AS/COA President Susan Segal at the Annual Mexico City Conference

His Excellency President of the Estados Unidos Mexicanos Felipe Calderón, Secretary of the Economy Gerardo Ruiz Mateos, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, Bruno Ferrari, President and CEO of ProMexico; government representatives; members of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas and special guests. Quiero darles a todos una cordial bienvenida el dia de hoy.

We are so pleased to once again be in Mexico organizing this conference with our friends from ProMexico. We are particularly honored that President Calderon agreed to join us to inaugurate the conference. Mr. President, we compliment you on your many accomplishments since assuming the presidency. Your determination to ensure the success of Mexico in the fight against organized crime and to create an economically vibrant country where investment flourishes is admired by all. Thank you so much.

I want to especially recognize ProMexico and my friend Bruno Ferrari and his team for all the hard work in organizing this conference with us. We look forward to continuing working with you to promote investment and trade in Mexico. I also want to thank my team.

I want to thank our regional sponsors, JPMorgan and Microsoft, and our Mexico sponsors: Chevron, Greenberg Traurig, HBO Latin America and Metlife. You are all very important to us, thank you.

Thank you also to the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, to the Consejo Coordinador Empresarial, COMCE, CONCANACO, COMEXI, and the Consejo de Promoción Turistica for your cooperation in promoting this event.

Last year seems so far away… since then the United States and most of the world has entered into varying degrees of economic and financial crises. In the U.S. we have the worst economic decline in recent memory. Accompanying this has been a complete collapse of confidence and the path to a return to global growth and the rebuilding of confidence is not totally clear. This is a crisis which has its roots not in Latin America, Asia or other emerging markets but is home grown in the United States. And in fact, many countries in Latin America, Mexico being one of the countries is much better prepared to confront the global economic challenges given the reforms of the past several years. It also means that these countries will have a roll in the global economic recovery.

We in the United States also have a new president, Barack Obama with an overwhelming agenda both at home and abroad. And huge popularity of 62 percent in the last CNN poll.

And his challenges are enormous----particularly at home where most of my fellow countrymen have lived in an environment of unlimited credit and rising home equity values for decades. Versus today with rising unemployment, declining home values, diminishing retirement savings and a shortage of consumer credit and more importantly credit for small business. This is unknown in the U.S. but regretfully familiar in many other countries.

In addition to the economy, president Obama is looking to address issues from healthcare to education and more while simultaneously focusing on a complicated international agenda not to mention two wars in Afganistan and Iraq. I have dramatically simplified the situation, but the fact is we are living in a very complex moment.

However, as in all interesting moments there are unique challenges and great opportunities.

We face many challenges as a global community but I want to focus on just two.

First of all the ability for the global community particularly the G-20 to find a consensus and a common path towards economic recovery. Mr. President, we know you will have a strong voice on this issue.

And of course the second challenge is protectionism. It is critical that countries including the U.S. honor their trade commitments: resist Buy American provisions and limiting employment opportunities. Other countries obviously must also resist similar temptations. Global trade is part of the solution, critical to our recovery and the creation of jobs not just in the U.S. but around the globe. The completion of the Doha round must also not be forgotten.

Being the eternal optimist I also see many opportunities for North America and for the US/Mexican bilateral relationship.

It is an opportune moment for enhancing the competitiveness of North America such that we emerge from the crisis stronger and more competitive than before.  The combination of the economic crisis in the U.S. and our new administration offer many potential opportunities for North America, and of course the business community has a role here as well.

As an independent observer, I also see many areas for growing collaborations between Mexico and the U.S. on multiple fronts, which are clearly in the area of shared responsibility and benefit.

Finally, in my opinion, Latin America and Mexico in particular will be winners for future investment flows. Economic management during the crisis has been transparent and predictable with the rules of the game clear. The cultural bonds, benefits and business case have been highlighted as many Latin American countries have performed relatively better than expected given past history. For Mexico the proximity to the U.S. market, which one-day will consume again, remains attractive but frankly the Mexican domestic market and a rising middle class consumer is also very attractive for investors.

So in conclusion while we are in the most challenging of times there are opportunities to emerge stronger and more competitive. We should not waste the moment.

Again it is a pleasure to be here. Thank you very much.