From the wild dreams and nightmares of artificial intelligence to the very real food crisis affecting hundreds of millions of people in these post-pandemic times of war and environmental disaster. And from the adaptation of infrastructure and the behavior of inflation in the context of climate challenges to economic recovery and digitalization in Latin America. These pressing challenges were at the heart of conversations centered around the idea of transformation at the sixth Forum of Latin America, the United States and Spain in the Global Economy, held this Wednesday morning in New York.
Leaders from politics, business and journalism from both coasts met in the charming theater of the Roxy Hotel in Manhattan to discuss ways to strengthen transatlantic ties in the name of shared progress. Joseph Oughourlian, President of Prisa (EL PAÍS publishing group), soon summarized the spirit of the meeting: “This is a very special moment for relations between Spain and the United States, but also between Spain and Latin America,” he said in the speech . Opening speech.
The forum included notable contributions from Acting President of the Spanish Government Pedro Sánchez and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. The meeting, now part of the tradition of the week in which the United Nations Organization holds its General Assembly, was organized by EL PAÍS – whose director Pepa Bueno defined the tripartite relationship between Spain and Latin America as a “virtuous triangle” – and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce -UNITED STATES. The event was sponsored by Abertis, Baker McKenzie, Grupo Nutresa, Iberia, Inditex and Indra and in collaboration with the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI).
The morning opened with contributions from Oughourlian and the President of the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce, Alan D. Solomont, who was Ambassador to Spain under Barack Obama. Oughourlian wanted to focus on the Spanish presidency of the European Union, which he said represented “tremendous progress in relations between the EU and Latin America,” a region often “forgotten” in the EU at a time when There is a lot going on in Europe: from the Russian invasion of Ukraine to trade with China to relations with the United States.
He also emphasized the value of Grupo Prisa’s information products and its commitment to quality and accuracy. “This does not mean that we look at what is happening in the world from a neutral perspective, but that we have very clear positions on climate change, feminism, food security and other issues.” These positions reflect who we are and what we want to be, not only in Spain but throughout Latin America,” he warned.
Solomont, like other speakers during the meeting, emphasized “the importance of relations between the United States, Spain and Latin America.” “In today’s world, our economies are more interconnected than ever before. “It is particularly important to recognize that the strategic partnership between Spain and the United States is crucial for security and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic,” he stressed.
According to the President of the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce, “strengthening global ties has always been important, but events such as global pandemic disasters or those in Morocco and Libya have become even more important in recent years.” He also pointed out that “ “The Russian invasion of Ukraine, together with changes in geopolitical dynamics, has brought the global economy rigorously under control, requiring the adaptation and resistance of the world’s productive business and institutional frameworks.” In these unprecedented times, the Spain-USA Chamber of Commerce (to which includes some of the most influential companies in both countries as well as leading companies in many sectors such as energy, banking, construction, food and beverage) do this, he argued, showing its role as an important pillar in the transatlantic relationship.
“Today’s Forum is a concrete example of our efforts to highlight the alliances and partnerships that Spain, the United States and Latin America must forge to sustain individual and shared prosperity,” Solomont concluded.
Green transformation and gender equality
The director of EL PAÍS gave the floor to Pedro Sánchez and defended the teamwork (of politicians, business people and journalists) to ensure success in the two most pressing challenges facing our societies: “The green transition and gender equality”. . The incumbent Spanish president turned his intervention into a confirmation of his government’s successes on issues such as the green economy, the containment of inflation and the “reformist and transformative path”, which, in his opinion, shows that “Spain wants to move forward”. His words could also be interpreted in a propositional key; They contained some key elements (the ecological transition or the reduction of structural unemployment) about what he intends to do if he finally manages to form a cabinet for a second term.
The incumbent Socialist government was also present with the intervention of its Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, who gave a speech in English at the end of the morning. Albares also stressed the importance of transatlantic relations given the complex international environment. “I have no doubt that we are in a moment of economic and political change. The challenges we face are enormous, and our citizens look to us to protect them from the uncertainties they face. I believe that we can only overcome these challenges by relying on our values and working with our friends,” said Albares.
The Spanish minister directly referred to the war in Ukraine: “I often remember that Ukrainians fight every day because they know that the political system they are building is fundamentally different from the one that Putin is forcing on them They are willing to risk their lives to defend the democratic values that continue to be the aspiration of people around the world. It is important that we join them in defending these values inside and outside our borders.”
