Speakers

• Luis Alberto Moreno, President, IDB
• Andrés Gluski, President and CEO, The AES Corporation; Chairman, AS/COA

Latin America can't miss the digital revolution the same way it missed industrial revolution in the past, said International Development Bank (IDB) President Luis Alberto Moreno. His keynote at the 2017 Council of the Americas Symposium focused on the ways public-private partnerships can help reduce the region's digital and development gap. "Governments know they will not be able to compete and generate the jobs of the future if they don't improve infrastructure and productivity. But governments also know they cannot close this gap on their own. They know they need resources, talent, and the ingenuity that is the basis of the private sector," he said. 

Moreno also presented the IDB's new initiative for the private sector, BID Invest, which helps companies to fully participate in sustainable development while expanding their business in Latin America. He talked about how the bank gave multilateral assistance in Chile to allow the private sector to build its first large-scale solar farm in the country. "We have the local knowledge and the experience to make these sort of bets," he said, inviting business leaders to work with the BID, as the development bank is known in Spanish, when pursuing to push into underserved markets.

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Welcoming Remarks:

• Susan Segal, President & CEO, AS/COA

Panel Conversation:

• Angel Gurría, Secretary-General, OECD
• Alexander Mora, Minister of Foreign Trade, Costa Rica
• Andrés Gluski, President & CEO, The AES Corporation; Chairman, AS/COA (moderator)

Business leaders need to be aware of Latin America's core inequality problems and should address inclusiveness issues, as much as productivity ones, to boost growth in the region. That is how OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría framed the conversation about sustainable growth in Latin America at the 2017 COA Symposium. Gurría pointed out that Latin America has only 60 percent of broadband internet coverage, compared to 90 percent among OECD member countries, which widens the inequality gap in the region. Costa Rica's Minister of Foreign Trade Alexander Mora talked about the country's goal to join the OECD and transform itself into a research and development center, growing beyond the tourism industry. 

AS/COA's Susan Segal opened the event before the panel saying the organization's CEO Forums have been discussing how business leaders and other sectors are adapting to the digital age and the importance of guiding business toward sustainable growth.

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Speakers:

• Jorge Becerra, Senior Partner and Managing Director, The Boston Consulting Group 
• Fernando González, CEO, CEMEX
• Damián Scokin, CEO, Despegar.com
• César Cernuda, President, Microsoft Latin America (moderator)

Technology is about changing the culture of a company, said Microsoft's César Cernuda on a panel about how the private sector is adapting to the digital age at the 2017 Council of the Americas Symposium. The question is not about the "what" or the "why", but the "how" and "when," he added. Cernuda talked with the panelists about their leadership experience in transforming business models in Latin America. Fernando González from CEMEX said his company has adapted to the new digital environment by changing the way it makes business deals with the Latin American market. Despegar.com's Damián Scokin said his first challenge as a CEO is to make the entire company feel it needs to evolve. Jorge Becerra explained how the situation is changing in Latin America and said that innovation often comes from emerging markets and not necessarily countries like the United States. Becerra also noted that large corporations are not as successful in incorporating disruptive technologies and are starting to understand they might not be able to do this on their own.

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Speakers:

• Katia Bouazza, Managing Director, Head of Latin America Capital Financing HSBC Securities, Inc. 
• Andrés Conesa, CEO, Aeromexico 
• Fernando Iraola, Managing Director, Head of Latin America Coporate Banking and Global Transaction Services, Bank of America Merrill Lynch 
• James P. Scriven, CEO, Inter-American Investment Corporation 
• Xavier Serbiá, Host, CNN Dinero (moderator)

CNN Dinero's Xavier Serbiá kicked off this  2017 BRAVO Symposium and Business Awards panel by asking about the current challenges for investment in Latin America. Fernando Iraola said the political instability in the region is his biggest concern. Katia Bouazza pointed out the future of the region also depends on longer-term issues, such as infrastructure and social development. Protectionism has also changed the context for the region from here forward. Aeromexico's Andrés Conesa talked about the importance of the U.S.-Mexico border, calling it"the most dynamic worldwide in terms of travel" and talked of the risks for the American economy should the North American Free Trade Agreement end. James P. Scriven reflected on the wave of populism rising in the world and its importance for companies and governments to address that before moving forward with their growth strategies. Scriven talked about the resistence against globalization in developed economies, where people feel they have not have lived the benefits of globalization.

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The president of Microsoft Latin America, César Cernuda, spoke about Latin America's digital economy on the sidelines of the 2017 Council of the Americas Symposium and BRAVO Business Awards. Cernuda said the region, with a population of 644 million, has the ability to generate a lot of information when it comes to digital currency.

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The digital economy is a double-edged sword, says Aeromexico CEO Andrés Conesa, but "in the end it's a net benefit for everyone." In a sideline interview at the 2017 Council of the Americas Symposium and BRAVO Business Awards, Conesa shared insights on the effects of technology on the travel industry.

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China aims to be the world's leader in artificial intelligence by 2030 and, as an increasingly important trade partner for Latin America, the region needs to be able to match the sophistication of its Asian counterpart. In an interview on the sidelines of the 2017 Council of the Americas Symposium and BRAVO Business Awards, IBM Latin America General Manager Ana Paul Assis says, over time, the region will increasingly adopt artificial intelligence, blockchain, and other disruptive technology.

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"Digital technology is what is enabling new business models to be invented," said CEMEX CEO Fernando González about Latin America's digital economy. Speaking on the sidelines of the 2017 Council of the Americas Symposium and BRAVO Business Awards, he added that: "At the same time new business models are invented, some others are destroyed."

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The digital economy will have a forceful impact and we'll have to know how to react to it, said Ultrapar CEO Thilo Mannhardt in this interview on the sidelines of the 2017 Council of the Americas Symposium and BRAVO Business Awards.

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Each year in Miami, Council of the Americas' Symposium and BRAVO Business Awards bring together leaders from the private sector, government, and civil society to discuss major challenges and opportunities facing the Americas. This recap is of our 2016 program, where influential thought leaders gathered to share insights on the region, as well as celebrate those who have made a major impact on the Western Hemisphere.

Please join us on Friday, November 3, 2017 for the 2017 COA Symposium and BRAVO Business Awards.