 Latin America's youth, represented by global shapers, women, and its larger and more demanding middle class are cornerstones to drive positive change in Latin America. By bringing together prominent and dynamic leaders from so many different backgrounds, this meeting provides an ideal platform for committed decision makers to set a bold renovation agenda, and to take the initiative on new generation of public-private cooperation and transformational projects. We hope this unparalleled opportunity for multi-stakeholders dialogue will influence the future course of the region through our renovation agenda, and it's now my pleasure to introduce to you the President of Mexico, Mr. Enrique Peña Nieto. Mr. President. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Good morning to each and all of you. I would like to say hello to Mr. Klaus Schwab, who is the President of the World Economic Forum, and as I've said to him privately, it's a great honor and distinction for Mexico to be the host of this 10th meeting of the WEF for Latin America and the Caribbean. Undoubtedly, a great opportunity also for Mexico to share with you its experience on the road to structural changes, structural reforms that have been of notable importance to Mexico. I would like to welcome the President of Panama and the President of Haiti. Your presence here distinguishes us, sirs. It's an honor to have you here amongst us. I wish to guests of this meeting representing governments, enterprises, academics, analysts, and those who are truly interested in this Latin American and Caribbean region. Representatives of the media, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to you all to Mexico, a mega-diverse nation that is proud of having a culture that is measured in millennia. We Mexicans are a warm and hospitable society. We are the friend of all nations in the world, and that's why it's an honor for my country to welcome the World Economic Forum on Latin America for the third time since its founding. This has been a privileged space for constructive dialogue in which strategic topics are discussed for development of our region. Latin America has been a territory of utopia and of action. It has been a land of hope in which great feats have been undertaken in favor of the most precious of ideals, the likes of liberty and justice. Lobel, Nouriet, Octavio Paz asserted that America is not so much a tradition but continuing like a future to be undertaken. Projects in utopia are inseparable from Hispanic American thought. In Latin America and Caribbean, in the Caribbean, we continue to be inspired by feats of the freedom fighters such as Toussaint Louverture, Miguel Hidalgo, Simon Bolivar, and Antonio Rosé Le Suicre. Here also, we saw revolutions of great social content that were inspired by the desire for greater equality. In this beginning of the 21st century, Latin America continues its march to consolidate itself as an inclusive, democratic, and progressive region. Our countries are investing in education and knowledge because we know that the main asset of our people are our young people. Latin American societies value their history, but they also have their sights set on the future. We are nations that are dynamic and plural, increasingly open to the world, willing to compete and be triumphant in global markets. In this new stage, we have created plans of regional integration, such as the community of Latin American and Caribbean states, or subregional plans such as the innovative novel Pacific Alliance that promotes a free movement of people, goods, and capitals between Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico. In Latin America, there is a spirit of transformation and modernity to foster economic growth and development of our societies. And that's why I'm so happy that the World Economic Forum has proposed the topic for this a plenary advancing through an agenda of renovation, just like in Latin America, Mexico is also renewing itself. It is transforming itself. Our economy has solid foundations. It's the second largest of the region and one of the most open economies in the world. We have free trade agreements with 45 countries that gives us access to a potential market of over 1 billion, 100 million consumers. And the great majority of our exports are manufacturing exports, and they are increasingly sophisticated. For instance, Mexico is the number one exporter of flat screens and refrigerators. And we're the number fourth exporter of vehicles in the world. And we are moving forward firmly in the aerospace sector. We are a nation of young people, trained young people and talented young people. 50 percent, the half of our population is aged 27 years and younger. And every year, 100,000 engineers and technologists are graduating from our schools. In addition, we're consolidating ourselves as a tourism powerhouse. In 2014, our country once again was amongst the 10 most visited countries in the world. The World Economic Forum has recognized the advance in its competitive index in terms of travel and tourism, in which we have increased our ranking by 14 positions in just a year. To better take advantage of these strengths, we have undertaken a great transformation, a deep transformation over the past two years, and based on a great national agreement with the main political party forces in the country, we've been able to undertake structural reforms such as the educational reform, reforms that strengthen our institutional regime, such as the political electoral reform and the transparency reform that broadens accountability. And particularly, these are reforms that enhance productivity and competitiveness of our economy, such as the labor reform, the economic competition reform, the telecommunications reform, the finance tax, and energy reforms. Each of these has done away with barriers and puts a fundamental sphere of our social and economic life at the vanguard. The reforms are the foundations for building a better country. They are a platform so that Mexico can begin a new stage of development. In its entirety, the transforming reforms will enable us to become a nation that is more prosperous and inclusive. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a Mexico in transformation. And it's this Mexico that welcomes you with open arms. I am sure that this forum will enable us to exchange ideas to accelerate and deepen the changes that are already underway in the region. I'm referring to strategies to foster greater productive integration, to develop infrastructure and to renew our energy sector, the same as to foster research and development. But especially, I hope that this will be a space for constructive meetings amongst business persons and social leaders of the region, because you are at the end of the day those who bring us together and who bring our societies together and closer as well. So I wish you the best success and hope that you and this World Economic Forum Latin America can have a great effect in favor of the societies of Latin America and the Caribbean. Thank you very much. I'm now honored to introduce our founder and executive chairman, Professor Klaus Schwab and our distinguished panel of speakers, Mr. Michelle Martelli, President of Haiti. Mr. Enrique Peña Nieto, President of Mexico. And Mr. Juan Carlos Varela, the President of Panama. Professor