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VIII Americas Competitiveness Forum Concluded in Trinidad and Tobago

The VIII Americas Competitiveness Forum (ACF) concluded tonight in Port of Spain after three days of discussions including the participation of, among other high officials, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza; the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar; and the President of Haiti, Michel Martelly,on its central theme, “The Human Imagination at Work: Driving Competitiveness, Powering Innovation.”

The Forum, which opened on Wednesday, October 8, was attended by more than a thousand participants, including chief executives of competitiveness, ministers, senior officials, entrepreneurs, academics, infrastructure experts, and representatives of international infrastructure organizations.

In the context of the Forum, the Annual Meeting of the Inter-American Competitiveness Network (RIAC) was held, as well as sectoral and sub-regional activities such as the Meeting of Central American Competitiveness High Authorities, the Sub-national Competitiveness Workshop, and the Workshop for Caribbean Competitiveness Authorities, among others.

At its meeting held on Thursday, the RIAC presented the third edition of the Signs of Competitiveness in the Americas Report – 2014, which aims to bring together the experiences and progress of the countries of the region in the implementation of the ten principles of the Consensus of Santo Domingo adopted at the 2011 RIAC’s meeting.

In his closing remarks, the OAS Assistant Secretary General, Albert Ramdin, noted that the RIAC’s report is a source of great wealth and added that while identifying potential areas of cooperation, it seeks not only to compile case studies, but also to serve as a working tool to convert into reality the concrete cooperation proposals and actions it contains. In this regard, he referred to the “Competitiveness Exchange on Innovation and Entrepreneurship” missions recalling that during 2014 two were conducted; the first in the United States, and the other in Mexico.

Ambassador Ramdin further indicated that during the Forum, Trinidad and Tobago presented the "Community of Practice" digital platform that brings together participants with shared academic and professional backgrounds to exchange ideas, find solutions, innovate and join efforts to advance knowledge and cooperation in some of the key issues related to the event’s central theme.

Ambassador Ramdin also recalled that the RIAC endorsed the addition of three new members: the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá; the University of Texas at San Antonio; and the Orkesta Competitiveness Institute of the Basque country, the latter being the first institution outside the Hemisphere to join the RIAC.

For his part, the Minister of Planning and Sustainable Development of Trinidad and Tobago, Bhoendradatt Tewarie, thanked Secretary General Insulza, Assistant Secretary General Ramdin, and the OAS team for the support they provided to his country for the organization of the Forum. Minister Tewarie also thanked Guatemala and Mexico for having ceded the year 2014 to his country for the realization of the Forum. Furthermore, he announced that Guatemala—the country to which he handed the RIAC’s presidency—will host the IX ACF in 2015, and Mexico will hold the X ACF in 2016.

Minister Tewarie noted the importance of having given priority to the human imagination when selecting it as the central theme to promote development in the region, and he asserted that the “Caribbean must be present, active, and engaged” in the region’s affairs.

The Executive Director of the National Competitiveness Program (PRONACOM) of Guatemala, Jaime Díaz, received on behalf of his country the transfer of the RIAC’s presidency and announced that his government will aim to advance in fostering confidence in the Americas, with the central theme: “Trust: The Key of the Americas: Strong Institutions, More Competitiveness.” While explaining the central theme, Díaz asked, “What does innovation mean if we do not trust our abilities and our ‘ecosystem’? Which investor assumes the risk of a project if there is no confidence in the country, its suppliers and its customers? Could we achieve regional integration without trust”? The President pro-Tempore of the RIAC 2015 will be the Presidential Commissioner for Competitiveness and Investment of Guatemala, Juan Carlos Paiz.

Díaz added, “We will propose issues relevant to public policymakers, investors, citizens issues and we will move forward with efforts to improve our institutions. We want to be recognized as a hemisphere that we can trust and where we can work together.”

Moreover, during the Forum, Uruguay shared the findings and recommendations of the Working Group of the Meeting of Experts on Sub-national Competitiveness (GTECS) of the RIAC that it hosted in the middle of the year. The GTECS has facilitated the sharing of more than 36 case studies and 60 tools and resources, including publications, web-based information systems and toolkits, which consist of methodologies for measuring competitiveness and promoting innovation, investment, as well as the economic and social development of cities, provinces, states and regions.

Meanwhile, Peru, through its National Competitiveness Council, announced an initiative with Honduras that will launch a professional competitiveness exchange program to strengthen competitiveness institutions in the Americas, with a two-week training program for Honduran officials who will join the operations and activities of the CNC in Peru. Both governments invited other RIAC members to consider similar efforts.

The Americas Competitiveness Forum was co-organized by the OAS, which acts as Technical Secretariat of the Inter-American Competitiveness Network, and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. Its objective is to inspire programs, policies, and partnerships in order to increase economic prosperity at the local, regional and international levels, in addition to providing opportunities to steer the region towards a more prosperous future of the Hemisphere’s peoples and communities.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-435/14