The future of Public Enterprises in Latin America and the World
Synthesis report on international seminar in Montevideo
An international seminar in Montevideo, co-organised by TNI and the Uruguayan government, shared the latest learning and innovation by state-owned enterprises across Latin America and affirmed their importance as instruments for economic and social development.
The international seminar Public' Enterprises:' Transformations,' Challenges' and' Opportunities, was held in Montevideo between October 29 and November 1, jointly organised by the Transnational Institute (TNI), Uruguay’s General Directorate for Industrial Development (DNIGMIEM) and the National Telecommunications Administration (ANTEL).
The seminar had 422 participants and was structured around presentations delivered by more than 30 government officials, directors and technical staff of state-owned companies, trade unionists and academic researchers from various countries worldwide.
The seminar enabled the exchange of experiences and in-depth discussions on the significance and role of public enterprises within the current context of change at regional and global levels. The three days of the seminar were marked by a general consensus about the positive nature of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) , with reference to their performance in the provision of public services and in industrial policy.
Several examples of successful companies in Latin American countries governed by left-of-centre parties or movements—in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Venezuela— as well as in Costa Rica —a country that currently has a conservative government but where the state has historically being a developmental force — were presented. The seminar also discussed the trajectory of public enterprises in Europe, Asia and North America, and their prospects in the current global crisis.
About the authors
Daniel Chavez
Daniel Chavez is a Uruguayan anthropologist specialising in Latin American politics and urban social and political movements. With an intimate knowledge of Latin American left politics and an advisor to various local governments on participatory local democracy, he is also editor of the La nueva izquierda en América Latina: sus orígenes y trayectoria futura (New Left in Latin America: its origins and future, with Patrick Barrett and Cesar García (Grupo Editorial Norma, 2005)
Before moving to Europe he had worked for almost a decade for the United Federation of Mutual-Aid Housing Cooperatives (FUCVAM). Daniel currently co-ordinates the New TNI Politics Programme, in co-operation with Hilary Wainwright. He is also author of The Left in the City: Participatory Local Governments in Latin America with Benjamin Goldfrank (LAB, 2001).
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The future of Public Enterprises in Latin America and the WorldAn international seminar in Montevideo, co-organised by TNI and the Uruguayan government, shared the latest learning and innovation by state-owned enterprises across Latin America and affirmed their importance as instruments for economic and social development. |