Schwab, the floor is yours. Mr. President, I think first of presidents, I think first I have to adapt to the dynamic atmosphere of this country, of what we feel here in this audience. And I have to take off my tie. And thank you to really adapt to the dynamic spirit. Thank you for providing again the hospitality. It's our third meeting here in this country. It's our 10th Latin American Economic Summit. I think the record participation shows you the confidence which is given to the region and particularly also to the host country. I would listening to you and all the comprehensive reforms you have undertaken, which have got a lot of attention around the world, because Mexico is considered now as one of those countries which has the willingness and the capability to reform itself. But Mr. President, when, and I would start with you and afterwards ask the same questions to President Rodriguez and President Martelli. When you come to the end of your presidency, what would you like to be really the legacy which is attached to your name and which people will speak about still a century from now? What is the legacy? What is the vision really behind everything? Thank you, Mr. Schwab. Mr. Schwab, thank you very much. I base myself on the conviction that a country is not built in a short period of time. I start from the idea that a country cannot be defined by a six year administrative term in office, which is the governmental term in office for presidents in my country. I'm convinced that all of the generations that have come before us have done their best effort to help our country in its development. And I believe that the government has met the challenges of the country and has kept its promises and pledges to society. But what I've seen is the consistency between what I offered to Mexicans when I was campaigning in terms of what we've done. I believe, in other words, that we have done what we promised. And I think that the greatest contribution during my administration could be to make an important contribution so that based on the new foundations, the new mechanisms and means, such as the structural reforms that we've built all together and here I could not, I would be remiss, were I not to refer to all of the political forces in a democratic way and the way that we have worked democratically to build this, that this infrastructure work that we're fostering throughout the country with public-private partnerships, such as innovation and different public policies, leaving aside the policies that today seem were obsolete or that were no longer meeting the need that they were developed for. And these are the things that can be done so that Mexico can continue to grow and to have greater development and the most important leave for that legacy to have greater prosperity for Mexican society. These are the reference points, the structural changes, novel policies and or significant infrastructure development will be, I believe, the greatest legacy and the greatest work that we can do in favor of the prosperity and development of Mexico. So it's not just the legislation, it's the institutions and it's probably also the mindset which has to change to adapt to our new world, which is so fast changing. I may come back to this point, but President Martelli, last year you were still presidential candidate when we had our meeting in your country, you came to Davos. You spoke about the need of reforms in your country and I have to say congratulations because you are one of the stars in terms of economic growth at the moment in the world. If I've not mistaken, over 6%. But what do you still need reforms with such a high growth rate? Thank you very much, Professor Schwab, President Enrique. Thank you very much, Professor Schwab, President Enrique Benigneta. Thank you very much for your hospitality and welcoming comments. For me, the success of Panama has been that it has had for 25 years democratic stability when democracy is exercised to serve the public. It brings great benefits to the majority and to the entire population. In terms of the legacy that I'd like to leave as president, I think for me the most important thing is to be able to change the policy like in the majority of all of our countries, the services and products, we need to be able to have an impact through this way amongst people. We need to have a democracy that is participative with a separation of a stage from all other spheres and that the public policies be focused on the areas that most affect the population. Countries that make mistakes, sometimes they have... There are attacks on the president in terms of what the president is developing and policy as if it were the president that it brings all of the problems. We need to have institutions that guarantee a democratic system. We need to have the education and healthcare systems so that we can inspire a new generation of men and women who see public life as a common good for everyone. And I would find that as a personal satisfaction to have served people in my vocation. And I think that we are achieving that legacy. We are being able to see many people come into public side and to focus their lives on having an impact on the lives of citizens in the country. I think that a public structure is so very important when countries such as mine have sustained growth like six or seven years for 10 years almost. It's very important to look at how you invest public money and though there is a greater social yield that's a great impact for people in terms of state policies and infrastructure and change the state from a business to a service and have people take part in public service in such a way that it affects the greatest number of people. And to have prevention policies for instance for security so that in all quarters of the country even in quarters where there's low income and where it's danger, where they feel a great presence of the state and so that they have services on education and healthcare so that people can have a healthy life. And I think this is key for Latin American countries for political forces to debate state policies and then turn them into reality and leaving electoral issues to one side. I've always thought that it's policy in Latin America focused on soccer where they focus on their club for three or four years and then they work for on their country for six months when there's the World Cup. In public policy sometimes we wanna do the same thing but we have to do the opposite. We have to work on the country for three or four years and on internal matters only for six months. I think the political force needs to be able to focus that. We need to focus on the problems that affect the population. And in closing I would just have a question when the Summit of the Americas which was a great success for the country to be able to bring all Latin American countries together and American countries together to be able to focus on how to deal with insecurity and inequity. Reporters asked me what is your country going to take from this Summit? And I said, well we're going to continue to be fighting for Panama to have the Panamanian cap on our heads and to deal with the issues that affect our population most substantially. Thank you, Mr. President. In this context you speak about all Latin America. I just would like to say how appreciative