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12 Heads of State and more than 1,000 business leaders will attend the third edition of the Business Summit - which will take place on April 12 and 13 in Lima, Peru - in order to analyze the potential of the value chains of our hemisphere and the importance of public-private collaboration to promote the sustainable development of our countries.

The President of Peru, Martín Vizcarra, will inaugurate the event in which the Heads of State of Argentina, Bahamas, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic will also participate. The President of the IDB, Luis Alberto Moreno, will make a special presentation at the opening session and will be in charge of closing the event in a panel with presidents.

Speakers at the event include top executives from AES, Antofagasta Minerals (Chile), Banistmo (Panama), Cargill, Citi, Coca-Cola, CONFIEP (Peru), Nobis Consortium (Ecuador), DHL Express, Facebook, Ferreycorp (Peru), Hochschild Mining Group (Peru), Britt Group (Costa Rica), Grupo Los Grobo (Argentina), Sura Group (Colombia), IBM, Facebook, Google, Magazine Luiza (Brazil), Microsoft, PepsiCo, Scotiabank (Canada), Sigdo Koppers (Chile) and Walmart, among others, with 45% of women panelists reflecting the Bank's importance to gender equity and women's empowerment.

The Business Summit, a milestone in public-private dialogue

Through the Business Dialogue of the Americas, the Business Summit represents a milestone in the hemisphere's public-private dialogue. ABD is an initiative led by the private sector and facilitated by the IDB and whose objective is to promote a high-level dialogue between business leaders and the governments of the Americas on the priorities for economic growth in the region.

In its role as facilitator, the IDB provides technical support to the Business Dialogue working groups and brings together its members - more than 300 companies and business associations from throughout the region - with the governmental authorities of the Americas to explore areas of collaboration.

Within the framework of the Summit, ABD will present to the Heads of State a report of policy recommendations and an action plan 2018-2021 with the objective of developing a constructive and robust public-private agenda that contributes to improving infrastructure and strengthening the Trade, promote transparency and financial integration, stimulate innovation and human capital, promote the digital economy and maximize the potential of natural and energy resources in the region.

Thematic axes of the Business Summit

The event is structured in nine thematic panels based on the programmatic agenda of the Business Dialogue of the Americas, which will focus on trade and value chains, digital economy, financial technology, infrastructure, agro-industry, transparency, human capital and women's participation. In the economy. For each panel, the IDB has prepared technical reports that will undoubtedly enrich the debate.

These include everything from raw materials such as soybeans, copper or petroleum, to the automotive, electronic equipment and aircraft manufacturing sector, and even to the services sector, such as the development of software, videogames, movies, etc.

"Made in the Americas" also refers to our abundant wealth in natural resources and talent, and to what we as a hemisphere can offer to the rest of the world. Our region has 40% of the biodiversity, 30% of the freshwater reserves and around 28% of the land with arable potential in the world. This puts us in a unique position to become the main global food supplier and satisfy the food demand of 9,000 million inhabitants that will increase by 60% by 2050.

The abundance of natural resources has also allowed the region to have great potential for the generation of energy. With only 8.5% of the world's population, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) produce the world's 20% of hydroelectricity, 13% of crude oil and almost 7% of natural gas. Renewable energies make up 60% of its energy matrix, making it one of the cleanest on the planet.

Studies have shown that the lack of transparency and integrity on average reduces investment by 5%, affects productivity and economic growth, and increases the costs of doing business by 10%.

The opportunities presented by investing in infrastructure and digital connectivity, as engines for sustained economic growth, will also be central elements of discussion. For example, between 1992 and 2013, our region barely invested 2.4% in infrastructure, and must invest around 5% of its annual GDP -about an additional US $ 150,000 per year- over the next three decades to achieve close the gap in this sector.

On the other hand, greater access to the digital economy offers numerous opportunities for personal economic growth to the 250 million people in the region who are estimated to be unbanked. In addition, the digital economy and electronic commerce also present valuable opportunities for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the region to grow and insert themselves in international markets.

The III Business Summit is organized by IDB with the support of the government of Peru and the National Confederation of Private Business Institutions (CONFIEP), and is part of the activities of the VIII Summit of the Americas.

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Published by: blogs.iadb.org
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