Every three years, the CEO Summit of the Americas brings together heads of state and leading CEOs from the region to analyze opportunities for promoting economic growth and investment and facilitating trade through unprecedented interaction between the public and private sectors via the Americas Business Dialogue (ABD).
Some 12 heads of state and over 1,000 business leaders will attend the third CEO Summit, which will take place on April 12 and 13, 2018, in Lima, Peru. Their goal is to analyze value chain potential in the Americas and the importance of public–private partnerships in driving sustainable development in our countries.
The president of Peru, Martín Vizcarra, will open the event, which will also be attended by the heads of state of Argentina, Bahamas, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, and Panama. IDB president Luis Alberto Moreno will give a special presentation at the opening session and will chair the closing panel, which different presidents will take part in.
The speakers at the event include top executives from AES, Antofagasta Minerals (Chile), Banistmo (Panama), Cargill, Citi, Coca-Cola, CONFIEP (Peru), Consorcio Nobis (Ecuador), DHL Express, Facebook, Ferreycorp (Peru), Hochschild Mining (Peru), Grupo Britt (Costa Rica), Grupo Los Grobo (Argentina), Grupo Sura (Colombia), IBM, Google, Magazine Luiza (Brazil), Microsoft, PepsiCo, Scotiabank (Canada), Sigdo Koppers (Chile), and Walmart, and 45% of the panelists will be women, which reflects how important gender equality and women’s empowerment are to the IDB.
The CEO Summit, a Milestone in Public–Private Dialogue
Through the ABD, the CEO Summit has become a communications milestone between the public and private sectors in the region. The ABD is led by the private sector and facilitated by the IDB. It seeks to promote high-level public–private dialogue between business leaders and governments in the Americas around the challenges and opportunities for economic growth and development in the region.
In its role as facilitator, the IDB provides technical support for the ABD’s working groups and organizes encounters between ADB members (300 companies and business associations from throughout the region) and government representatives to explore potential areas for collaboration.
As part of the summit, the ABD will present the heads of state with a policy recommendations report and a 2018–2012 action plan with the aim of developing a robust, constructive public–private agenda that contributes to improving infrastructure and strengthening trade, promoting transparency and financial integration, stimulating innovation and human capital, promoting the digital economy, and making the most of the region’s natural resources and energy potential.
Core Areas of the CEO Summit
The event will be structured around nine panels based on the ABD’s long-term agenda. These will focus on value chain trade, the digital economy, FinTech, infrastructure, agribusiness, transparency, human capital, and women’s role in the economy. The IDB has drafted technical reports for each panel which will undoubtedly add to the gate.
The core idea of the 3rd CEO Summit is “Made in the Americas,” as the event will focus on the goods and services that are produced in and exported from the region, many of which form part of global value chains.
These include raw materials like soy, copper, or petroleum; manufactured goods like cars, electronic machinery, and airplanes; and even products from the service sector, such as software development, video games, and films, etc.
“Made in the Americas” also alludes to our wealth of natural resources and human talent, and to what we as a region can offer the rest of the world. The Americas are home to 40% of the planet’s biodiversity, 30% of its freshwater reserves, and around 28% of the world’s farmland. This puts us in a unique position to become the main global supplier of foods so as to meet the nutritional demands of the world’s 9 billion inhabitants, who will increase by 60% toward 2050.
This abundance of natural resources also means that the region has huge potential for energy generation. Although the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are home to just 8.5% of the global population, they produce 20% of the world’s hydropower, 13% of its crude oil, and almost 7% of its natural gas. Renewable energies make up 60% of its energy mix, making it one of the cleanest regions on the planet.
Another key issue is how the private sector and governments can work together to promote greater levels of transparency.
Studies have shown that a lack of transparency and integrity reduce investment by 5% on average, have a negative effect on productivity and economic growth, and increase the cost of doing business by 10%.
Other major topics of discussion will include investment opportunities in infrastructure and digital connectivity. For example, between 1992 and 2013, our region invested just 2.5% of its annual GDP in infrastructure—this needs to increase to around 5% (about US$150 billion extra per year) over the next three decades if we are to close the gap in this sector.
Furthermore, greater access to the digital economy will provide countless opportunities for personal economic growth to the approximately 250 million people in the region who do not yet have bank accounts. Furthermore, the digital economy and e-commerce also present valuable opportunities for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) from the region to grow and become part of global markets.
The 3rd CEO Summit is organized by the IDB with support from the government of Peru and the Confederation of Private Business Organizations (CONIFEP) and is part of the activities around the 8th Summit of the Americas.
Follow the CEO Summit live here.
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