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Ramón Zertuche
Program Manager, Latin American & Caribbean
Inter-American Economic Council
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PRESS COMMUNIQUÉ

MEETING OF IBEROAMERICAN PRIVATE SECTOR PROPOSES THE CREATION OF INVESTMENT PROGRAM AS PART OF THE SUMMIT'S NEW PERMANENT SECRETARIAT

Santa Cruz de La Sierra, Bolivia: The Inter-American Economic Council [Council], in cooperation with the Government of Bolivia, concluded its II Business Roundtable as part of the XIII Iberoamerican Summit of Heads of State and Heads of Government with recommendations on how to improve the climate for foreign investment in the region.

Private sector representatives from among 18 different countries and institutions of the hemisphere held a closed door meeting with the Foreign Ministers. Miguel Angel Rodriguez, former President of Costa Rica and candidate for the position of Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), began the meeting with an emphasis on the urgency to obtain tangible results in the struggle against poverty and sustainable development in the region

The day's meeting was divided into three panels consisting of private and public sector representatives and a lunch with guest speakers, Patricio Zuquilanda, Foreign Minister of Ecuador, and Leila Rachid-Cowles, Foreign Minister of Paraguay. The panels presented ideas on how to increase and strengthen the relationship between the public and private sectors, as an alternative means for quick implementation in order to improve the economic environment for investors in the region.

At the roundtable's conclusion, the participants agreed to continue the dialogue process initiated by the day's meeting and supported the creation of a permanent secretariat for the Iberoamerican Summits of the Americas with hopes that it not be converted into simply another bureaucratic institution. Also proposed was the creation of a technical program to support foreign investment in Iberoamerica that would count on the participation from each Iberoamerican Summit country participant and the support from international cooperative agencies and institutions as well as from the various multinational corporations that participated in the roundtable. In the evening, the roundtable's participants attended a private dinner with the Foreign Ministers from the 21 countries that participated in the XIII Iberoamerican Summit. By exclusive invitation, the roundtable's participants also attended the highly anticipated inaugural ceremony of the XIII Iberoamerican Summit featuring His Majesty King Juan I and Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain, the heads of state from the 21 country participants, and guest speaker, Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations.