Presentation of the Latin American Economic Outlook 2008 in Lisbon - 29 November 2007

 The presentation took place in the Casa da América Latina. The Secretary General of the institution, Mário Quartin Graca, and the

President of the IPAD, Augusto Manuel Correia, introduced the report before handing over to Mr. Javier Santiso, the Acting Director of the OECD Development Centre. Mr. Santiso gave a detailed explanation of some of the main conclusions of the report, focusing on the existing low levels of fiscal legitimacy in the region.

  Another topic dealt with by the report is the role of the private sector in the development of Latin America. This topic was analysed in a round table moderated by the Portuguese journalist, Carlos Rosado Carvalho. The Mexican Ambassador in Portugal, Mauricio Toussaint, also stressed the importance of the influence of the political environment on investment levels. 
 
  Isabel Cortez, representative of the Portuguese Trade & Investment Agency (Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo de Portugal  - AICEP), emphasised the role of Portugal as a pioneer investor in Brasil during the nineties and stressed the increasing interest of Portuguese firms in other countries of the region.

  Finally, Jorge Alberto Yarte Sade, the Vicepresident of Government Council of the Portuguese – Mexican Chamber of Commerce spoke in depth on the challenge of strengthening the commercial relationship between both sides of the Atlantic and this led to an interesting debate on the relationship between growth and development.

• Program of the Presentation (pdf)
• Presentation of the report by Javier Santiso (in Portuguese, pdf)