James Costos during the informative breakfast./ Picture: New Economy Forum.
Julio García. Madrid.
Relations between Spain and the USA are good and close both in the commercial field and in collaboration as regards security and defence under the NATO’s umbrella. However, the North American Government is concerned about the phenomenon of the Net’s piracy in Spain, a matter yet to be solved.
The ambassador of the USA, James Costos, has pointed out, during an informative breakfast organized by the New Economy Forum, the benefits of having a Law on Copyright sentencing those who commit crimes when downloading illegal materials. At the moment, the Spanish Parliament is working on new legislation related to this matter.
In the meantime, the diplomatic legacy in Spain has considered appropriate for the Government of Mariano Rajoy to set campaigns in motion in order to raise awareness so that the citizens carrying out these practices understand the crime they are committing. Besides, they have said that some initiatives “have been effective” in the USA to fight this phenomenon.
Costos, who knows the sector well after his experience as vice-presidency of the North American television channel HBO, has underlined that those really damaged by the Net’s piracy are “technicians, hairdressers, make-up artists”, with salaries lower than the ones actors and directors have. He highlighted that in Spain the cultural industry means 4% of the GDP and that there are thousands of professionals with great talent that could benefit from a good regulation of the intellectual property.
35,000 North Americans will arrive in Rota soon
On the other hand, Costos has assured that the Spanish economy has improved since he arrived in Spain nine months ago and that the reforms started by the Spanish Government have made possible for the economy to grow and for the employment levels to rise.
However, the North American diplomat has expressed his concern about the high level of youth unemployment in Spain and he has announced that “we want to invest in the next generation of this country”. “If Spain is strong, the USA is strong and the EU is strong”, he stated.
Afterwards, Costos commented that 35,000 people from the North American Army will soon move to Rota (Cadiz), which will favour the economic movement of this area of Andalusia. In this sense, he has recalled the agreement signed with the naval company Navantia to develop the maintenance of the two destroyers from his country’s Army.
If the HBO finally decides to film episodes of the next season of “Game of thrones” in Spain, more employment could be created. For the moment, they are looking for locations and, according to Costos, this country offers good places and professionals for this project to move forward.
