Roberto Salas: What we seek is to have an impact from next year

Roberto Salas was the presidential advisor on investment issues until the afternoon of November 23. President Guillermo Lasso appointed him, late at night, Technical Secretary of Public Private Partnerships (APP) and Delegated Management. In an interview with this newspaper positively evaluates the results of the Ecuador Open for Business. Sheds light on which projects could be completed for private investment. The participation of interested parties and of banking and investment funds stands out. And he emphasizes that investment is a great generator of employment and economic growth.

What is your evaluation of the Ecuador Open for Business?

It was a successful convocation. We had about 700 face-to-face people, of these 450 international, representing 56 countries. All of them with a level of participation and an optimal level of decision. We also had 2,000 people in virtual mode. Regarding the result of investments, among the amount of investment intentions we had about $ 3,300 million. This amount is beyond others that are yet to be finalized. More than 500 meetings were held in the business roundtable between ministries and companies. This is a starting point. Now we will continue to improve the portfolio. This should be updated.

You said that the portfolio is dynamic and you were surprised that although it was not in it, the Campo Amistad tender was announced, what motivated you?

The projects that were incorporated have an information base that could already be considered in this type of portfolio. Those who were not in the portfolio joined with the intention of generating enthusiasm in these new initiatives.

Another announcement that was made was the creation of the Secretariat for Public-Private Alliance and Delegated Management, what is the situation, has it already started to function?

This was news quite well received by connoisseurs of this type of project. This is obviously part of the best international practices, that is, to have a unit with sufficient technical and managerial capacities to carry out the projects. This announcement must be complemented with the appointment of the technical secretary that must be given in the next few days and from there the execution process begins.

But that position is yours, right?

That depends on the president, it will be known when it is formalized and confirmed with the appointment. As an advisor to the president in these three and a half months we have focused on three topics: being an interlocutor with investors, locating and identifying the best practices with this type of investments, and within them was the creation of this entity so that it can execute with a technical scheme all these projects. The third point was to establish support to structure this meeting of investors and give them an ordering and prioritization of the projects. Then a follow-up on its execution should be done (Indeed, his appointment was given with an executive decree on the night of November 23).

Are the Secretariat thinking it light or robust, which would go against the issue of shrinking the State?

The Government has decided to go towards a fiscal balance and establish an important discipline to reduce what is not prioritized, but also to incorporate the competencies to achieve objectives such as increasing foreign investment and with it contribute to increasing the employment rate and the economy growing. There is a criterion of having a small staff, between 30 or 35 people, with many capacities to build a base to carry out the execution, follow up on them and help generate capacities throughout the public sector to structure robust projects. Currently, financing exists worldwide, but what is scarce are technically structured and financially viable projects. It will look for people in the State itself, but if profiles that do not exist must be covered, then they will be new.

Of the projects that are in the portfolio, many such as Sacha, the refineries, Termomachala were already being promoted in the previous government, did you analyze them and make any extra contribution or are they the same initiatives?

This Government is updating a series of projects that include what has been done and what is new. In the new, for example, exploration issues, intrafields, mining, also the health case in which there is $ 1 billion in new initiatives. Of those that had already been established, several had not been able to materialize but now, when they are finalized, they will generate results sooner. A new project takes between a year and a half and two years. What we are looking for is to have an impact from next year.

What projects, then, do you think will come out sooner in the following months?

In Energy there are the projects that are better prepared, those that are already coming out, especially in renewable energy issues such as the combined cycle or the transmission line.

How is Sopladora progressing?

In Sopladora there is interest from many top-level players, from many countries. This has been in a fairly solid structuring process and this gives investors confidence. So there is a broad base of competition. It will surely take place next year.

The investment summit also generated meetings between private parties, do you have data on this?

Through the Lexconect tool, 4,000 contacts were generated, which supports private initiatives to be promoted among the participants. The Minister of Production expressed when the mining contracts were signed that the investment contracts that are being signed this year represent a very important increase.

How did you see the role of the financing sector in the event?

We purposely knew that in order to summon investors it was not only important to have the interested parties, but to show them that they can finance, in better conditions than before April 11 of this year. In addition to the dramatic reduction in country risk, the significant increase in monetary reserves, which have doubled, having returned to international arbitration bodies, having the ability to finance is as important as the project itself. In this sense, the willingness of multilateral banks to increase financing allocations for well-structured private impact projects was important. There were also representatives from a dozen international private banking and investment fund entities, such as Goldman Sachs, Citibank, US DFC and other banks and funds. The US Infrastructure Program: Build Back Better World (B3W) also represents an opportunity. (I)