Fedecamaras was founded in 1944, you are known as one of the most proactive institutions regarding promotion of the Venezuelan industrial and commercial sector in the economy, can you briefly describe your activity and your main achievements for the last 56 years?
Fedecamaras is the main federation of chamber in Venezuela; we have approximately two hundred and fifty direct members, with a total of more than five hundred indirect members. Each state has a Fedecamaras that represents all the associations of that particular state, not all the members of the state Fedecamaras are members of Fedecamaras, yet they are represented because sometimes they have local chambers that are important and affiliated to the state federation. Fedecamaras has representation but all states are independent. We have fifteen sectors, and twenty-four states that represents the entire country. Our most important achievements have been the promotion and the strengthening of the private sector in the economy. We have encountered through out the history of Fedecamaras that all the governments have been interested in making the private sector stronger. We have helped in opening the way for the private sector to grow and improve and continue to develop. Many of the resources coming from oil have been used in investment and business that have not been productive. We believe that those resources coming from oil should be used to develop internal infrastructure like health, education, services and any kind of social organizations. Yet we continue to use the incomes on investment and that is not a good idea. We emphasize on developing private businesses.
You recently held your 56 assembly where you spoke about the development of the private sector, tourism, the introduction of the telecommunications sector with your membership, can you come back on those issues that we discussed and what were their outcome.
In the assembly we discussed main topics. We had an edition, which we call the vision of the future. This is about putting the idea of the state as protector aside and develop the independence of the citizen. We let him know all the things he can achieve by himself without any State help, so he can develop as an individual and person. We are defending the individual right to develop and strengthen, create, save and get to know the vision of The State. It gives the government chance to help the more needy ones. We have to change the role the government has played in the last fifty years, as facilitator, promoter and the only vision the country possess. The importance of the telecommunications sectors, it is the fastest growing sector in the country handling an enormous amount of money, and the investment in their behalf is constantly growing. We believe that including the telecommunications in fedecamaras was the right thing to do.
Are there any other prospering sectors with great potential?
The mining sector, here in Venezuela we have all kinds of resources. It has potential to create jobs, develop many regions in Venezuela. It is our tasks to look for large investments in industry that will allow, this country the opportunity to become outstanding as an exporter. We believe that exporting goods is in the best interest of the country. We have a country with a population around 22 million people, we do not have enough consumption or demand to have large industrial projects, although we could develop them. For the next three to five years we should target on thirty billion dollars. That will generate over a million and a half-new jobs in the country. | What are your current actions to these objectives and what do you believe the government should do as an incentive for exports?
The government should apply the same procedure that Mexico, Chile, and Spain have done to promote exports. It is very simple, what all other countries have already done. You have to be competitive but they have different ways to protect the industry and they did not do this by imposing barriers. The government should develop all the regulation, all the laws to promote competitive industry. The incentives that rank between ten to twenty percent, one must consider the currency change, and it is not convenient for exporting and on the contrary it is beneficial for importing. The government should develop a strategy that fills the exporting gap.
The privatization process is one of the current main issues in Venezuela. To your opinion is it a way to improve efficiency in the private sector?
The state should privatize almost everything, there is no need for the government to be involved in a corporation, proof of this is the insufficiency they acted with and there have also been a lot of money losses. I believe they should privatize all kinds of public enterprise. Excluding the oil business.
In the medium run, how do you foresee Venezuela as an investment destination as compared to the neighboring countries?
Venezuela has an advantage over the other countries, because we have the continuous foreign income, thanks to the oil. That gives guarantee to any foreign investor coming in the country that his investment, will be returned in foreign currency. This could continue for hundreds of years due to all the natural resources the country possesses, such as gold, oil, iron, diamond, etc. Venezuela is one of the countries with the best alternatives for the future.
You have been the President of Fedecamaras since last year. Can you briefly come back on your professional background and what would be your greatest personal challenge over the coming months?
I am a chemical engineer, I started doing business in agriculture, and construction, real estate, hotels and I have always tried to be very objective. I have plans in the future for developing here organic coffee for exportation, and maybe also developing house projects for middle class. I want to promote change and strengthen the position we now hold as a country. Develop the convenient economical goal that each state can offer. It is easier to start locally and then move on internationally. We want to work on decentralizing Venezuela, and the transfer of resources. It is hard to specify which region offers more, because they all have many different attributes. All regions must play a key role in the development we are looking to achieve.
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