we are to have a Cuban delegation for the first time participating in this event. Welcome. As I was telling the professor and all participants the hotel where you are has a great history. This is where CELAC, the Latin American and Caribbean community was founded here with the heads of state in that case. At that time the president of Cuba and President Chavez of Venezuela was also there at that time. And five years later I think this has been a great space of dialogue and debate for countries that have been able to approach and get closer, draw closer ties with the United States and Canada as a result. Mr. President Martelly, your country was struck by a major disaster and now you are in the middle of major reconstruction. What is legacy to imagine for the future? First of all, let me greet the Mexican president, Pena Nato, and thank him for the organization of this forum and for the warm welcome that he gave, the Asian delegation and myself and I'd also like to greet and congratulate President Varela and I congratulate him also for the Summit of the Americas that took place some three weeks ago and I thank you also for inviting me because this is my second participation in the World Economic Forum which is always a pleasure for me. Haiti's situation is always particular, came into power immediately after this earthquake that caused more than 300,000 deaths and that destroyed our country but we must admit that way before the earthquake, the state had abandoned everything, constructions were poorly done, we did not plan our development, we had no economic program. So once I took office, I found a state in ruins. It was already a big burden to move 1,500,000 people living under tents and for them it had become a habit not to pay rent, not to pay food since everything was provided for free but fortunately we were able to re-house all of these people and tonight, today, instead of 1.5 million people living under tents, we only have approximately 40,000 and in three years that was a major effort in terms of legacy, to me, I wanted to leave a state at the service of the population which is why the Chagrin Palace that was destroyed was not reconstructed. We are focused on reconstructing the Haitian men in this sense we implemented a free education program so today all young Haitians have a right to education and to encourage them to go to school, we also provided them with free transportation and they go to school tuition-free and transportation-free and we always talk about the youth policy because Haiti must change completely and it's only through adequate training of youth that we can do it. We have built some 12 professional schools or vocational school in three years and it makes a difference between since our independence in 1804 until I took my oath of office, we only had 17 vocational schools in Haiti and in three years we were able to build as many and we believe that sustainable change will must go through training, education and empowerment which is what we are doing for vocational school and soccer fields and sports areas that are also part of education. It's not just a game. I hope we'll leave Haiti with a different image, a responsible state. The opposition talks about corruption but today we have a responsible state. We have a 3.2 growth rate which is a bit more than the region over three years. Some diseases have been eradicated. The rate of mortality, children who died before age five has been reduced by 44% one of the best in the world. We're in the process of changing things in Haiti. It changes in our image. We already perceive differently. Tourism has increased by 20% so establishing a state today at the service of the population to enable Haiti to be in the path of modernity and sustainable development is essential to me. Congratulations for this progress under some very difficult circumstances. I want to be a little more... To try to be always happy but never to be satisfied. So my question to you would be what are you particularly happy about in what you have achieved? Just one very particular issue and what are you particularly unsatisfied of not having achieved until now? President. I think really the most important source of satisfaction for Mexico undoubtedly is to have shown and I'm not speaking in my own name but as part of Mexican society that through democracy and in the situation that we have right now being such a diverse plural Mexico has many different ways of looking at things very different visions and under this condition that we would have been able to have a whole agenda of structural reforms which have been proposed over many, many decades that we would have dared to make structural changes which undoubtedly are going to lead the country to a better future or economic development, better dynamism in our economy and obviously better well-being for the Mexican people that we were able to break with paradigms that we thought were impossible to change for example structural change in the field of energy sources that we would have been able to have more competency in the area of telecommunications for example that we had decided to make such a relevant change in the field of education to ensure that the professors that the teachers are better prepared, better trained and thus can give a better quality education to our children that we would have decided for example to change more than 34 different laws to have been a source of credit in our country and obviously economic, financial and solid approach through our different agencies before the population really didn't have access to these sources these are deep structural changes they give us new foundations they give us a new platform and above all I think the most important thing was our determination and this is a source of satisfaction to have achieved really these changes through these structural bases now perhaps what has not left us completely complacent or satisfied to date or at least a degree of satisfaction that you referred to and we think that these reforms really as soon as possible will lead to tangible important changes for the population we know that everything changes we try to edify a nation that a nation that decides to change to undergo transformations it's not from one day to the next and we hope that all of these benefits stemming from these reforms will be felt by all as soon as possible so once again we obviously have lower costs and telephone service we don't have to pay long distance calls telephone service in general is more economical than in the past there's a greater source of competition and this certainly leads to the benefit of Mexican families we've also seen how for the very first time in our country the price and really the rates for electricity, for power and light have dropped it used to be at the beginning of each year there was an increase in these rates domestically in business establishments for industry the cost really of electricity is tapering off there are other benefits as well these aren't the only benefits but these reforms certainly point to a higher level of productivity in our country and more economic dynamism or recovery so once again I think that while we are not fully satisfied with all of this because I don't think we have really been satisfied with all these reforms but we think as time goes on that we are going to