my point here is that in the same way that in Latin America, when the cellular telephones came about, we went from analog to digital, which was the transition that took place in the United States. That, for the most part, did not happen in Latin America. We entered directly into digital. And so ways that are happening that one sees a variety of examples. In a country like Uruguay, through the uses of technology, you have ways of developing skills for export industries using technology. In Brazil, if you're an SME or a big company, as you know well, you operate largely in Brazil. And I'm sure FEMSA knows the same thing. Just doing a tax return takes thousands of hours. Well, today with a switch and an application, you can save those thousands of hours. Equally, in education, I like to give this example because I think it's really the kind of innovative thinking of the new class of entrepreneurs that we lead in Latin America. And that's the case of Innova schools of Carlos Rodriguez Pastor, who happens to be here. He basically went around Lima and said, where do low middle class children go to school? And he found out that most of them wanted to go to private schools because their parents thought it was a better way. And yet, the delivery of the quality of education was very bad. And he started to rethink how best to deliver that education and did an entirely different model, which today is getting huge success in test scores and already has close to 25 schools are moving in the right direction. I think this will have a profound change once you have a critical mass. Because as we all know, in education, there's great successes for 1,000 students. They're not so great for a million students. I'll give you another example, a confidant of mine in Colombia, Julio Profi. This is a teacher in a Hebrew school in Colombia that teaches math and sciences. And he started, basically, giving remedy classes to his own students to learn how to do better homeworks in both math and sciences. And today, he has something like 95 million followers, something like what Salman Khan and Khan Academy has happened. So there's all these huge applications. And at the same time, you're seeing in Latin America, take the case of Puebla, where you have the factory of BW. They have something like 20,000 workers. But they have hundreds of robots doing their work. And as Steve Hawking reminds us, the robots could put to risk a big challenge to humanity. Whereas Carlos Slim here, in a very visionary way, has said, maybe we won't need a five-day work week. Maybe we'll need a three-day week because not only are people living longer, but people will, as a result of technology, be able to be far more productive. We spoke for many, many years about the digital divide. And the digital divide, today, in my view, is going to be eliminated because technology will solve precisely the problems of those areas of Latin America, which are what I would call the deep Latin America, which lives close to a colonial time, to the more modern Latin America, and we need to connect the two. And I think technology will enable precisely that connectivity. So I think this is something that if we are smart in how to apply it, and countries are already doing that, if you go here to Mexico to Alahara, is probably one of the most innovative places in Latin America. But equally, in Uruguay, in Brazil, in Chile, in Colombia, you see all these new applications taking place every day with entirely different kinds of clients. And fundamentally, this is all about how human beings can become more productive. And how somebody in that deep Latin America doesn't know how to speak or write, but has a smartphone, can begin to himself or herself connect to the world. Can I pick up on one subsector, which is agriculture, which is very big throughout the region? Minister Grozer, New Zealand certainly knows agriculture, right? And I was wondering if you could share some thoughts about how you see what's going on in technology, changing the landscape for agriculture, not just in New Zealand, but on a broader basis right now. Well, I think we're at the very early stages of globalization of world trade and agriculture. And what has happened in terms of the globalization of technicians called NAMA, or Non-Agricultural Market Access, more commonly stated, industrial goods, we're going to see the same thing unfold. But I think there's some very, very important issues that we need to grapple with. And the most important of that is around water. So Chairman of Nestle, who is a climate change warrior, I mean, he's one of the world's most important business leaders and a great leader in terms of climate change, has gone so far as to say, actually, the more urgent problem is water. So as we see the emerging economies expand, we're seeing this massive growth in demand for protein. And it's happening in water deficit countries. Water stocks are under pressure everywhere. And the statistic that I always use, because I think it's such an arresting statistic, is that on the planet 70%, 70% of the world's fresh water is used in producing food. And I often describe New Zealand, I could say the same for Uruguay or Brazil, as a virtual water exporter, as a consequence. So it's quite clear to us that, although no statement has ever been made by, say, the Chinese government, that they are outsourcing their food production to water surplus countries. They have 22% of the world's population, 9% of the world's arable land only, and massive water quality issues. So I think that, in fact, you could almost say we're going back to where economic theory was 40 years ago, in which the international trading system is playing a function in allocating scarce resources and resources which are under environmental degradation in a more rational way. Now, at the moment, because we're stuck in Geneva, we're advancing the liberalization process through these mega regional trading deals. But I think it's unstoppable, it's