General, Welcome - Friday, March 7, 2008 9:48 - 0 Comments

Live Blogging - Georgetown University Welcome by John J. DeGioia and Address by Former President José María Aznar

9:49- José María Aznar is already in the room. Camera flashes welcome him and John J. DeGioia.

9:52- DeGioia, President Georgetown University, Welcome Speech.

9: 55 - DeGioia: “60% of the worldwide income depends on only 6%”.

9: 58 - “Debate Panels: International Relations, Security Risks, Global Finance, International Law, Interreligious and Intercultural, Global Health”.

10:00 - “Spain: the place that meets Africa, Europe and America, with Judaism, Islam and Christianity”.

10:00 - Introduces José María Aznar.

10:01 - José María Aznar starts his speech.

10:01 - “Today is a very special day”.

10:03 - “Economic pessimism is growing fast in Europe”.

10:06 - “Even though the States is having, as we all know, an economic crisis, it is still a very important world motor”.

10:09 - “Spain also has great growth”.

10:10 - “Latin American is growing 4 and 5%: because of raw material”.

10:12 - “Spain has an important deficit and external debt”.

10:13 - “Financial entities go to the people and not the people to the financial entities: that means future problems”.

10:16 - “Asia keeps growing and Europe might too, if they change their way, if they use their economic power.”

10:17 - “In 30 years Spain changed from being a 4,000 USD dollars per capita country to a 30,000 dollars USD per capita nation.”

10:19 - “Spain has 300,000 more unemployed people than 4 years ago”.

10:20 - “Spain is about to suffer an unknown economic crisis”.

10:21 - “What Europe needs the most: economic freedom, less public expenditures, among others.”

10:23 - “Spain needs a new educational system, with more respect for teachers. We need to keep our best people here; now they are still going to United States to complete their studies.”

10:25 - “Some people say that the world is poorer because of the global economy. I say it is not like that; it’s the other way around.”

10:29 - (A baby cries) “That’s a girl, that’s Rajoy’s girl!” (laughs and applause)

10:33 - “Africa is the poorest continent, a consequence of globalization, some people say, and of multinational companies. Is it really like that?”

10:36 - “Bilateral agreements could be an answer, like NAFTA and those with Chile, Peru and Panamá, for example.”

10: 37 - “I do not believe statements such as “Globalization is the reason for all the damage in the world’ “.

10: 38 - “I consider myself a European liberal”.

10: 39 - “It is good to have order at home”.

10: 40 - “I believe the facts are with me”.

10: 40 - End of the speech, the audience applauds while he says he is going to look for Rajoy’s girl.