feel the effects of these reforms on Mexican families and it's in this direction that we're working thank you Mr. President Peña Nieto we should also not forget that all those reforms have to take place in an economic environment globally which is characterized by slow growth and if we look at the IMF forecast we will have quite for some years to come a relatively reduced global growth rate and I think this is in terms of your export capabilities and so on this has to be taken into consideration President Varena I was meeting the young generation yesterday it's a tradition in the World Economic Forum that we have always a strong tension given to the expectations of the young generation and I was asking the young generation our young global leaders and our global shapers as we call them what is on the top of your list and I think I would formulate it in the following way the trust gap the lack of trust in politicians and systems and of course it has to do also with the issue of governance of corruption um... what would you tell the young people in order what you are undertaking and I will ask the other presidents latest the same question what are you undertaking to what are you undertaking in order to respond to those expectations for better governance and we have some problem not only in Latin America we have it globally what what are your uh... what is your response to the young generation for me what's most important really right now is our capability capacity and to be able to bring into the public eye professional independent entrepreneurs men and women and that they stop in the middle of their life I realized that this is an important consideration but that they just put a hold on hold their family life they really allow these young people to share the public life the twenty years of experience that they have and to put really of this at the service of young men and women who have taken a step in the right direction and who are ready to face the problems that affect the country and they're helping me to comply with the government plan and education and health energy to see people from all the different uh... political parties independent public parties and they're all focused really on one common goal and in my particular case I have four or five ministers who I met them at the very first interview that was made of this were sometimes three interviews maybe three or four hour interviews academicians professionals entrepreneurs we brought them all together we brought all the talent of the country together and I think we have seen good success stories in different fields of culture academia etc and I think Panama really is capitalizing on this in our public life and I think people have understood that the most important thing really is not to build parties but really to build a nation to build a country prosperity for all and I think to have that whole pool of talent in the case of the global leaders who where we see youth participating at the summit of the america's etc I think this is inspired them they've seen a path they can go down in public life not just economically a matter of economic resources we all want to move forward in their lives but the satisfactions that can be derived from this and the number of people that we can have an impact on to see the smiles on the face of children to solve basic health problems education housing and all the challenges that we've set forth for ourselves especially and trying to have secondary education for a hundred percent of all of our youth these are part of our social reforms i think preventive uh... medicine for example for everybody massive transportation system in Panama city for example in seven years we're going to have some four hundred kilometers of public uh... transportation maybe even renew sixty kilometers why for public transportation because we have the technical resources at our disposal we have the economic resources to move forward with this agenda the most complicated aspect for me is for people to get used to red tape bureaucratic red tape uh... trying to figure out how long different works public works are going to take for them to adapt to public life to government so i think this is difficult for example the bids are put out but it can take years for them these public works to get in place so once again we want to have this as a vision of the state and that we're going to continue to build to construct on this basis in all of these different areas i think this is a big challenge is to inspire to encourage our young people to work on the future of their country undoubtedly working together with a private sector including the private sector especially fields of education where i think the private sector really can play a top-notch role and i think the success or failure of a country is not just the government and not just up to the president it's the whole country it's all the people so we have to bring in all of these different forces civilians uh... labor unions politicians etc and to have a model to set an example for our young people for me this is very important so once again when we see politicians on television sometimes i say to myself how really can a teacher get things in order to school and uh... the children are looking at all these programs so i think we have to preach for their example and this is very important to go down this path of public life and once again social responsibility for entrepreneurs the commitment of our government i think this is very important and these are the challenges that we face in the future especially for our youth thank you president and yet how would you uh... address this issue of highest uh... governance principles and select of trust in governments but i have to add there's also a lack of trust in business leaders we need the highest ethical principles everywhere what is your what is the response to the young generation well i think first of all politics undoubtedly is the means by which we can encourage the transformation of a society unfortunately sometimes the lack of the absence of seeing immediate results in a society such as ours if people expect immediate results and they want to find a solution to the problems right away so for governments as some i think this is certainly a huge challenge to match their expectations to be able to satisfy some of the social demands that is brought about by the sense of immediacy so i think one of them another major challenge that we face as governments is to become more efficient to be more efficient in government management good governance i think this is important that we need to see throughout the government and this good governance undoubtedly will help and will lead to principles that we can see we'll make a positive a decisive contribution to transparency and i think that certainly is part of your question i would like to mention what i've been criticized for corruption certainly is a matter sometimes of cultural change is really the scourge of our societies especially in latin american societies if we really want to achieve a change of mentality of behavioral patterns of practices of a similarly new ethical and moral values then this has to be a structural change throughout society from the government point of view we have been the major really engine behind this to try to get other political