In this context, “transatlantic relations are crucial for Spain and the European Union,” he emphasized. “The values we share, the interconnectedness of our economies, put us in an unbeatable position to continue moving forward together in strengthening international and multilateral institutions to promote strong, sustainable and inclusive economic growth, defend democratic governance and find solutions for to promote global challenges.” Albares pointed to the EU-Celac summit last July and the joint initiatives between the European Union and the United States as examples of this cooperation.
Almost at the end of the forum, the Democratic Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, who has been in office since 2018, recalled that Spain is one of the top 20 trading partners of this state “in the middle of the Northwest Corridor,” he said, “20% of the gross domestic product of the United States States.” “From an economic perspective, we share many things, such as the focus on life sciences, agriculture and tourism, from Mallorca.” [la localidad costera de vacaciones] “Jersey Shore.” Murphy explained New Jersey’s success with its “location, its concentration of population [9,3 millones de habitantes] and diversity” (“20% of our neighbors are Latino”). The governor also focused on the state’s commitment to offshore wind energy, which he said is critical to combating climate change.
After Sánchez’s intervention, the conversation turned to the challenges facing the US economy; specifically on the effects of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which President Joe Biden implemented in the summer of 2022 after difficult negotiations in Congress. Its approval represented one of the largest endorsements of combating climate change as official U.S. policy. In just over a year, the company has attracted $270 billion (250 billion euros) in promised investments in clean energy. Investors praise the long-term tax credits associated with the measure.
“For the first time in the United States, we have an industrial policy that is not limited to loans for one or two years: now we have security for 30 or 40 years,” American Clean Power President Susan Nickey said in the press release Building on the panel: the Inflation Reduction Act, moderated by José Morán, President of the Energy, Mining and Infrastructure Group at Baker McKenzie.
This long-term security makes the United States “clearly the most attractive market for investment due to its long-term stability,” according to Gabriel Alonso, CEO of 547 Energy. “Its durability and security put the United States at the forefront of the energy transition.”
But other problems in the sector – besides inflation – still need to be resolved, such as the length of time it takes to get approvals for transmission lines, said Puneet Verma, vice president of federal government affairs at Avangrid. “You commit to a project that you want to carry out, make certain investments and at the end you wait for seven years.” “In order for these funds to be used, we have to solve the problem of permits,” he said. Alonso supported him: “Every time we develop a new project, it takes twice as long to build it.”
Another highlight of the morning was one of the most pressing issues on the global agenda: food security, discussed at a table attended by Carlos Ignacio Gallego, President of Grupo Nutresa; Álvaro Lario, President of FIDA; Mario Lubetkin, Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean of the FAO-Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; and Ana Catalina Suárez, director of strategy and innovation at the Global Foodbanking Network.
Lubetkin noted that “the issue of food security remains as persistent as climate change or the energy crisis.” He has examined the explosive factors influencing the problem, such as the pandemic, war, energy costs and climate change.
Lario emphasized how the trend of reducing hunger has been broken. “After the war in Ukraine, many leaders are putting food security at the center of their policies as a national security issue,” he said. “Over the last three years, our programs have increased the incomes of 77 million people,” he said.
“In the business world, we are very far from companies whose strategy is only inward-looking and we look more towards the other,” said Carlos Ignacio Gallego, explaining the business perspective. “In the case of Grupo Nutresa, we discovered the problem of hunger when we did this exercise of looking at others, of looking outward.” According to Gallego, “in Latin America, the goals of zero hunger and poverty reduction get mixed up when you talk about food security .” “It’s not enough that there is land, we have to take care of access. From the business world, there are numerous opportunities to work on producing more food, increasing productivity, but also developing capacity in communities,” he pointed out.
Suárez also pointed to the “gender gap” caused by hunger, which affects 10% more women than men in Latin America. Hunger in children affects their intellectual development and hunger and poverty are closely linked. Suárez also highlighted the role of the third sector, civil society, organizations that fight the problem.
Build a different Latin America
Mariano Jabonero, secretary general of the Organization of Ibero-American States – an organization preparing to celebrate its 75th anniversary next year as a key player in the region in matters of education, culture and science – took up the climate issue and called for building a ” other Latin America” based on the commitment to green energy. “It could be the first decarbonized region in the world due to its capacity to produce lithium and solar energy; also because of the enormous amount of fresh water at its disposal.” “But without democracy, human rights and equality there can be no progress,” he warned. Jabonero explained that the continent has woken up to the reality that “democracy cannot be taken for granted.” “It’s like a kind of physical exercise that we have to do every day,” he said.