just difficult politically. And we will start then to see the development of a global value chain in agribusiness in pretty much the same way we've seen it in non-agriculture. In which countries that are extremely efficient producing basic commodities will start to forge investment and other linkages with other countries in part of a much more complex value chain in agribusiness. But my big takeaway is these are early days, but I think it will accelerate. Ambassador Shannon, you served as ambassador to Brazil for many years, where agribusiness is a huge element. How do you see the technology pointing out specific to Brazil and the opportunities there? Well, actually, I would take what the minister said and go one step further, which is that one of the most profound phenomenon we're gonna see over the next several decades is the rise of middle class around the world. Right now, there's probably 500 million members of the middle class in Asia. Demographers think that's gonna increase to almost three billion by 2030. And we're gonna see similar trends in India, in Africa, and elsewhere. And as the minister noted, this is gonna have a huge impact on food consumption and what kind of food people consume. And that creates an enormous opportunity for countries like Brazil. In fact, when I was in Brazil, we had established bilateral agricultural talks where we were looking for a way to reach an understanding where between Brazil and the United States, the two largest food exporters in the world that we needed to understand the world less as a competitive battleground where we were fighting with each other for market share and much more as a co-supply arrangement where we would be able to work with the Brazilians and also the Argentines and the Uruguayans and the Canadians to really make the Western Hemisphere the food basket of the world because of the arable land and because of the water that exists both in North America and in South America. And what that means for cooperation and what that means for leverage on countries beyond the Western Hemisphere is quite remarkable. And I don't think it's a mistake that the head of the Food and Agriculture Organization is a Brazilian and the head of the World Food Program is an American. And it creates opportunities for engagement that are quite remarkable. But the Brazilians have shown through their own agricultural revolution an ability to use technology and to transform land which historically was not considered arable or of agricultural value. And I think that the technology that they were able to capture and then the investment that they were able to attract, largely from the United States, has reshaped Brazil as a major agriculture producer. And what it needs right now to produce even more and export more is really infrastructure. It's got the technology. It just needs greater roadways and railways into the Western part of the country and easier access to ports and more efficient ports. And then it becomes maybe even the largest food exporter in the world. But I think we're in a moment right now of enormous potential in terms of agriculture which can be a linkage between technology and infrastructure. Excellent. So I want to leave time for a couple of questions from all of you, but I just want to touch on sustainability. You can't talk about the global context now without at least talking a little bit about what's going on in sustainability. The Paris conference coming up later this year. And John, maybe you could take a few minutes from a company perspective and Minister Gonzales Sanz, maybe you have a few thoughts from a government perspective and then we'll open it up. Thank you. I think from a sustainability perspective, I think water is an enormous issue. Water is an enormous issue as the minister has said, as the ambassador has said. We have focused very heavily on water in a lot of different fronts, one of them being just the ability to go out there and replenish. In Mexico, for example, we've put in place 64 million trees in reforestation effort over the last 10 years. Today we can claim that Mexico replenishes everything that we produce in terms of product. And that's the ambition for all of our operations around the world. Secondly, over the last 10 years, we have been focusing very heavily on just reducing and becoming more efficient in water usage. Over the last, during that 10 year period, we have reduced usage of water by 22%. And that sounds like an interesting number, but it's 4.5 billion liters of water that we have saved. So that's very important. And second and thirdly, I think we have to go out there and stimulate the conservancy. Through FAMSA and FAMSA Foundation, we have gone out and invested in going and protecting watersheds. And we're looking to protect watersheds, at least 32 watersheds in six different countries with an investment of $30 million. So I think sustainability of water is a very important point. But also one of the things that we're looking for in terms of sustainability is communities and employment. And I think one of the things that technology brings today over time is less employment. In an area that is very challenged for job and job generation. So the things that we have to go out there and look for as businesses and as society is how do we encourage and innovate entrepreneurship? And we're doing that around the region. One example is the global shapers here with the pool. And so we're looking at different angles of sustainability and innovation. Excellent. I think that as a world, we have a great opportunity this year, two fronts, basically. One is the definition of what is called the POST 2015 agenda. The definition of the Sustainability Development Goals to be defined in the context of the United Nations. That's an opportunity that we have to pay very close attention. The greatest importance is a great event. It's going to be shaping in many aspects of the future of the developing world in the next decades. And