Last December 16th I attended the Arab – Latin American Forum in Abu Dhabi as the moderator of the panel “Assessing the business climate in both regions and existing and potential channels for interregional trade relationship”. During that visit I was interviewed by John Defterios for the CNN program Global Exchange.
I am proud to continue confirming the interest in Latin America today in regions that may seem as far away as in this case the Middle East, the way the world has turned its eye to our region and how the growth of our economies becomes a greater focus globally.
During the interview, we were able to discuss the great transformation Colombia has undergone during the last few years, to become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
Similarly, Bolivia was a topic of conversation, as it has returned to the international bonds market after nearly a century. In October, it had a successful return when it issued $500 million in bonds in New York, and received offers for eight times that amount. This is undoubtedly one of the biggest news items for the region in 2012.
Finally, the Brazil slowdown is another issue which caused a lot of concern outside the region. However, as I said in the interview, I am very confident that Brazil will soon return to the levels of growth it showed in previous years, because it has all of the elements it needs for this: a good government, an entrepreneurial society and a fast growing middle class.