forces to work in favor of transparency and just recently we have the secondary law for a constitutional amendment which sets levels and practices which will lead to greater transparency throughout all of the different uh... government agencies it means that all of these public bodies that receives public resources might be transparent and we're also having debates on reforms to set up an anti-corruption system on the one hand there would be better practices in governance or for governance and on the other hand mechanisms which would sanction any infringement of good practices but i think the most important aspect these are certain measures their instruments uh... their ways which really add to what has already been established of a society is not determined to change for the good and really to be part of a new culture in favor of legality then these endeavors will simply not be enough because sometimes it turns out and here perhaps uh... there are some criticisms of a cultural basis when we really have patterns when we have behavioral patterns that should be followed some people want everybody else to follow them but they don't always apply them to themselves they think this should be a law for everybody else but not for oneself so in mexico there's a saying that says make sure you apply laws to other people but not not in my home so apply it to everybody else but not to me so on this topic i think really is a scourge that penetrates the whole society i think we see outbreaks here and there and that have been pointed out as very poor practices so i think if we really want to change this then we have to be the governments behind this cultural change that will allow us really to knock down these walls that have been an obstacle in the past and that get in the way of moving forward that will lead to more equality more justice in our societies thank you i think your answer mr president shows us how committed you are to establish this new mindset which is important in order to reform a society and also how difficult it is i mean and how we should never forget it's a global problem it's a global issue mr the president let me begin by saying the lack of trust on the part of youth is due to the failure of certain state policies for example if we think about Haiti a country where the unemployment rate is beyond 60 percent and in education in more than 85 percent of schools with private skill how could you even think that the people could access such education so we had to come up with this idea of creating trust by offering services to the population and provide access to education for example and that has to do with today's theme innovation we had to innovate to enable Haiti to pay for these children's tuition to enable them to go to school and the way we did it was very simple we began to collect five cents per incoming telephone calls as well as a dollar fifty on all remittances to Haiti from the diaspora and the combination of these collections have enabled us to pay the professors and teachers in schools that are part of this program so trust is being re-established i must tell you that some poor parents for their children their daughters to leave their home to go get married it was a way to avoid poverty we told them that this is not the right way it is education and training the sons of farmers who only recognize themselves in the land we established formulas where they understand where they are at we were able to regroup some three thousand farmers people who had no hope of working their parcels of land the state made put one billion carers of land at their disposal and they started planting bananas the formula is that they are farmers but they are also entrepreneurs the product of the sale of these bananas will come back to them and they will split it among themselves so there's some trust being rebuilt from policies and in the state the idea of the mexican president to establish this you know them the institute that we had that we met today whose uh officers we met today it's important to accompany young people to give them a space to the state for example creates a space to reassure investors to enable them to come to the country and creating spaces so that tourists feel secure in Haiti in the region so in this trend it's a result of good governance and maybe the lack of trust is due to the failure of certain policies look as a whole if we look at the world we see the emergence of regions we have a certain degree of deglobalization but we see the emergence of longer regions now one one thing which always strikes me traveling around the world latin america has the best ingredients if i may say so parameters to be really an integrated region a joint culture only two languages but if i compare with other regions in the world for example we just had a meeting in in the asian countries i still feel a lack of commonality and of common thinking what is the reason of why why isn't latin america more integrating of course you have certain progress like the pacific alliance and so on but there is a lack of latin american integration what is the reason or would you object to my observation no no undoubtedly the latin america region the caribbean basin have a lot of affinities the culture language history that we share that identify all of us with each other and i think we've been constructing we've been building among all of the countries of the region come we've been coming closer and to know each other better but in spite of all of these affinities it doesn't mean that this unanimous there's only one way of looking at things this is not the case i think the part of our very evolution is to find diversity plurality and those countries i think that are closer together that have more affinity are coming closer together and are working on development and prosperity due to more integration a more productive situation more integration more exchange in different fields and i think that is the vision under which mexico is working precisely how to be more solidarity with the countries of the region with their have our own needs we have our own lack some once and dependent of course on our own capabilities but we can be solidarity and to be part of the solidarity effort throughout the region and at the same time we will have strategic partnerships that are being built for our in favor of our society you mentioned something very important which is precisely the pacific alliance of four countries mexico chili columbia peru that form this alliance we have common values democracy oh economic openness free trade and this brings us closer together and it allows us to build together and i think it is from this platform that there are other countries in the region that would really like to join us i believe they're enroute to being part of our sub regional alliance mexico is going to continue to foster this to be faithful to the country's principles and values and undoubtedly will come closer to other countries of the region who see things the same way at the same time mexico and this is by a constitutional mandate and it's a constitutional prescription is certainly respectful respects free determination so that people can think freely ideology and can build the country that they want to be mexico will always prove to be open and to be willing to assume and to build together