El País hosted the forum “Perú en Futuro” where Ollanta Humala, the President of Peru, the Prime Minister Pedro Cateriano and representatives from companies such as Repsol and Ferrovial met to discuss the future of the nation.
On Thursday 9 July El País hosted “Peru in Future”(El Perú en Futuro), a forum on the progress experienced by the country and the reforms driven by the government of Ollanta Humala related to the development of new infrastructures and services, fiscal flexibility and trade relations with the United States, Europe and East Asia, key investment sectors for a nation immersed in a process of transformation.
The encounter was attended by the President of the Republic of Peru, Ollanta Humala, Pedro Cateriano, the Prime Minister, Blanca Magali Silva Velarde-Alvarez, Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism and Manuela Carmena the Mayor of Madrid. Juan Luis Cebrián, Executive Chairman of the Prisa Group and Jorge Familiar, World Bank Vice-president for Latin America and the Caribbean spoke on behalf of the organisers.
According to El País the Peruvian leader declared that “things are getting better” thanks to “refraining from using macroeconomic management for ideological purposes” among other things. He commented that the Government has done a “responsible job” of creating a secure, predictable business environment, although “much remains to be done.” “This Government”, he claimed, “fulfils what it signs”.
Spain is one of the countries with most interests in a region where 386 Spanish companies operate, including major corporations such as Enagas, Ferrovial, Repsol and Telefónica. In line with the importance of their involvement, some of the representatives of these companies addressed the meeting, among them Dante Blotte, Finance Director of Repsol. According to El País he stated that “There is a market with a solid legal framework and stable economic growth”, and added that an infrastructure gap of “at least 100,000 million dollars” exists nationwide. For that reason further collaboration between the State and private companies is necessary. Along these lines Íñigo Meirás, CEO of Ferrovial, argued that “there is increasing acceptance of public-private collaboration”.
One of the challenges faced by both companies and the State is in the creation of a pool of skilled labour and the elimination of inequalities. “Our greatest commitment is to education”, said President Humala, “never before has the country invested so much in this field.”
