The Diplomat
The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, guaranteed yesterday in a meeting with businessmen partners of the Alliance for Ibero-America Business Council (CEAPI), the security and legal stability of his country in order to attract investments.
Shortly before ending his visit to Spain where his country was the guest at the International Tourism Fair (Fitur), Noboa met with the Ceapi partners, led by its president, Núria Vilanova, to discuss with them the possibilities and investment projects in the Ecuadorian country.
Accompanying the president were the ministers of Production, Environment and Tourism of Ecuador.
Noboa, whose country is going through a serious crisis due to the actions of criminal gangs, pointed out that it was necessary to establish legal security in Ecuador. “We needed a strict framework and that is provided by a stable government. You have to know how to navigate the circumstances,” he said.
Furthermore, “we started with a new law in the world, in a tax reform based on the youth tax deduction,” stressed the Ecuadorian president, adding that in the country there is a youth employability rate of 35 percent. “Therein lies the problem because 38 of the population is young. This is not how we are going to solve the violence,” he emphasized.
Regarding the crisis of violence that Ecuador is experiencing, he explained: “We have reduced violent deaths from 38 a day to six, we have given Ecuador a reason to fight, and the reason is freedom. Now all those kids who voted for me feel that they are going to have progress.”
For her part, Núria Vilanova addressed Noboa, pointing out: “You already have large Spanish companies that have been believing and betting on the country for some time. After this meeting I am sure that we will have many more Ibero-American companies interested in Ecuador. Ecuador is going to host the Ibero-American summit. It’s very important. It is the perfect time for companies to decide to have faith in you, president, and in Ecuador.”
Vilanova stated that Daniel Noboa is “the president of young people, who stands up to violence and, also, who believes in companies.”
Two months after his inauguration on November 23, yesterday was Noboa’s second meeting with the Ceapi partners, since at the beginning of November and still as president-elect he met with them in Madrid. Yesterday, he reviewed his first decisions as the country’s top leader, especially in economic matters and in the face of a serious national security crisis, and explained his next measures and projects.
More than one hundred partners participated in the meeting that included the collaboration of UNIR – Universidad Internacional de La Rioja and Cox Abengoa.
During the business meeting, the president of CEAPI announced the celebration of the VII Ibero-American CEAPI Congress for Presidents of Companies and Business Families, which will be held from June 17 to 19, 2024 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. An event, under the title Believe, Grow, Create. Ibero-America faces the challenge of growth and productivity, which moves to Latin American territory for the second time, after the event in the Dominican Republic in 2022, and in which 500 presidents of the main multi-Bero-American companies with investments on both sides of the Atlantic will participate.
“The motto we have selected this year is because we are faced with the great challenge of the region, which is to generate sufficient growth to meet expectations and the need to create jobs and wealth. Our objective is to contribute to growth and productivity in a year in which GDP expectations are somewhat low and to offer the opportunities that Latin America needs,” Vilanova reported.