and to be solidarity with other countries of the region i think the latin american region is undoubtedly one that over the past few decades has had very important structural changes and i think that the development the growth the economic growth for example that we've witnessed in this region social development that we've reached improvements that really had come to a standstill some three decades again has now changed and i will wind up my comments at this time i think the latin american region if we were just one country we would be the third strongest economy of the world this is certainly a world of many a region of many affinities and undoubtedly we're going to see more development taking place over the next over the upcoming years a lot of changes a lot of reforms i think each country has its own and this is going to bring us closer together and we hope to see more development for the members of our societies thank you that vocation of our people to be a people of consensus and dialogue with the presidents that's so important of the united states in our region and matters that are so important such as health care and education and when we see that openness to dialogues such as the summit of the americas and the search for integration as social peace and debates on best practices i believe that investment is very important because it's also one of the greatest challenges that we have in terms of security exchange information on the criminal records of people so that we are able to look into this and to lift the the migratory barriers as well so let's let the the good people move and therefore they're to be greater personal mobility of persons but keep the others back so that we have also a fostering of social networks and but let's let's look at integration for security purposes and keep organized criminals back but as the president of panama was saying six years ago was that the most important was to be able to visit 56 countries and to identify how different countries had faced very specific issues many countries have had great successes in in in meeting very specific challenges in infrastructure and massive transit etc and that's what integration and dialogue is all about for a country that takes part in all of these fora it's a great opportunity for drawing closer ties and it seems to me that this brings a greater stability and economic prosperity to the region but i think the most important thing is to set aside ideological differences and to focus on unity in the continent and this in celak i think it can play an important role it's historic for the first time a united latin america we're going to have in on june 10th we're going to have a historic moment in brussels with with bringing together all of latin america with europe there are historical and ideological differences during world war two europe saw to peace and the first steps to the european union but in this region it was a great conflict amongst regions all of this changed so we're we're we're young democracies 25 30 year old democracies that are just beginning to bear fruit so now we want to become a continent with economic prosperity that seeks peace and that looks for a solution to problems in dialogue and i think it's very promising for this continent i think a united american continent will do a great deal for the world in terms of all of the challenges that are being faced in the middle east and the far east and africa etc so i think latin america needs to share best practices and to work jointly to identify the problems of different countries and at summits to deal with important topics in terms of infrastructure education although we don't have a final document because the political matters make it very difficult to to reach have a final document for all of the countries but if we can work from a technical point of view our technicians for seven months those would be important contributions for the multilateral for to be able to identify jointly what the missions are of each of the countries i think it's very important from terms of integration to be able to share best practices the capabilities of companies that have been able to help their countries and the other countries to contribute knowledge to the economic development of all countries so i think greater integration well it is is moving forward it's moving forward at a good pace and i think that latin america is increasingly focusing on its problems and on working together and setting aside any ideological problem differences that we may have specific challenges each country has to face and in this context president peneonietto uh you have to face this context of criminality in your country could you tell us something about how you tackles this very poisonous issue definitely i think first of all you have to say that there is no country in the world that is not facing problems of criminal of criminality and crime there is no country in the world that doesn't have security problems certainly accentuated in certain areas that are different in each country and mexico is not different from that perhaps in mexico for the past few years mexico has been stigmatized because of insecurity perhaps because we are a country in which a great deal of traffic of drugs it comes through in its in in its direction to the largest consumer country and now it's going those drugs are going to other countries and other regions of the world but undoubtedly mexico because of its geographic position the issue of insecurity and criminal organizations tied to drug trafficking this has all stigmatized mexico the question that one would have to ask oneself is whether the policy that the government has defined in this administration to improve security issues so as to have a mexico of peace and security the mexico that we want whether it's working or not the answer i would have to say is yes because at the end of the day the figures the statistics speak for themselves there's less violence there are less number of murders there are regions of the country that just a few years ago we're experiencing scenarios of huge violence and today they have different scenarios very different scenarios there are visible changes if you that word is for instance in chihuahua the metropolitan area of monterey that was facing enormous times of violence and today undoubtedly there the situation that they're experiencing is very different and that's just to point to a couple of areas in the country i think that we are moving forward i think this is one of the areas and and i think to answer another part of your question there are others that were not satisfied where we believe that the policies that we're instrumenting that consist basically of of strengthening institutional capabilities and and having greater coordination amongst all bodies of government this is not just a task for the federal government or the government of the country it's a task for all bodies of government so as to fight insecurity but let it not be said that we aren't moving forward we are because the figures speak for themselves there's a decline in kidnappings extortions and murders things that most hurt mexican society but we are not satisfied yet it's clear that there is still much to do but it's also clear that in this aspiration of having a secure country there is an unsubstitutable and