The Diplomat in Spain

Meeting of the Board./ Photo: www.innovaspain.com

The Diplomat. 22/07/2018

The founding Board of the Spain-Peru Council Foundation (FCEP) held its first meeting last week at the BBVA headquarters in Madrid, in which the four founding companies, BBVA, Mapfre, Repsol and Telefónica, and the general secretary of the Foundation, Ambassador Jaime Lacadena, representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The meeting of the Board, held on July 13, served to mark the first lines of work of the Foundation, which include the official presentation of the Council Foundation in Spain, the organization of meetings and dialogues between Spain and Peru, the permanent institutional activity and the implementation of the bilateral communication and knowledge platform.

Also, during the meeting the internal functioning and the granting of powers were established. Specifically, José Manuel González-Páramo, executive director of BBVA, was appointed as president; Maribel de Luis, Director of Institutional Relations at Repsol, as vice president; and Berta Fuertes as director.

The objectives of the Council Foundation were also outlined, focusing on the rapprochement and greater knowledge among the civil societies of both countries in priority sectors such as education, culture, economy and business or science and technology.

[hr style=»single»]

The meeting was attended by the four founding companies, BBVA, Mapfre, Repsol and Telefónica

[hr style=»single»]

The Spain-Peru Council Foundation project, a non-profit private institution promoted by the Government to promote bilateral relations, was launched in 2016, but its official presentation  took place last June at the Residence of the Spanish Embassy in Lima, in the presence of the ambassador, Ernesto de Zulueta Habsburgo-Lorraine.

The model of the new Spain-Peru Council Foundation is similar to that of the Foundations that Spain already has in Latin America with Colombia and Brazil. In addition, Spain has foundations with the United States, Japan, China, India and Australia. The process for the creation of the Spain-Argentina Council Foundation «goes more slowly» but it is already practically completed, according to reliable sources to The Diplomat.

Relations between Spain and Peru have intensified in recent years and the Ibero-American country has become a desirable destination for Spanish companies, not only large ones, but also those of a smaller size. According to the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, in Peru there are more than 400 Spanish companies operating and, the ICEX data indicate that the number of companies that export to Peru has more than doubled since 2009.