the other one is the Paris conference, the COP 21 on climate change by the end of this year. That's there are some linkages between the definition of the agenda and of course the decisions that can take place in Paris, which from our perspective, I'm talking about our national perspective, which should be something very simple, straightforward, easy to understand, easy to implement. Not a lot of talking, but going to specific objectives that can be measured in due time. And Costa Rica is working on an initiative that has been shared with any other countries that are environmentally conscious. And we are aiming for very good results. But we need the work to work together. This is not one country's initiative. It's the whole planet that is at stake. And if we want to talk about sustainability, we have two great opportunities here. Any other comments about sustainability? Otherwise, I'm going to turn. Minister? Putting on my hat as climate change minister and I'm extremely closely involved in these negotiations, I just want to say I think the China-US deal is a complete game changer. I mean, first of all, China produces 24% of global emissions, which is exactly double that of the United States, which is an extraordinary statistic when you consider that as recently as 2008, the US was still the largest emitter. But the US emissions have been tracking down steadily. China is going up. With the Chinese leadership, in my view, I reject these extreme interpretations of the deal that it's a free pass to China. I think that is absolute nonsense. Have made a decision to peak their emissions no later than 2030. We're confident they'll do this before. And by having the leadership of China and the United States, I've become considerably more optimistic that we will get a deal. It won't be the whole deal. We have to be realistic about this. But we will get a deal, I believe, now in Paris. And it will be based on the most fundamental reality of all, which is that a comprehensive deal is about participation first and foremost. It was never going to work to do another Kyoto for all manner of reasons, including US domestic political sensitivities or other. But the key now is to get at the emerging economies on a lower carbon development trajectory that does not threaten their developmental process. And I think the Chinese lead here, plus technology, is actually we should twist the dial on our pessimism, optimism thing a little bit now in a more optimistic way. I think we're going to get a deal in Paris. And I think it'll be the beginning of a big structural and positive shift. Luis, did you want to look at the both of them? A perspective from Latin America is very important. In these global commons that we live, the Amazon is perhaps the most important recipient of CO2 emissions in the world. And preserving that is extremely important. If you look at the energy matrix in Latin America to a large degree, it's largely renewable. There is a growing awareness in societies as a whole because of the impacts of climate change, be it any form of natural disasters that the populations of Latin America have become extremely aware of. And more and more, this allows the conversion into a more green economy, as the minister was suggesting. And for instance, we've done work with Coca-Cola Femes on the watersheds. This is extremely important, but only they are. Equally, on the way we produce agriculture, we have a capability in Latin America, bear none, to produce huge amounts of food. But the problem is that today, 50% of the food that we produce is in small farms. The question then becomes, how do you increase the productivity in those farms with small farmers? And that implies two things, the delivery of public goods, roads or rural roads, electricity, water, and sanitation. But equally, how can you work through using technology to increase those yields in the ways that you plan the farming of tomorrow? And these, I think, are the challenge. But equally, I believe that no deal is possible if there is no recognition that at the heart of all this debate, there is a development agenda, especially for the more vulnerable countries. Ambassador, did you want to add something? Just very quickly, picking up on the minister's comment about the US-China climate deal. While we pursue this larger global deal, we've begun to explore bilateral agreements like this between major emitters. But we've decided to take it one step further and actually start doing deals between cities, major global cities that are major emitters. In fact, in the recently released quadrennial diplomacy and development review, the State Department has made a specific point of highlighting that we are going to involve mayors and businesses in cities that are mega, mega, megapolis is basically major emitters, and look for ways to share best practices that even while we wait on a global deal, are gonna look for ways to drop emissions as much as possible because as most people here know, most of our emissions come from construction and come from how the materials we use in construction. And this idea of linking cities really started between the United States and Brazil and really between Philadelphia and Rio de Janeiro when we started several years ago a project called the Joint Initiative on Urban Sustainability because what we discovered as we engaged both in the United States and in Brazil is that all mayors are environmentalists because all mayors are focused on governance and all mayors have to solve problems. And one of the biggest problems are utility rates and usage and also management of emissions. So we're gonna do one better next time. Great. So we have a few minutes. Let me just see if there's a couple questions. Do you wanna ask and then we'll pick a couple. Try to be brief please just because we don't have much time. Thank you very much. And could you say your name and your organization? I'm from Harvard University. I wanted to ask Tom Shannon a question