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Americas Competitiveness Forum Concludes in Cali

The Americas Competitiveness Forum, in which the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, and the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, among other authorities took part, concluded today after three days of discussion on "Innovation for Prosperity."

More than a thousand participants, including ministers and senior competitiveness authorities, businesspeople, academics, experts in innovation and representatives of international organizations, attended the Forum, which began on Wednesday, October 24. Within the framework of the Forum, several other meetings were held, including the Annual Meeting of the Inter-American Competitiveness Network (RIAC), the Meeting of Ministers of Economy, Finance, Industry and Trade, as well as sectorial and sub-regional activities such as the Workshop for Caribbean Competitiveness Authorities and the Workshop on Sub-national Competitiveness.

During the RIAC meeting on Wednesday, the "Signs of Competitiveness in the Americas" Report was presented, which aims to bring together the experiences and progress made by countries of the region in the implementation of the ten principles of the Consensus of Santo Domingo, which was approved at the RIAC meeting in 2011.

During today’s session, a video message was presented from the President of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, welcoming participants to the next edition of the Forum, to be held in Panama City next year, and congratulating the RIAC, the OAS, and President Santos for the success of this year’s event. Next, the Deputy Minister of Business Development of Colombia, Carlos De Hart, transferred the Presidency Pro Tempore of the RIAC to José Pacheco, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade of Panama. This week it was also confirmed that the Eighth Competitiveness Forum will be held in Trinidad and Tobago in 2014, and that the venues for 2015 and 2016 will be Guatemala and Mexico, without defining which country would host in which year. The RIAC was launched in 2009 in Santiago, Chile, within the framework of the Third Forum, and since then the OAS has served as its Technical Secretariat.

At the opening of the Forum, Secretary General Insulza highlighted that "we are in a new stage in the world economy," in which the most innovative industries "are those that create more value." In this new environment, he continued, the region "can hardly reach the level of skills and capabilities needed to successfully insert itself into the global information economy without the design of management systems of intellectual property with global innovation strategies."

"One of the goals of this forum is that all actors involved in this process - the public, private and academic – find the space they need in order to create the synergies essential to increased competitiveness and innovation for prosperity," said the Secretary General, referring to the central theme of the Forum.

Also at the opening ceremony, President Santos said that Colombia had chosen the slogan "Innovation for Prosperity" because "to improve the competitiveness of a country or of a region such as the Americas, is the path for its economic and social development." "We do not seek competitiveness as an end in itself," he added, "but because we know that this translates into employment, and that competitiveness means well-being and quality of life for Colombian families."

This Friday, the Forum opened its final panel discussion with a keynote speech from the international leader in education, creativity and innovation Vijay Govindarajan, who spoke of "Reverse Innovation," a process in which "poor countries" develop new products to sell in "rich countries." The panel discussion focused on "Achievements and Challenges of Physical Integration-Innovative Practices," and was attended by Bernabé Unda, Minister of Industry and Innovation in the Basque Country (Spain), José Raúl Perales, Executive Director of the Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America, and Antonio Juan Sosa, Vice President of Infrastructure at the Latin American Development Bank (CAF).

At the Forum’s closing ceremony, Salvador López, a Professor in the Department of Marketing Management at the School of Administration and Management (ESADE), gave a presentation on music as a source of business innovation entitled "Competitiveness, Innovation and Rock 'n' Roll."

The Americas Competitiveness Forum meets once a year, and its main purpose is to facilitate the development of business and enable the exchange of ideas and knowledge to make the countries of the Americas more innovative, productive and competitive, and to improve the living standards of their inhabitants.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

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

Reference: E-392/12