Press Summary

Latin America in the new global order

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 10th, 2004 - Latin America has the means and the way to a brilliant future - in spite of set backs and turmoil. This is provided Latin American nations keep the course, have the ability to make tough decisions and especially have the patience to let these decisions mature and grow. This was the main conclusion of the 7th Latin American Conference – Latin America in the new global order organized by MIT Sloan School of Management, MIT Sloan Club Latino and MIT Sloan Brazilian Club, and which was held on March 5th and 6th 2004. After Dr. Charles Vest, President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, inaugurated the Conference, five key topics were discussed in panel format, all critical for Latin America to reborn:

1. Strong financial market that foster a healthy business environment, as suggested by John Donnelly from Bank of America, Vittorio Corbo from Chilean Central Bank and Roberto Setubal from Banco Itau Vision of the future that inspire the region to succeed – a topic that was masterfully explored by Dr. Jamil Mahuad, former President of Ecuador, Dr. Vinod Thomas from the World Bank, Dr. Donald Lessard and Dr. Roberto Rigobon from MIT Entrepreneurial spirit to leverage the unlimited potential of our creativity, which according to Marilia Rocca, managing director of Endeavor and Federico Carballo, founder of Compass Group, is the greatest differentiator of our region Global competitive advantages to focus our efforts where we can compete with the rest of the world. Telefonica and CITGO understand this, and Mr. Fernando Ferreira and Mr. Luis Marin as respective CEOs of these companies expressed their strategies to leverage these advantages
2. Strong internal consumer market to serve a vast majority of Latin Americans which are usually forgotten by larger corporations. La Fragua, Fallabela and Grupo Polar have clearly understood this, as Mr. Carlos Paiz, Mr. Pablo Turner and Mr. Lorenzo Mendoza proved to us, by challenging traditional ways of thought and succeeding in our region

Finally, Dr. Vittorio Corbo from Chilean Central Bank wrapped up this Conference by giving his perspective, as a leading economist on how Latin America will succeed. Dr. Jamil Mahuad and Mr. Lorenzo Mendoza joined him, asking excellent questions and looking at the region from the business and political perspective as well.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was the open forum where these topics were discussed. All different participants – students, speakers, moderators and faculty participated in it. Questions were asked, speakers were engaged, and ways of thinking were challenged. This conclusion for Latin America did not come only from those visionaries who joined the conference, but also from all the future leaders who were sitting in Wong Auditorium.