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―Latin America is a region showing progress in the strengthening of democracy and
human rights and better economics,‖ said Mr. Figueres, ―but these are not sufficient.
It‘s also a region with tremendous inequalities.‖ According to the former President,
the inequality in Latin America is 10 times as high as that of Asia, 17.5 times of
OECD countries and 20.4 times of Eastern Europe.
Mr. Figueres stressed the speed of development, arguing that in the globalizing
world, countries are less accounted by size but more accounted by ―speed‖. In this
light, he called for a new approach to education and strategic investment in
technology. The former president also criticized the injustice in world trade like
agricultural subsidies in developed countries.
Mr. Jose also focused on how to reach a sustainable development in the world of
globalization nowadays. He first pointed out that in the 21st century, countries will be
less determined by size but the speed of development. As a result, how fast are we
advancing will be an important problem. In order to make a rapid and steady
development, we should harvest our knowledge. Jose said that we students at
Peking University are having an educational experience that most of the students in
the world can‘t obtain. He encouraged us to make use of such advantage and
prepare ourselves to serve our society, our country and the world at large.
To achieve our development goals, an interconnected society made by building
integrated networks is a must, while in the process we still have a long to go, for
much work is needed in building these networks, such as personal safety, modern
infrastructure, consumer defense mechanisms and political and institutional reform.
As for Latin America‘s environmental achievement, which plays an important role in
the society development, he indicated that little public awareness should be replaced
by strict controls on industrial waste and that the conversation to clean fuels is a
necessity.
In view of the information society in Latin America as well as all around the world,
Jose redefined the meaning of ―literacy‖. It means not only that one can read and
write, but also be bilingual at least and computer literate. He himself asked his own
children to be trilingual, that is, he let his daughter study Chinese besides Spanish
and English.
Connected with education, Jose put forward a suggestion that we build a virtuous
cycle, which needs a new approach to education and strategic investment in
technology. He believed that children are learning to learn, not to know. ―Using
powerful ideas in disciplines that give children and teachers a chance to become
genuine co-constructors of knowledge,‖ he said.
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