The Secretary General of the OEI also highlighted one of his obsessions: digitalization in education. The pandemic offers a unique opportunity to “create quality education,” he said. “And we must not miss this opportunity.” Asked what the big challenge will be for Latin America, he replied: “There are many, but one fundamental one: the region is the one with the lowest productivity in recent decades has grown.” When there is no more productivity, there is no more wealth, and when there is no more wealth, there is nothing to distribute. Latin America has focused too much on raw materials and cheap labor. To make progress, there is an urgent need to link the business world with the education world and promote investment efforts in the knowledge economy. Without all these ingredients,” he explained, “the future of the region will be mortgaged.”
Two of the Spanish companies with the largest international presence, Iberia and Abertis, met for a conversation moderated by Inmaculada Riera, General Director of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, who repeated another mantra of the morning: the importance of public collaboration – private for the inevitable transformations (green and digital). He asked them an essential question: “How do we transform?” Teresa Parejo, director of sustainability at Iberia, emphasized that aviation is one of the “most difficult sectors to decarbonize.” “But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done,” he announced. This industry is responsible for “between 2 and 3% of global emissions,” he explained. “It may not be much at the moment, but the ecological transition must, by definition, be achieved in a short period of time,” he argued.
The main problem is obviously the long flights. For short-haul routes, it will be easier to reduce emissions by resorting to “electrification or green hydrogen” (“a very interesting technology that does not solve the long-haul problem,” complained Parejo). The fact is that some of these technologies, such as the promising SAF fuels (short for “sustainable aviation fuels”), are still in development. Parejo also recalled that there are operational solutions, such as the creation of a single European airspace “so that aircraft do not have to make unnecessary turns.”
Chilean Christian Barrientos, director of Abertis Mobility Services, highlighted the perspective of road infrastructure. He recalled that the planet is moving decisively towards urbanization. Half of the world’s population already lives in cities and this proportion will rise to 70% in the next 20 to 25 years. “This poses challenges for both inter-urban and intra-city mobility,” he said. He explained the problem of financing infrastructure, which is currently done in three ways: taxes, tolls and levies on gasoline. This third path brings in the most money in the United States today. What can be done to help electric cars help maintain these expensive highways? Barrientos suggested refining technologies to obtain information about the movements of these vehicles. He also revealed that Abertis is working on these ideas in the states of Oregon, Utah, Virginia and Oklahoma.
Indra is another Spanish multinational with a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. Its President, Marc Murtra, made a diagnosis of the main trends affecting the world of innovation and technology. He first highlighted American supremacy: “The entire value chain is created here,” he emphasized. He also pointed to a major political trend: “Technology has a huge public-private component again,” which, he suggested, has existed at other times but is gaining strength. “The Biden administration is committed to strategic autonomy, which means setting the framework within which you can make decisions,” he explained.
The other big key is understanding where the relevant technological trend changes are headed, such as the Internet and now generative artificial intelligence, and knowing how to combine short-term reality with large long-term movements.
Indra also has a strong presence in Latin America: the company employs around 20,000 people and knows the markets very well. “In the US the demand is huge, but also the supply, the investment required to have a relevant presence is very large and we have proceeded cautiously, betting on the sectors where we have greater excellence, such as air traffic control,” Murtra explained. .
The president of Indra emphasized the importance of Chat GPT and, more generally, generative artificial intelligence, “a tool that increases productivity and has a gigantic impact where traditional data exists”. It will also be of great importance in the field of defense (“it will change everything,” he said), but he noted the importance of addressing the ethical issues involved. His company already has more than 100 pilot tests to understand what is happening and has proven that they are highly effective tools, albeit depending on the segment.
These ideas from Murtra were related to the theme of the closing table, which was attended by Beena Ammanath, Managing Director of the Deloitte Global Institute of Artificial Intelligence, and Carme Artigas, Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence of the Spanish Government. They spoke under the moderation of Ángel Alonso Arroba, Vice Dean for Management and Development of the School of Public and Global Affairs at IE University. Both contrasted two perspectives, public and private, for regulating AI; Alonso Arroba warned of its risks, but also of its many opportunities. Artigas recalled that Spain has been a pioneer in defining the government’s framework to address its challenges, especially with the adoption in 2021 of the Charter of Digital Rights, which, among other things, guarantees the right to separation, tranquility and reconciliation of personal and personal relationships includes family life.
Artigas clarified that this groundbreaking gesture is part of the effort to address the potential dangers of technology and universalize its benefits, with the aim of “leaving no one behind.” The Foreign Minister shared the fact that the share of technology in gross domestic product has increased from “15 to 23%” in the last three years, but said that this is still not enough: “We should be able to reach 40%.” ” . “%, and AI will be crucial to this.” Ammanath, for his part, insisted on one of the driving ideas of the time: collaboration between the public and private to advance the possibilities of new technologies.
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