unrenounceable task of all government but this implies collaboration of society as well through reporting crimes through the non participation or collusion with criminal gangs and perhaps filing anonymous complaints if you will but i think we are moving forward on that and i would answer your question by saying yes it's a great challenge for the government it's a great challenge for the country just like any other nation in the world has i think we're moving forward even though we are still not satisfied nor are we ringing the church bells to say we've done it we are still working on having a mexico of peace and of tranquility which is what we want for mexican society mr president as you rightly said it's not a mexican problem it's a global problem and i think we all have to encourage you in your fight because you need global solidarity and the outcome of your fight will have global consequences also um we are unfortunately at yes please excuse me excuse me i would like to take the opportunity of this platform on the issue of security to tell everybody here that the perception of Haiti that is being sold in the media saying that we have a lot of insecurity is totally false our crime rate is of seven over a hundred thousand so Haiti is one of the most secure countries of the region and i remember some two or three years ago at the summit of caracom the eric holder the u.s. attorney general came to Haiti and he was talking about the three most insecure countries of the region and Haiti was not on the list so i felt that it was timely to mention this before this audience because when people think that a country is not secured they don't go there and uh if you'll allow me on the integration point that you mentioned earlier i'd like to talk about what uh president pinya neto say on connectivity i think that's a big weakness of the region let's say you take a mango from Haiti that is to be shipped to Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago this product must go through florida to go back down to the Bahamas or transit through a third country it increases the cost of the product it removes from its freshness is discouraging and does not create commerce i'd like to underline that in spite of this forum in spite of the associations we are part of economic and social inequalities and poverty still remain i think the time has come to find a particular formula to develop a regional market a formula for example an institution in charge of such a development an institution that could identify success stories for example in adama or frugal innovations where everything a lot is being done with very little we must find formulas we must work on connectedness and each country of the region should agree to launch one product from each country and create a market let's say Haiti sells its beer and Mexico is guayaberas and panama its hats we're talking about a market of 250 million people strictly in the greater Caribbean so we should take advantage of this platform every year or every three years to launch a given product create markets for more employment more wealth more investment and eventually more stability for the region and that's the point i wanted to make thank you to the end of this discussion and we raised a lot of questions what politicians should do or what we expect from from governments but i give you now a chance what do you expect from so many business leaders who are in here in this room if you just could tell in one or two sentences what is your expectations towards the business community here president well in my case in panama's case we have a road for public private partnership will work and we're working on education there are 3600 schools in panama and this we want the schools throughout the country to have this to be of the same level whether they're private or public we want the academic level to be the same so as to train the future professionals of our country so as to be able to take on the jobs created by our economy the second is social corporate responsibility this is very important for the private sector in terms of education for the private sector to take a school to remodel it to do what it needs to be done so that its top level will take 30 or 40 days for the private sector to do whereas it would take six months for the public sector when the private sector comes in it works on its experience the experience of its executives they can take a school and quickly turn it around and the the message that's sent to lower income quarters of the country is a great message it's a message that education is everyone's issue and it means sharing economic development and success and there's a great impact in terms of jobs as well as on the schools because the schools are going to be training the collaborators and the the future business persons of Latin America so I think that education should be a topic for the state in Latin America also for stability politicians are facing elections every five years and political forces change so things have to change as well so for the private sector to take part in the future of a country's educational system means that there's going to be a state vision and something that's so important such as education that'll make a more competitive Latin America enable our country to reach other levels of efficiency competition human development social development sustainable development and social peace at the end of the day it will enable the companies to also achieve what they want for the social and prosperity development of our countries and I think that this would be something that would be very important we're doing this with 150 companies in our country that are taking active part in 400 Panamanian schools where half of the children go to school so we're seeing seeing that this public private partnership working together to improve the state of our schools and having private sector become part of our schools and of our educational system will enable us to move forward in the system and have equity with the most important tool to seek it which is of course education President Varela you speak out of my heart because the World Economic Forum was just recognized as an official international organization for public private corporation and it expresses our deep beliefs that the challenges internationally and nationally can be best solved through public private corporation Mr President what is your message for heads of companies just one minute to tell you very quickly that what you are told about Haiti is totally false Haiti is the land of opportunity if you don't come yourself and experience it you won't understand it because often Haiti was sold as a country to be avoided due to its weaknesses well I think it's the absolute opposite you must visit the country identify the weaknesses and look at the opportunities and take advantage of them that's how Mr O'Brien of Dennis O'Brien of Digicel came to Haiti and established Digicel as one of his major businesses he did the same by establishing the Marriott today just to give you an idea of our orientation we have Marriott, Wilton, Best Western Delta, JetBlue, Continental things are moving in Haiti we have needs and energy we are building ports and airports so come and visit us we have the Center for Facilitating Investment that will guide you and help you out and