TELMEX Foundation carried out México Siglo XXI’s scholarship annual meeting in the National Auditorium on September 21. That meeting gathers more than 10,000 scholarship students from public and private Mexican Universities annually.
Mr. Carlos Slim Domit’s speech in México Siglo XXI meeting. Mr. Slim Domit is the chairman of the executive board of Teléfonos de México.
September 21, 2012.
TELMEX scholarship students:
Good morning to all of you and welcome to TELMEX Foundation’s México Siglo XXI.
The current year has been signaled by hard economic conditions in many countries. Unfortunately, such conditions will prevail during some coming years, mainly for some European countries where the impact of the financial crisis has been strong, deep and without improved expectations in the near short term.
Although these conditions have been worsened by bad and protracted financial and economic management, they reflect the deep changing era into which we all are immersed. As soon as we understand its characteristics, paradigms and course, the sooner we’ll be able to adopt the adjusting and approaching policies to take advantage from emerging opportunities and to recover the development path.
The United States economic growth will continue to be very moderate for some years at least while it rectifies its fundamental economic variables. For both the United States and some European countries, the biggest obstacle lies in their lack of capacity to create jobs and opportunities for themselves.
On contrary, Mexico has a considerable macroeconomic strength which should be translated into bigger domestic development, job creation and increased wellbeing for the whole population.
Additionally, some key global variables are transforming themselves, and Mexico is very well positioned to capitalize them, by instance Mexico-produced oil, mineral and commodities high international prices, and China’s economic transition from the main exporter to the biggest consumption market because of have created increasing and better jobs during the past few decades.
Competitiveness diminishing of some countries because of their strong currencies and low global medium and long-term interest rates are other favorable variables. Low interest rates give access to foreign savings looking for profitable investment options which could contribute to almost unlimitedly finance physical capital that we need to create growth, economic activity and jobs at a large scale.
Mexico is becoming a strategic investment destination for the United States and many European and Asian countries. Our country stands for one of the most open, competitive and soundest economies in our own region. The current variables alignment, young population and many pending domestic tasks seem to be on our side to launch a continuous and prolonged development era on condition we approach clear-cut goals. I am going to underlie three of them:
- Firstly, assuring both physical and legal security.
- Secondly, to initiate a continuous and consistent infrastructure development step at full capacity in most of the areas.
- Thirdly, the most important thing is to translate all of these variables into more and better health-care, educational and job opportunities for all. Such is the only way to diminish poverty and inequality.
That means starting a progressive creation of wellbeing state for the whole society.
Unlike other past epochs, technology could and should be a key tool in achieving our goals.
In respect to health care, by instance, we have genomics which can identify illness originators and so inhibit them in time; at distance health-care through mobile dispositive, portal sites and applications for accessing to fresh knowledge, techniques and protocols.
In respect to education, there are portal sites giving access to the content of the most advanced schools, universities and research. Non-presence education gives universal access to high-quality education through broad band, so allowing big scale and updated education for labor training in a faster and effective way.
In respect to employment, technology gives opportunities to transform and promote both product and service ideas along the whole world, create fresh specialized fields for both traditional and newer businesses, at-distance work, and growing training and development opportunities, among many other possibilities.
The main variables are aligning themselves to our own side. With smart decisions, Mexico’s future could and should be promissory.
During the “Mexican miracle” period, we Mexicans were able to adapt ourselves in transiting from a mainly rural economy to an industrial and urban one. The new era gives us a bigger opportunity.
We are already living in the access era: access to information, entertainment, products, services, both akin persons and groups along the whole world, free expression, participation and influence. Above all, access to bigger and better opportunities because the present era is based on general wellbeing.
Information and communication technologies stand for the nervous system of the current era. We are committed to offer the best infrastructure, the broadest covering and, above all, team work to provide all of the digital services in global competitive conditions to 30 countries ─18 in Latin America and 12 in Europe, including Austria because of our recently settled participation in KPN and Telekom Austria.
Our accumulated investment in Mexico amounts more than 43,000 million dollars. We provide services to about 200,000 cities and communities, more than 94% of Mexicans along the whole Mexican territory in contrast to our competitors, who currently offer access to about 80,000 cities.