about the state of sort of like the values that hold the inter-American system together. Because obviously with the inclusion of Cuba the Democratic Charter sits a little bit uncomfortably as an element in the inter-American community. But as you know, the Venezuelan constitution requires there to be a legislative election this year. And the government refuses to call the election. The opinion polls say that they would lose it by 15 or 20 percentage points. Would Latin America do anything if the government decides not to have elections? I mean the inter-American system do anything if Venezuela decides not to have elections. Thank you. Good question. And with any luck we won't have to find out. Because with any luck the legislative elections will be called and held and done in a way that can be validated by observers or monitors that the inter-American system can accept. And I think that's our goal. I think it's the goal of the rest of the hemisphere, obviously. But as we look kind of broadly across the hemisphere and recognize that for the most part countries have chosen democracy as their political North Star. What's interesting for me is how democracy has become the means by which countries attempt to address development issues. In other words attempt to address what I talked about earlier, these deep historic social inequities, whether it be poverty, inequality, or social exclusion. And the Western Hemisphere is unique in that sense. And that's what makes the Democratic Charter so interesting because this is the only hemisphere or the only region of the world at this level of development that has to determine that democracy is essential to a political, social, and economic development. In other words the development cannot be done through authoritarian means. But what's obviously at play here is that you have some countries attempting to use democratic means to build a democratic development model. In other countries you have countries that have a more centrally driven or authoritarian development models trying to use democratic institutions. And this creates an enormous tension within societies. But I think one of the ways out of this diplomatically is to begin to understand democracy not only in terms of rights and liberties and institutions, which is very important and can't be given up, but also to understand it in terms of democracy's social content. In other words, in terms of the development that it can deliver. And that is where I think in the long run the core of the Democratic Charter is gonna win out because I think the countries that are gonna develop in sustainable ways and in ways that are gonna continue to grow over time and continue to enjoy the support of their populations are gonna be those who are really using democratic processes for democratic purposes. Did you wanna add something? Yeah, just a few quick remarks. These elections are very, very important for Venezuela. That's our perspective from Costa Rica. These are parliamentarian elections and let's put that into the context. And just recently, as of March 19th, there was a meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States on the issue of Venezuela, which was actually called by Venezuela, which is a good step forward because it brings the organization into the situation. And we made very, very clear about the importance of holding these elections because not many people are talking about these elections that are supposed to take place in around September this year. And another remark that we made, and this is important from our perspective, is to have the involvement of the supervisory elections, committees or missions organized by the Organization of American States being called by the Venezuelan authorities because they have been reluctant to do so in the past. And I think that will, if these elections take place and the involvement of the organization is there, that will bring a lot of certainty and clarity and transparency to the process. Thank you. Quick question. Federico Rivas, global shaper from El Salvador. Chancellor Gonzales, it seems that your country has a very favorable economic outlook for the next couple of years, same as Panama, as we have confirmed earlier, not only by statistics, also it's president and vice president. However, and you're living in an era of abundance in this country, and it's an opportunity to bring all sorts of innovation forth with this economic bonanza. However, this does not seem to be the case to some of your neighbors. The Northern Triangle of Central America is considered one of the most violent regions in the world. And this, of course, affects the competitiveness of our region and the sort of attractiveness to do business in it. Is it a priority for your government to do something about the regional stability? And President Moreno, should it be a priority for regional integration and advancement? Thank you. Absolutely, absolutely. When President Solis took office last May, he was very clear to state that the Central American integration process is one of his priorities. Many presidents have talked about it in the past, but they have not done as much as needed in that direction by profession. And he's fully committed to the integration process of Central America. If one country in Central America is not doing well, it affects the rest. More and more other regions in the world and other countries in the world see Central America as a sub-region. They don't look into Costa Rica. They don't look into Panama itself. They look into the region. And if the region is not able to offer the platform, the necessary platform for them to come and share the benefits of these kinds of investments, we are not big enough on ourselves, on our own, of course, of course not. This concept of the Northern Triangle, and I would like then to start talking about the Southern Triangle as well, because we are part of Central America. We are part of the same region. The problems that Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador have are just deeper in degree, but we also have those problems. I mean, some of the origin of the problems they have are also coming from other parts in Central America. So now that the U.S. is proposing this program for Central America, I was happy to hear President Obama made it very clear in the Summit of the Americas that it's for Central America. It's not just for the Northern Triangle. That's the right perspective. They should look into the rest of the countries, not just because you have the problem, mainly, the problem of the unaccompanied children coming to the U.S. from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. It doesn't mean that you have to tackle the structure of problems that face the rest of the countries in Central America. So it's very important to have that perspective and that approach. Well, we have been working at the request of the three presidents of the Northern Triangle, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador in helping them prepare what is their plan, it has to be their plan, is the so-called plan for prosperity. And it looks to tackle with four different strategies the underlying problems of why is it that the highest levels of informality, the highest levels of crime, and largely the lack of economic opportunity for these three countries is taking place. And I think, and I give a lot of credit to President Obama, and I know Tom Shannon has been working very, and we have been working very closely with him and the rest of the U.S. government to make sure that the request of the president materializes. I can tell you that the other interesting thing I see here, and I went through a process when I, my previous life when I was ambassador of Colombia had to put Plan Colombia together. There was all this conversation about why this thing would never work. And there were so many skeptics. And Colombia, of course, is a very different country today. In fact, the foreign minister of Colombia was actually in a meeting we just had with Tom and others, precisely looking at ways of how to use the cheapest gas in the world which is in North America, both the United States and Mexico, to be able to connect that gas into the Northern Triangle countries. Because if this doesn't happen when you have a situation like El Salvador or Honduras, where the cost of energy is probably four times the average cost of the same energy use in the United States, what you will soon have is not only continuous pressures on migration into the United States, but eventually migration of businesses into perhaps Mexico or the United States. And I think this is the big challenge and there's a very short window of opportunity. So in my view, we gotta try to help these countries, and certainly, of course, as the minister of Costa Rica says, it is a larger issue, of course, for Central America, but these countries are, in my view, in a very big challenge today, and as they do better, I think the rest of Central America will do better. So with that, I'm going to bring this panel to a close and thank all of our panelists here for their remarkable contributions. You know, it's interesting, if you just read the press, you often get a very negative view on the various challenges that we face. And I think when you listen and you think about the longer-term opportunities to continue to build in Latin America, the technology revolution that is coming that will place challenges in some elements around jobs and opportunities, but it will also open up enormous potential in education, in agriculture, in many sectors of the world economy, and the progress that's being made on the climate change front that will touch this region along with the rest of the world. There's a lot of challenges, but there's some opportunity for optimism as well. So thank you all very much for joining us this afternoon. Now, wait, wait, wait. Before you stand up, I'm asked to tell you that there's a very important announcement coming and we're going to exit the stage now, but stay in your seats for a couple of minutes and there'll be a short announcement before we head off to our various evenings. Thank you. That was a wonderful panel. Thank you very much for such an inspiring outlook for Latin America. It is now my pleasure to share with you that we have already selected our host country for 2016, and we're very proud, very excited to go to Colombia in 2016. So I am delighted to invite the delegation of the government of Colombia to join us up here on the floor. Ministers, please. Muchas gracias a todos. Me acompaña una delegación muy nutrida de Colombia. Tengo la canciller. Thank you very much. I have with me the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Director of Colombia, the Mayor of Medellin, the Post-Conflict Minister, y el Ministro General Naranjo and the Minister of Communications, Dr. Diego Molano. This is a very representative delegation. In 2010, Colombia had the opportunity to host the World Economic Forum for Latin America. And that same year, President Santos addressed the UN Assembly and said that that was going to be the decade for Latin America. And five years later, he was not wrong. We have seen the huge progress of the Latin American countries in the area of business, equality, education. And thus, it is very important to us, once again, to have you in our country, Colombia, next year around the same time of the year. Thank you very much. It's an honor for us to be the host country of the World Economic Forum in Colombia. So thank you for your support. Latin America and the World Economic Forum in our process towards peace. The oldest conflict in the hemisphere, it will be an honor to celebrate with you the end of that conflict next year. So God permitting that will be the case. Thank you very much. As you leave, we have a present for you, a souvenir, so that you start enjoying our coffee when you go back to Colombia. Thank you very much.