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 Business News | March 2006 
Slim Says He Can Work With Leftist
 Alistair Bell - Reuters
| | Mexican tycoon, Carlos Slim, the 3rd richest man in the world according to Forbes, listens to a question during the Reuters Summit in Mexico City March 24, 2006. (Reuters/Andrew Winning) |
Mexico City - Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim, the world's third-richest man, said on Friday he could work with the leftist favoured to win the presidential election in July but feared by some business leaders.
Slim told Reuters he would keep investing in Mexico even if the winner of the July 2 election was left-wing former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who many believe would be a free-spending populist.
"I think I can work with any of them," Slim said at the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit in Mexico City. "We are going to continue investing, whoever wins. We think long term, not just four or six years. We believe the country is strong, like almost all the countries in Latin America."
Lopez Obrador, who has led opinion polls for three years, worked closely with Slim companies on building projects to revitalise the Spanish colonial centre of the capital when he was mayor.
Slim's telecommunications, construction and retail empire makes up about 40 percent of the Mexican stock exchange. His political opinions are closely watched and he has criticised President Vicente Fox's conservative government for failing to ignite economic growth.
Slim wants to expand his construction business throughout Latin America, despite a swing to the left in recent years.
He said he could work with governments of any political hue as long as they were not radical and ran dynamic economies.
"They could be efficient people from the left or the right who understand the world, who have a vision of the world, a vision of the future. It makes no difference to me," he said.
He named Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, both moderate leftists, as examples of good leaders in the region.
The magnate, owner of the America Movil and Telmex phone companies, was named this month by Forbes magazine as the world's third-wealthiest man with a fortune of $30 billion (17 billion pounds).
Slim complained that U.S.-backed free market policies had failed to create strong economic growth in Latin America, although many countries have slain the dragon of high inflation that plagued the region for years.
"Stability is not enough. Opening up to trade is not enough. Privatisation is not enough," he said, calling for a mix of private and public investment to kick start economies.
Lopez Obrador, of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, says private companies would play a key role in big projects he has promised to launch if he wins office, like a bullet train from Mexico City to the U.S. border.
His main rivals, Felipe Calderon of Fox's National Action Party and Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, are seen by many in Mexico as more business friendly. |
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