More than in any other sector, telecommunications competition demands huge investment. Service covering demands robust, far-out infrastructure, and constant technology upgrading through big, intensive, and constant investment.
Providing telecommunication services also demands creating programs and supplying reliable information and data, even to support analysis and network use to provide voice, data and video services, alike the rest of the world. All of this will contribute to diminishing prices and increased covering not only for users but for content and application creators in order to bring their innovations to the many.
Convergence stands for one of the main innovation sources in the whole world nowadays. It is one of the pending tasks in Mexico. Since 2007, Telmex has fulfilled all of the conditions of the convergence agreement. Limited convergence impedes access for millions of persons and restrains general development.
For the next coming year, combined fixed and mobile broadband running through 4G networks we are already deploying along the whole country, plus new devices that curtail broadband covering limitations in respect to personal computer quantity ─as it has been the case until now─, lead us to set a goal for quickly intensifying connectivity in Mexico under universal access conditions.
In respect to social-service activities, as you will see later today, besides health-care, research & development, education, justice, culture, sports, environment, natural-disaster aid ─thanks to unconditional support by more than 5,000 Telmex volunteers along the whole country─ and active support to more than 2,000 public and private institutions and associations, we are already working, investing and developing innovative health-care universal-access platforms through genomics research and development. We have already attained very important results, including the discovery of diabetes gene and some cancer types in Mexico, and providing at-distance health care through mobile devices.
In respect to digital education, through efforts like Académica, we are already working together with 250 public and private Mexican universities, which share research activities in several fields through Telmex network. Our digitalized schools, classrooms and libraries will be enforced in 2013 by our participation in non-presence digital courses and lessons through innovative and internationally-recognized concepts. In respect to this, I would like to mention our strong alliance with Khan Academy to offer its contents and develop digital education for all in Mexico and Latin America. For those interested I would like to share its electronic site: http://www.khanacademy.org.
Sports:
Telmex Soccer Cup, which gathers more than 200,000 male and female infant players, has won the world’s biggest amateur tournament Guinness Record for the fifth year in a row.
As Arturo Elías did announce in October past year, homeless child and young soccer teams from 50 countries will dispute the Homeless World Cup in the Zócalo, the main civic plaza of Mexico. The Mexican selection is formed by the best players of “De la Calle a la Cancha” tournament, which gathered about 20,000 players the current year. Besides being rehabilitated by sports, these young players give self-improvement example for the rest.
Escudería Telmex, our motor-racing team, besides its outstanding results, is already working together with racing drivers, FIA México, authorities, firms, and public and private institutions and associations to improve traffic safety. Traffic accidents stand for the main death cause of 5 to 29 year-old people in México. The saddest thing is that 90% of these deaths could be avoided. We are focused in lessening such a percentage.
I would like to specially underline our fellowship student program being represented by all of you. We have surpassed the 300,000 digital fellowships during the current year.
You fellows stand for the better students in our country. You will make the difference in any field you choose because of your own efforts, whole formation and, above all, commitment in building a better country.
That meeting is yours and for you, fellows. We invite you to meet each other and to share with outstanding leaders who have come to share experiences, ideas and advices. United Kingdom’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Brazil’s former President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, world bullying expert Lee Hirsch, globally-recognized soccer player and trainer Pep Guardiola, and extreme-situation survivalist Nando Parrado, whose personal history will provoke many intimate feelings and reflections.
In this special day I thank the Telmex Foundation and National Auditorium teams, as well as our guests of honor and those internet participants.
Outstanding performance by Mexican athletes in Olympics, Paralympics and Pan-American games, our first gold medal in Olympics soccer, several boxing world championships and vibrant emotions we live each time Checo Pérez takes the steering wheel are not by chance.
It’s not by chance that Mexican students are already participating in the main research centers.
All of these achievements are the work product of a single generation, an increasingly well-formed and internationally referenced one, an eagerly-triumph generation being conscious of personal responsibility to be the best in their own fields.
It’s not by chance, but nor a guaranty for future performance.
Sustained, progressive and consistent performance requires hard work, development, effort, focus and, above all, inflexible commitment.
The present generation is yours. That’s our reason to be here in. We are ratifying our own commitment to make dreamt Mexico come true as our own country requires us.
Welcome to México Siglo XXI/2012.
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