assist you there's a new dynamic where the state protects and defends your investments so seize this opportunity forget what you know about Haiti in the past and come with a new mindset with a new way of thinking and of looking at things we are under reconstruction we are in the business world today we want to enter into modernization so come and visit us because there's good news in Haiti I will complicate the situation or your answer a little bit and ask you to have two messages one for your very prominent business community local business community which is here and one for the international business community thank you very much Professor Schwab I would say to the community of entrepreneurs and business persons who are here both of Mexico and from abroad that you know I have one and the same message for both groups I think Mexico is a country of opportunity I'd like to say that to them Mexico is a country in which the government believes in the entrepreneurs of our country it believes in the business persons of the country we are a government that stands not facing our entrepreneurs but beside them we want our entrepreneurs to be this soul and the driver of movement in this society and what the government does is to be a facilitator it builds opportunities it opens horizons it opens roads so that those who have this capacity and this novel attitude this innovative constructive attitude can have space for creativity and for work in addition to the strengths and possibilities and opportunities that Mexico has built over the years of its of the opportunities because of its geographic position this its trade opportunities of being a promoter of free trade this today implies that we are a country that has made structural changes that opens important opportunities for investing in Mexico and so that global national and foreign companies that can grow in Mexico and this will determinately contribute to the generation of development and jobs for Mexico for Mexicans the structural reforms that have come about in Mexico are a means they are not an end in a and of themselves they are means or a platform so that Mexico can generate prosperity and development for its society and I firmly believe I truly am convinced that it is our entrepreneurs and business persons from Mexico and from abroad that are all over the world who are the drivers of that development they are the spirit of growth and prosperity and development of any society so I would say to them at the end of the day no and be clear on the on the fact that Mexico is a government that's your ally it is a facilitating government it is a government that promotes creativity of Mexicans and of anyone who wants to expand and grow in this country there is no doubt it is a country of opportunity and you have a future of promising success if you decide to invest in Mexico so welcome to Mexico I would like to thank our panel for the great discussion we had the encouraging policies they presented to us I was reflecting how I would summarize the situation of Latin America today having been here in this region first 40 years ago at that time I think Latin America was a region of hope and suddenly became a region of promise but now you are finally a region of realistic opportunities ladies and gentlemen at the end of this session we of an opening session we always have a small ceremony and we want to honor social entrepreneurship we want to honor those who on the grassroots level really thrive social innovation with an entrepreneurial spirit my wife Hilde and I created a foundation for social entrepreneurship over 15 years ago when nobody really understood what the term social entrepreneurship means in the meantime we have honored more than 300 outstanding examples of social entrepreneurship and at the end of this opening session we will honor four extraordinary examples of social entrepreneurship from Latin America they were chosen from over 100 candidates this year so if you just stay for some minutes and I will call the social entrepreneurs the four social entrepreneurs here to the podium the first ah it's a joint effort Carlos Orilana Aguia and Javier Orcuis and Uruzia please stand up and join me here they are the founders of Salano and they have leveraged their investment banking and the private equity expertise for a truly social purpose they trained at Aravind eye care system in India by the way which is another Schwab foundation honoree and this organization in India is famous for being the largest provider of vision services in the world Carlos and Javier adopted Aravind's operating innovations to the Mexican context allowing surgeons to conduct 10 times more surgeries than a typical ophthalmologist even while cutting at the same time you were cutting per surgery costs by half in four years it's incredible in four years Salana has treated 100 000 patients 40 percent of which came from households earning less than 75 dollars a month so what extraordinary achievement please accept here this award i'm now calling on Catalina Escobar Restrepo Catalina overcame deep personal tragedy to create the Juan Felipe Gomez Escobar Foundation named in honor of her son the foundation has directly contributed to reducing the infant mortality rate by 79 percent in the city of Cartagena in Colombia the medical center has treated 130 000 patients and saved the lives of more than 4 000 infants and children by on saving infant's lives part of the foundation's core objective is to provide 13 age mothers with a pathway out of poverty with a set of interventions that is already being replicated in other Latin American countries please join me here Catalina Gonzalo Munoz the World Economic Forum is institutionally committed to accelerating the circular economy because the millions of tons of waste generated each year is old thinking new thinking is creating economic opportunities out of waste Trichilos thus just said Gonzalo developed a market-based model to solve the waste problem street waste pickers operate 70 recycling stations in Chile and Brazil where the role is to provide a service to governments and companies and at the same time educate citizens in how to reduce waste in replicating to Brazil Trichilos is creating a franchise model for global expansion and finally Eduardo Brontempo and Claudio Sasaki geeky aims to democratize access to higher education in Brazil by offering free online services for public high school students to prepare for the national merit exams more than three million students across 17 000 schools in Brazil have used geeky's platform which harnesses adaptive learning technology and can improve student performance on the national exam up to 30 percent and just last week Eduardo and Claudio finalized the collaboration with one of the largest states resilient states to cover another half million students by the end of 2015 having already now your three million students which are integrated into your system great achievement congratulations it shows what innovation can do and particularly if innovation is directed towards the social needs of population and we are very proud to have those social entrepreneurs and there are other ones honorees of the last years who are with us so please join us and we have together with the heads of state we have a group photo to honor you and this will conclude the session