The Diplomat
Angola was yesterday the guest country on the second day of IMEX-Madrid 2022, the main international business fair held in Spain, at the official opening of which the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, said that companies are the “best ambassadors of Madrid abroad”.
The XX edition of IMEX (Impulso Exterior) Madrid 2022 was officially inaugurated yesterday in the Crystal Gallery of the Palacio de Cibeles. Framed in the Internationalization Week, which began this Monday, the fair is held in face-to-face format in different venues, among which is the City Council of the capital, a partner of the event.
Accompanied by the deputy mayor, Begoña Villacís, and the delegate of Economy, Innovation and Employment, Miguel Ángel Redondo, the mayor showed the willingness of the City Council to collaborate in the process of internationalization of companies so that “they can grow or face this economic crisis”, as well as in its digital transformation, a path that, he said, is being done “hand in hand with the Chamber of Commerce of Madrid”.
For his part, the Minister of Economy, Finance and Employment of the Community of Madrid, Javier Fernández-Lasquetty, announced that the number of Madrid companies that carried out export activities of goods and services abroad increased by 7% in 2021, reaching a total of 85. 103, and assured that the One-Stop Internationalization Window (VUI) – a tool created in 2019 by the autonomous Executive in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce to inform, advise and promote the Madrid business fabric in international markets – has benefited nearly 14,500 companies and self-employed workers.
Angola
With this fair, organized by the magazine Moneda Única and with the participation of administrations, financial institutions and companies that, directly or indirectly, participate in foreign business, Madrid becomes until next Friday, April 22, the meeting point for Spanish SMEs that want to internationalize their businesses and expand into foreign markets.
The fair includes a major event focused on the business connection between Spain and the African continent through Impulso Africa. Both the inauguration and the first debates were attended by representatives of different institutions and private companies, as well as the Angolan Minister of Industry and Tourism, Victor Francisco Dos Santos Fernandez, and delegations from Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Gambia and Mozambique, among other African countries. In addition, yesterday a round table was held on opportunities for the growth of Spanish companies in Africa, identified by countries and sectors, and on various aspects related to the continent, such as the role of Casa África as an instrument of Spanish public diplomacy, investments in Morocco after the pandemic or business opportunities in Gambia.
Yesterday’s day was especially dedicated to Angola, one of the special guests and whose large delegation, headed by the minister, is made up of members of the government and a hundred businessmen from different sectors, such as industry, trade, agriculture, tourism, construction, oil and gas, technology and other areas. According to IMEX, Angola is a partner of Spain, whose “bilateral strategic relations were reinforced and strengthened, in 2021, with the signing of agreements at the highest level and reciprocal visits of the heads of both governments.”
For that reason, two members of the official Angolan delegation gave a lecture yesterday, entitled Angola, a reliable partner for Spain. Investment, economic and business growth, in which they presented the reforms implemented to improve the business environment and the priorities set by the Government to boost and diversify the economy and to make the country an important destination for foreign direct investment. On the other hand, the Mayor of Madrid himself took a few minutes to visit the Angolan stand at IMEX.
