浪花直播

浪花直播 hosted the Honorable Sebasti谩n Pi帽era, in conversation with Eric L. Olson, Deputy Director of 浪花直播 Center's Latin American Program, and Michael Shifter, President of the Inter-American Dialogue, regarding the challenges he foresees for sustainable economic growth in Chile and the Andes region of South America.

Sebasti谩n Pi帽era Echenique was President of Chile from 2010 to 2014.  He is currently the frontrunner in Chile鈥檚 upcoming presidential election, to be held on November 19, 2017.  Pi帽era is supported by a coalition of conservative and center-right political parties, called Chile Vamos.  Before becoming president, he was a successful entrepreneur and businessman with a broad portfolio of investments in banking, media, airlines, and sports. He was the first center-right candidate to win the presidency since Chile鈥檚 return to democracy. 

Key Quotes

鈥淎rgentina and Brazil are moving from the Mercosur ideology to the Pacific Alliance model of development, and that is changing the mood in Latin America.鈥�

鈥淸At some point], Latin America was able to grow much faster than the world. Now, it鈥檚 just the opposite, and that鈥檚 something that we鈥檒l have to change 鈥� because it鈥檚 not the design of God or something that is a fatality. It鈥檚 basically because we haven鈥檛 been able to do things as we should have done. But there are many significant political changes in Latin America that are bringing winds of hope.鈥�

鈥淔irst of all, we have to [have] a Copernican revolution [in Latin America] in terms of the quality of education.鈥�

鈥淚 think that the fact that President Trump decided not to continue with the TPP has given China a huge opportunity to increase all its influence in the Asia-Pacific area. So, I think that China will become a stronger player, not only in economic terms, but also in terms of investment and in terms of influence in Latin America 鈥� which is already happening.鈥�

鈥淲hat we have now in Venezuela is a full and plain dictatorship鈥� The most difficult thing is that, politically, they are confronted with no way out.鈥�

鈥淥ur concern, our challenge, our mission is not only economic growth. It is much more than that. It is to improve quality of life 鈥� and for that, you have to improve the quality of our democracy, our institutions and to combat corruption in a much stronger way. We have changed our legislation and now Chile is becoming one of the most transparent countries in the world.  I hope that will become the antidote to corruption, because at the end of the day, there is no better police than sunlight. There is no better disinfectant than the public light."

鈥淪ome people talk a lot about poverty and inequality, but they don鈥檛 do much. I think that the best way to combat poverty and inequality is using the two blades of the system.  The first one is to try to attack the causes, which is basically bad quality of education and lack of opportunity to work鈥� Of course, that will take time, so in the meantime, you have to apply social policies.鈥�

鈥淢r. Trump鈥檚 approach, 鈥楢merica first鈥� 鈥� of course, every president should say that. But the question is, to close the American economy 鈥� is that the best way to put America first? I think that he鈥檚 wrong. I think there鈥檚 no contradiction between being a president who wants the best for his country and, at the same time, being a president who wants to open up the economy.鈥