The Diplomat
The Ibero-American Secretary General, Andrés Allamand, stated yesterday at a meeting of members of the Business Council Alliance for Ibero-America (CEAPI), that Europe and Latin America need each other to defend common values and to take advantage of the “multiple” opportunities that are presented to them.
The head of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), together with the President of CEAPI, Nuria Vilanova, took part in a lunch at the offices of Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, following the meeting of the Board of Directors of the business organisation, attended by company presidents and members of business families from Ibero-America.
Allamand, who took office a year and a half ago, after having been Chile’s foreign minister, set out his vision of relations between Europe and Latin America, pointing out that we are on the threshold of relaunching them, a process in which he noted that the current Spanish Presidency of the EU has played an important role, convening a summit between the two regions after many years.
The Ibero-American Secretary General indicated that this relaunch encompasses geopolitical, strategic, commercial and investment aspects, and highlighted “the multiple opportunities” for investment in an incipient double track: from Europe to Latin America and from Latin America, through the so-called multilatinas, to Europe.
Allamand insisted that Europe and Latin America need each other not only to defend common values in the international arena, but also to take advantage of these opportunities, “in the areas of digitalisation, clean energy and infrastructure, all of which are prone to public-private partnerships”.
According to SEGIB, European financing, technology and investment in Latin America should contribute to shaping ‘an economy in the region that overcomes extractivism and is capable of adding value to natural wealth’.
Andrés Allamand did not shy away from talking about the problems facing Latin America, among them that of governability, derived from the existence of increasingly fragmented national parliaments and governments with difficulties in developing their policies.
He added, as obstacles to facilitating the landing of European investment and business, the existence of high transaction costs and a lack of legal security for foreign companies, not only because of the regulatory frameworks, but also because of the interpretations that are sometimes made of these regulations.
He also urged that, from the European side, greater support should be given to Latin American companies to make it easier for them to find business opportunities.
Finally, he said that a possible EU-Mercosur agreement would allow “access to the energies of the future and to new markets”, and considered economic competition between China and Europe in the region to be “necessary” for Latin America.
For her part, Núria Vilanova described cooperation between countries and companies in the Ibero-American Community as “vital”, as well as the strengthening of links between companies in the region, Europe and the USA. She recalled that she had travelled to New York last week for the 78th UN General Assembly, and agreed with the conclusions reached by the ministers of the region.
Strengthening cooperation between Ibero-American countries,” she said, “is fundamental, and, beyond geopolitical, diplomatic and economic objectives, it is a question of creating projects that improve the lives of citizens. To this end, it is essential that we continue to promote joint work between institutions and entrepreneurs, as we promote at CEAPI. They are two essential actors to achieve the change we want”.
The President of CEAPI stated that “the world of the 21st century, the world of the Fourth Industrial, Technological, Digital and Sustainable Revolution, will not be possible without Latin America, which possesses the strategic raw materials necessary for this change to take place” and pointed out that institutions such as the SEGIB will be key “to promote collaboration between Spain, Portugal and Latin America, and turn the region into the power that it should be”.
Finally, she recalled that the VII CEAPI Ibero-American Congress for Presidents of Companies and Business Families will be held from 17 to 19 June 2024 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, and will be attended by 500 presidents of the main multi-american companies with investments on both sides of the Atlantic.
