We are Number One in Latin America and the Caribbean in The Global Innovation Index, published by the UN World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and others; first in the Caribbean in The Global Tourism Competitiveness Report, published by the World Economic Forum; and second only to Panama in the Caribbean and Central America in The Global Competitiveness Report, published by the same body.
He worked at the IMF in Washington and Jakarta; he spent around 10 years at the German Ministry of Finance, working on preparations for monetary union; he then moved to the European Commission where he was Director General for Economic and Financial Affairs from 2001 to 2008. He is thus perfectly suited to address the issue of how we overcome the euro area crisis.