Felipe Calderon

The New Global Economy

During his six years in office, Felipe Calderón made economic reform a top priority of his administration by implementing policies that catapulted Mexico into a powerful player in the global economy. His experience as an influential policymaker, both in Mexico and on the world stage, puts Calderón in a unique position to assess the transforming world economy and how it will impact your organization.

Expansion, Innovation and Transformation: What It Takes to Lead

A leader who helped launch Mexico into the 21st century and improved its competitiveness in the global sphere, President Calderón established himself as a powerful president who could get things done. Named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World,” Calderón confronted issues head on in order to elevate Mexico to a more powerful world player. In this insightful speech, President Calderón offers key insight into strategic policymaking and implementing long-term solutions in this interdependent world.

During his presidency, he prioritized access to health services for the entire population. The process of affiliation to health insurance has taken place on an unprecedented scale and promoted the greatest construction of hospital infrastructure in the country’s history, with over two thousand works during the first four years of government. The aim is to achieve universal health coverage before the end of the administration.

Likewise, particular emphasis was given to the development of infrastructure with the dual aim of improving Mexicans’ standard of living and increasing the competitiveness of the Mexican economy. Investment in this area has reached record levels of nearly 5% of the GDP, which has enabled the construction and modernization of highways, ports, airports, energy plants, water systems, hospitals and schools throughout the country.

In 2009, despite undergoing the world’s most severe economic crisis, President Calderón’s government managed to offset its effects on the national economy, as a result of which it managed to recover lost jobs within a year while in 2010, the highest employment levels in over a decade were registered.

The fight for security and the construction of a country based on the rule of law was another of the priorities of President Calderón’s government. The entire capacity of the Armed Forces and Federal Police was marshaled to deal with criminal organizations in the areas most severely affected by crime. An unprecedented effort was made to strengthen laws and the institutions of security and justice to make the state’s actions for dealing with crime more effective. Likewise, several policies were implemented to prevent crime and restore the social fabric.

At the same time, Mexico positioned itself as a global leader in fighting the threat of climate change. As a result of President Calderón’s personal commitment in the matter, the fight against climate change became state policy. Mexico has become an international promoter of this effort, as borne out by the successful organization of the international COP16–CMP6 conferences.

Through these and other actions, under the principle of Sustainable Human Development, the administration was working on a daily basis to transform Mexico into a country based on the rule of law, equal opportunities, competitiveness and environmental protection.

Throughout his career, Felipe Calderón has received several awards such as the Mexico–United States Chamber of Commerce’s “NAFTA Congressional Leadership Award” and the National Chamber of the Manufacturing Industry’s “CANACINTRA Eagle for Legislative Merit.” At the international level, he was Vice-President of the Christian Democrat Organization of America and member of the “World Leaders of the Future” of the World Economic Forum.