CEO Summit: How the Private Sector Is Working to Improve Partnerships in the Americas

Speakers

• Maria Teresa Arnal, CEO Latin America, Stripe
• Paul Dyck, Vice President, International Government Affairs, Walmart
• Bruce Mac Master, President, National Business Association of Colombia
• Eric Farnsworth, Vice President, Council of the Americas

In a U.S. Chamber’s IV CEO Summit of the Americas panel in Los Angeles, AS/COA's Eric Farnsworth moderated a conversation with private-sector leaders, who talked about the importance of business partnerships across the Americas and how they contribute to sustainable growth in the region. The conversation was based on the Americas Business Dialogue (ABD), an initiative led by a select number of business leaders to explore regional economic integration opportunities for improved procedures and regulatory practices.

Stripe's Maria Teresa Arnal spoke of the need to increase regional competition in the financial services sector to deepen infrastructure for consumers. "You need to think of financial services as railways...if they are not operable, it can create lack of transparency and other problems," she explained. Walmart's Paul Dyck opened his participation talking about how business and governments have been emphasizing similar priorities during the Summit of the Americas, but that lack of transparency and rule of law are the biggest hurdles in the Americas for the public and private sectors to achieve goals together. Fraud prevention is a must in Latin America, said Arnal. National Business Association of Colombia's Bruce Mac Master explained the region should have a common platform thought of as one single ecosystem to be able to be competitive.