Fon Mathuros, Head of Media, World Economic Forum: Tel.: +41 (0)79 201 0211; Email: fma@weforum.org
· Argentine president touted country’s infrastructure build-out, judicial reforms, and lowering trade barriers under Mercosur
· Macri expressed pessimism over Venezuela’s political crisis
· The 48th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting is taking place on 23-26 January in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, under the theme Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World
· For more information www.weforum.org
Davos, Switzerland, 25 January 2018 – In a conversation at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Mauricio Macri, President of Argentina, lauded the role of public-private partnerships (PPP) in his country’s aggressive build-out of infrastructure. “The PPP tool is wonderful in terms of speeding up investment,” he said. “This is fundamental to develop. Every developed country needs connectivity, so we are focused on that – fortunately with really good results.”
Argentina has earmarked $30 billion for infrastructure projects, Macri said, including new airport terminals, highways, ports and waterworks.
Macri praised neighbouring Brazil for its efforts at reining in corruption and cleaning up courts. “For the future of Brazil, what has happened has been very good – for Argentina,” he said. “Fortunately, the same is going on in Argentina,” he said, adding that Argentina has seen “incredible improvement in transparency.”
“We have to keep working in that sense, no? We have to improve the independence and the quality of our justice. We’re working on this,” Macri said, noting that judicial reforms have the full support of Argentina’s opposition party.
Macri noted that, as part of the Mercosur trade alliance, Argentina is turning away from its protectionist past. “Until today, Mercosur has been the most closed region in the world, with the highest protections. And we have understood that this didn’t alleviate poverty.” Mercosur is now deepening its trade relationship with the EU, he said.
Turning to the crisis in Venezuela, Macri expressed little hope that the political impasse in Caracas might be broken. “I’m not optimistic,” he said. “I had been hoping for open and pure elections.” Pointing at the rule of embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Macri said, “Venezuela, they don’t respect human rights. That’s not a democracy. The citizens are suffering. We see that things are growing worse and worse.”
Referring to this year’s Annual Meeting theme – Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World – Macri said, “The first thing is to reduce fear. Fear drives us in a bad direction. It makes us pay attention to messianic speeches that will not solve problems.” Fear of dislocating technological advance, he said, can be addressed by providing reskilling for workers – and trade unions need to be part of the change. “We need to understand that what happened to doctors for many years – they have to keep studying every night – that happens in every sector now.”
Food security, he said, is a tremendous challenge for humanity – made more difficult by climate change. “We have to fulfil both things: battle against climate change, but produce more food.”
The World Economic Forum’s 48th Annual Meeting is taking place on 23-26 January 2018 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. More than 3,000 leaders from around the world are gathering in a collaborative effort to shape the global, regional and industry agendas, with a commitment to improve the state of the world.
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