FORUM DO RIO - LUIS INACIO LULA DA SILVA

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva • Alvaro Uribe Velez
Welcoming Remarks by • Klaus Schwab
Wednesday 15 April11.00-12.15
Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum, welcomed the distinguished guests, and noted that participation in this year’s Forum is high despite the tough economic climate. The record engagement is a sign that participants understand the importance and benefits of the meeting, Schwab said. “Record participation shows the importance of Latin America and the entrepreneurial and forward-looking mentality and spirit of people who look beyond the crisis and see opportunities,” he pointed out.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, underlined the gravity of the current crisis. However, he said that Brazil is better placed that most countries to emerge intact from the downturn. Yet, he told participants that no one is immune.
“I said it at the G20 meeting and I’ll say it again – this crisis is real and serious. It started in the financial sector and it reached industry. It started in the US and is now in every country. What we need is to stem it so we can think about growing again,” Lula said. “Brazil was the last country to be hit by the crisis and it will be the first country to come out of the crisis and it will come out of this crisis stronger.”
Lula said he was keen to participate in a revamped IMF and said he was proud that Brazil will give money to an institution rather than the other way around, as in the past. “I spent 20 years of my life carrying a banner and shouting ‘Down with the IMF’ on streets, at factory gates, in front of crowds,” said Lula, a former union leader. “But a few days ago, I called my finance minister and said: ‘We are going to lend money to the IMF. We are no longer debtors; we want to be creditors’.”
However, Lula said: “We want to lend the IMF money with a condition that the money can help the economies of poorer countries and developing countries,” adding that profound changes are necessary. “The IMF needs to change the way it behaves. It needs to be a multilateral financing institution with democratic rules for participating countries. No one is better than anyone else because they give a dollar more. But we need to go further than emergency measures, transforming the paradigms that took the world economy to the edge of the precipice. We cannot postpone profound and structural solutions.”
President Alvaro Uribe Velez of Colombia agreed that Lula’s economic stewardship has helped Brazil and serves as an example to the rest of the continent. He said Colombia has made great strides in gaining the trust of Colombians and outside investors and that trust will be vital when the economic crisis ends. “When the crisis is over, investment will be made in those countries where there is deeper trust,” Uribe pointed out.
Uribe’s confidence rests on the gains made in his energetic fight against drug traffickers, guerrilla movements and paramilitaries that have blighted the country. Uribe noted that the homicide rate has been cut in half, the number of kidnappings has fallen from more than 3,000 a year to 194 last year, and the number of municipalities destroyed by bombs in the last four years is down from 200 in the years before his government took office. “We have demobilized 35,000 members of paramilitary groups and 15,000 guerrillas and although 3,000 have come into force again, 2,000 of them have been defeated or taken prisoner,” Uribe explained. “We know there is a lot to do, but we struggle every day.”
The meeting closed with the two presidents looking forward to the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago on Friday. Lula said he hoped the summit would serve as a forum for resolving regional issues, while Uribe said he hoped it would foment regional integration.