The Diplomat
Two Deputy Prime Ministers and three Ministers, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, will participate next week in the Spain Investors Day (SID) economic forum, whose agenda has been substantially modified due to the pandemic and in which the presence of the King has yet to be confirmed.
The event, which will bring together 46 major listed Spanish companies (record attendance) and more than 200 international investors, will be opened on 13 January by the Ministers of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, and Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá. The Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, and the Secretary of State for Trade and President of ICEX, Xiana Méndez, will also speak at the event.
The Fourth Vice-president and Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, and the Third Vice-president and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, will also participate in the SID, and will each give a talk to explain the Government’s plans for this year to international investors. The Government will be represented at the closing ceremony by Arancha González Laya, who will be accompanied by the Governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Cos, and the President of the CNMV, Rodrigo Buenaventura.
According to SID sources, the presence of King Philip VI, chairman of the forum’s Committee of Honour, has yet to be confirmed. In addition, the venue for the event, initially planned to be the Palacio de la Bolsa in Madrid, will finally be the Cecilio Rodríguez Garden Pavilion in Madrid’s Retiro Park, for security reasons related to the COVID-19. For the same reason, the usual lunch and dinner at this forum has been suspended.
According to the organisers, “the fall of the Spanish stock market last year, the drop in international investment in Spain and the new situation created by the health crisis make it more necessary than ever to explain the strengths of our companies and the Government’s action plans”. For the time being, 46 Spanish listed companies have already confirmed their presence – mostly from the Ibex-35 – representing all the activity sectors in our country, compared to 40 the previous year.
“The celebration of this 11th edition at the beginning of the year is a good opportunity for the companies to tell about their situation and their projects”, declared Benito Berceruelo, president of the SID. “It is more necessary than ever to explain with transparency and debate public policies on economic and budgetary matters, so that Spain can generate confidence in the eyes of the international investment community”, he continued. “More than 50% of the capital of listed Spanish companies is in the hands of international investors, we need to earn their trust and defend the reputation and image of our companies”, he concluded.
