Dilma Rousseff, the President of Brazil, said Brazil is eager and ready to welcome investment from all over the world, as the country continues to bring millions out of poverty and into the middle class. “Brazil needs and wants a partnership with private investment,” Rousseff said. “We have always welcomed foreign investment and taken measures to further improve the environment for it.”  

Prime Minister of Australia, and Chair of the G20 Tony Abbott told participants that the G20 will focus on boosting global trade and tackling protectionism, strengthening tax systems to ensure fairness, finding ways to increase infrastructure investment, and refining financial regulations. “Trade comes first,” Abbott said. “Every time one person freely trades with another, wealth increases. At the very least, the G20 should renew its resolve to undo any protectionist measures put in place since the crisis.” 

Japan is about to break free from chronic deflation and is getting back on track on fiscal consolidation, Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, told participants. The world’s third-largest economy has engineered a dramatic turnaround from negative GDP growth in 2012 to positive expansion in the first three quarters of 2013. “It is not twilight but a new dawn that is breaking over Japan,” Abe declared. “I am willing to act like a drill bit strong enough to break vested interests. Over the next two years, no vested interests will remain immune from my drill.” 

To drive sustainable growth and improve economic resilience, countries must focus on promoting creativity and innovation, on finding ways to expand job opportunities for young people and promoting inclusion, two presidents told participants in a plenary session on Reshaping the World through Entrepreneurship, Education and Employment. “The future will be defined by a creative divide,” Park Geun-hye, the President of the Republic of Korea, warned. “Creativity does not degrade the environment; it unlocks opportunities for sustainable growth. It is inherent to all people and therefore holds promise for inclusive growth.”

Mexico is poised for a significant transformation, thanks to a host of constitutional reforms passed in 2013, said President Enrique Peña Nieto. “Democracy has given us the necessary tool to move,” Peña Nieto said. He was alluding to the Pact for Mexico, an agreement between the three leading political parties to approve a wide-ranging package of reforms to labour laws, education and strategic economic sectors, such as oil and gas.  

Said Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia, in her remarks: “One has to build resilience when there is fragility in the economy. That resilience does not come from growth alone. A key element is capacity.”