 |
|
|
 Business News | January 2007 
Calderón: Economic Plans Divide Region
 El Universal
| | Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair (L) greets Mexican President Felipe Calderon outside 10 Downing Street in London January 29, 2007. (Reuters/Dylan Martinez) |
President Felipe Calderón warned that Latin America is splitting into two economic camps, one embracing greater state control of industry, the other seeking growth with foreign investment.
Calderón, 44, used the global audience provided by the World Economic Forum in Davos for some of the sharpest language of his 60-day presidency to deride a push, led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, for increased state control of the region´s economies. In the past six months, Venezuela and Bolivia have moved to nationalize foreign assets and Ecuador is threatening to default on its foreign debt. The countries are also weakening central bank autonomy.
"Many countries in Latin America have chosen a move toward the past, and among their most harmful decisions are seeking nationalizations, expropriations, state control of the economy and authoritarianism," Calderón said in an interview in Davos. "Mexicans have decided to look to the future and to strengthen democracy, markets and investment."
Latin American nations must choose a path of democracy and free markets or risk falling behind competitors in the rest of the world, Calderón said. Mexico, by asserting the rule of law and luring investment, will become one of the world´s largest economies in coming decades, he said.
"Several countries in Latin America are acting against foreign investors, but we are thinking all day, every day, how can we attract more investment to Mexico," he said.
Tension with Chávez first surfaced during the presidential campaign last summer when Chávez openly supported Calderón´s rival Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Calderón helped close a 10 percentage point gap in the polls with ads painting his opponent as a Chávez clone and won by less than 0.6 percentage point, the narrowest victory in the country´s history.
"Here comes the president of Mexico saying that Mexico is the hope of the future. I have doubts that being subordinate to the empire and world capitalism is the way for Mexico," Chávez said during a seven-hour televised speech this weekend. "He goes to Davos and says investors are coming to the Mexican economy. I hope so, I hope Mexico advances. But it´s sad that a head of state to promote his country has to criticize other countries."
PLEDGING GROWTH
Calderón has promised to quicken the growth of Mexico´s US$833 billion economy, Latin America´s second largest, after an average expansion of about 2 percent during the first five years of former President Vicente Fox´s term.
"Mexico has important reserves that it has not been able to take advantage of because of a lack of adequate technology and because of a lack of investment," Calderón said. "We want to make Mexico one of the most important destinations for investment in the world."
Mexico led all Latin American countries in 2005 in attracting foreign direct investment, or FDI, according to the United Nations´ Economic Commission for Latin America, which is based in Santiago. Mexico´s FDI in 2005 was US$17.8 billion, up from a 1996-2000 annual average of US$12.6 billion. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us