Vicente Fox – Keynote Speaker

Vicente Fox is a Mexican businessman who was President of Mexico from 2000-06 under the National Action Party (PAN). He is also the Co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, an international organisation of Christian democratic political parties.

When elected to the presidency of Mexico in 2000, Vicente Fox broke the stranglehold that the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party had held on the State for seven decades. A charismatic reformer, President Fox is credited with playing a vital role in Mexico’s democratisation, and with strengthening the country’s economy. During his tenure, he succeeded in controlling inflation and interest rates, and in achieving the lowest unemployment rate in all of Latin America.

In his book, Revolution of Hope, Fox outlines a new vision of hope for the future of the Americas. He speaks out forcefully on hot global topics like immigration, the war in Iraq, racism, globalisation, the role of the United Nations, free trade, religion, gender equity, indigenous rights and the moral imperative to health global divide between rich and poor nations. From the man who brought true democracy to Mexico, Revolution of Hope is a personal story of triumph and a political vision for the future.

The second of nine children, Fox spent much of his childhood on his father’s ranch in Guanajuato. After studying at the Ibero-American University in Mexico City and taking courses administered by the Harvard University Business School, he joined the working world and began driving a truck for the Coca-Cola Company in 1964. He was quickly promoted, and soon became the youngest executive to ever be appointed president of Coca-Cola for Mexico and Latin America. Under Fox, Coca-Cola surpassed Pepsi as Mexico’s top-selling soft drink.

Since leaving office in December 2006, Fox has kept in the public eye by speaking in countries such as Nigeria, Ireland, Canada and the United States about topics such as the controversial 2006 election and the Iraq War. In Mexico, Fox’s busy post-presidency caused much criticism because former Mexican presidents have been expected to stay out of the political spotlight. Nevertheless, Fox stated “There is no reason to hold to the anti-democratic rules of those who still live in the authoritarian past…now that Mexico is a democracy, every citizen has the right to express himself, even a former president.”