The Diplomat
The Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, last Thiursday, encouraged Ibero-American companies to redouble their commitment to Spain with investments.
Hereu spoke at the dinner that closed the Annual Assembly of members of the Alliance for Ibero-America Business Council (CEAPI), together with its president, Núria Vilanova.
In his words, the minister pointed out that Spain is in a good moment for different projects to move forward, which is why he urged Ibero-American businessmen to make more investments in our country. “Spain – he said – currently offers great opportunities for foreign investment,” and recalled that the final budget for industrial policy managed by his department in 2023 exceeded 8.5 billion euros, four times more than in 2018.
Herueu stressed that one of the main instruments that the Government is implementing are the PERTEs which, in the case of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, will represent an injection of 8,000 million. And, with them, it is expected to mobilize more than 24,000 million euros which, in addition to maintaining industrial employment, will mean the creation of around 10,000 additional jobs.
For her part, Núria Vilanova stated that “this is going to be a crucial year to carry out an increase in investment in and from Ibero-America.” “An investment tsunami is coming due to four factors: the first is knowledge. Investors started with the real state market but are now looking for industrial or service investments; The second is the contagion effect, each investment generates new investments. There is also the fact that investing in Spain is investing in the world. From here companies expand to other markets or even return to their country of origin. Finally, we must not miss the fact that a phenomenon that has been incubating for fifteen years is about to explode, and that is that the children of the elites, who are being trained in Spain and know the country, are going to lead the third wave of investment.”, she said.
Precisely, this will be one of the key topics 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 that, under the title Believe, Grow, Create. Ibero-America, faced with the challenge of growth and productivity, is moving 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-Ibero-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, wealth and sustained development. 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,” explained Vilanova.
More than 2,600 businessmen, in CEAPI activities
Among the great milestones achieved in 2023, Núria Vilanova highlighted “the participation of more than 2,600 business leaders in the 76 meetings organized by the association this year. Our partners are entrepreneurs who make up a very relevant part of the identity of the Ibero-American business space and the region would no longer be understood without them.”
Furthermore, he pointed out the importance of CEAPI’s activities having continued to spread throughout all the countries of Ibero-America: “This year we have worked from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, the United States, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and, of course, Spain. And we have met with the presidents of Ecuador, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, Belize and Uruguay,” she said.
The association has also consolidated its position as a think tank, with the launch of four studies and the preparation of another four new ones by 2024, with the aim of defining, from the voice of the business world, what are the keys to the success of Ibero-America at a social and business level. Likewise, it has reinforced its role as a link between the business world and art, sustainability, women and young people, through workshops, meetings, debate tables and visits to cultural spaces.
