Global business forum on LatAm explores renewables sector

Dubai / Emirates Business

The Global Business Forum on Latin America kicked off on November 9 with day one bringing together a number of high-profile speakers and panellists who explored prospects for investment and cooperation between the GCC and the countries of Latin America.
In a panel discussion titled “Sector Insight – Energy: The Challenge of Renewables”, Hector Olea, President and CEO of Gauss Energia in Mexico, commented on the potential to attract more investment from the Middle East saying that the renewables sector offers a level playing field, enabling both domestic and overseas investors to fully benefit from opportunities arising in the sector. Dr Alvaro Lopez Peña, Policy and Market Analyst at the International Renewable Energy Agency, meanwhile, agreed that there would be room for private finance – and the Middle East in particular – to play a role in Latin American investment opportunities and developing the renewables sector throughout the region.
Renewable energy sectors in both Latin America and the Middle East present plenty of opportunities for bilateral investment, according to industry experts who spoke recently at the inaugural Global Business Forum on Latin America 2016 in Dubai.
Also on the agenda for day one was a session titled “Market Spotlight – Argentina: The Big Opening”. The panel discussion explored Argentina’s investment and trade prospects as the country opens up its economy to foreign investors as part of reforms led by new President Mauricio Macri. On its way to becoming an investor-friendly destination, Argentina is currently ripe with business opportunities as it strengthens its ties with the GCC, particularly the UAE and Qatar.
Daniel Melhem, Managing Partner, Knightsbridge Partners, and Juan Pablo Tripodi, Executive Vice President, Argentina Investment and Trade Promotion Agency, shed light on recent developments in Argentina’s regulatory landscape to attract more foreign and local investment in the resource-rich country.
Tripodi discussed current foreign interest in Argentina’s economy and the IMF’s forecast of steady growth in Argentina in the upcoming years. Despite concerns around the 40 per cent inflation rate for the past two years, Tripodi was confident that after bringing down the rate to 25 per cent in the last quarter of this year, the government of Argentina will be able to bring down inflationary pressure to single digits by 2018, by narrowing the fiscal deficit and increasing productivity.
Melhem, meanwhile, referred to the UAE in particular as a stellar example of economic progress, lauding the country’s tremendous level of prosperity achieved using a single natural resource: oil. “Argentina, which is rich in a multitude of natural resources, needs to learn from this market,” he noted.
Elsewhere, His Excellency Raúl Fernando Sendic Rodriguez, Vice President of Uruguay, gave a keynote address on the first day of the Forum sharing his perspectives on Uruguay’s potential to forge strong global ties and to strengthen its private sector.
Citing a number of achievements his country has scored in recent years, HE Sendic stated that Uruguay now generates 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, a shift that has transformed the country from a net importer to a net exporter of energy – to Argentina and Brazil, in particular. Uruguay is also a net exporter of food. The country has enhanced the sector using cutting-edge technology, whereby every head of cattle has a chip embedded that records data – including weight, age, and nutritional data – up until the animal reaches the market.
“Economic integration is necessary; our membership in Mercosur provides us with access to a market that is 46 times larger than our own. Integration helps smaller economies band together to expand their markets and allow capital to flow across borders. This is why Uruguay has entered in many free-trade agreements, including ones with the countries of the Middle East – the UAE, in particular,” Sendic said.
As the first day of the Global Business Forum on Latin America drew to a close, a roundtable session titled “Understanding the MENA Region – A Business Perspective” saw Philip McCrum, Director of Economic Advisory for MENA at EY UAE, give international delegates a clear overview of growth opportunities and risks in the Middle East markets. The session, moderated by Simon Baptist, Chief Economist at EIU Singapore, touched on regional plans to implement a tax law, underlining that it is the start of a much wider reform programme.
“While the downturn brought about by dwindling oil prices is quite serious, regional governments’ efforts to curb it are serious as well,” McCrum noted. “I see positive action from the governments and this will mean at least some growth – if limited – over the next years. At the end of the day, investors look to see where growth is and go there.”
More than 500 prominent stakeholders have convened in the Forum, including heads of state, policymakers, CEOs, business leaders, investors, and industry professionals, in addition to heads of private banks, sovereign wealth funds, and private equity firms.