Page 84 - STRATEGY Magazine
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   January 9, 2014, México City, Mexico. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto (R), Minister of Finance Luis Videgaray (L), and the President of the Board of the Permanent Commission of the Congress Ricardo Anaya (2nd from L) take part in the signing of financial reforms at the Los Pinos presidential residence.
plagued the nation’s public schools for a century.
Despite reforms, Mexico continues to perform last among OECD countries in educational attainment, with a score of 33.7; that compares to, for example, 46.4 for Brazil, 61.4 for Chile, and 89.6 for the United States. Assessment scores in reading, mathematics, and science have improved since 2000
but have essentially flatlined since reforms were put in place.
THE POLITICS OF POWER
“The refreshing thing about the 2013–2014 energy reform,” offers Guillermo I. García Alcocer, the Chairman of Mexico’s Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), “was that Congress established opportunities for us to have the best internation- al practices on the table.” He cites both positive and negative examples of practical implementation from which the nation
learned—the difficulties that some Central Asian countries experienced, as well as the “remarkable cases,” like Norway.
Peña Nieto’s energy reforms have driven a number of land- mark changes in the sector. By allowing private and foreign investment in Mexico’s gas and oil industries, the reforms brought a historic end to the 75-year state monopoly, while private companies may now generate and distribute electricity.
Opinions vary among experts as to whether energy reforms have delivered as promised. One area of contention is transpar- ency, an ongoing thorn in the side of the Mexican government. A publisher in the energy industry, a government regulator, and a private-sector executive each see different sides of the issue. David Shields, Managing Partner and General Director of the publication Energía a Debate, believes the reform was generally well done, but “they might have been able to rethink
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