Celebrating more and better Ibero-America

Hand in hand with the three Ibero-American secretaries, Enrique V. Iglesias, Rebeca Grynspan and Andrés Allamand, and recalling some of their reflections, CEIB and its business organisations, all of which are members of the International Organisation of Employers, IOE and along with the representatives of the Ibero-American Federation of Young Entrepreneurs, FIJE celebrate today, 19 July, the Ibero-America Day. 

Over the past 30 years, thanks to the leadership of the SEGIB Secretaries General and the public and private institutions working for the region, Ibero-America has evolved from a Conference to a become a Community. Today, we Ibero-Americans share values, culture and history, but also challenges, forms of action and, above all, a common future, said Andrés Allamand recently.

“Being Ibero-American is a feeling,” acknowledged Rebeca Grynspan, shortly before leaving her post and “one cannot say goodbye to what one is” and concluded with a phrase we can always remember with feeling and pride: the spontaneous magic of Ibero-America.

“Building economic and social cooperation on the basis of a shared culture and shared languages is an enormous privilege that Ibero-America enjoys,” said the first Ibero-American Secretary General, Enrique V. Iglesias. ”The first thing is to be aware of the world we have to navigate. It is in this awareness that integration becomes very important: Latin America needs to be united. It’ll be much better to sail in convoy than to sail alone,” a phrase that is certainly very topical.

“Ibero-America is a bottom-up construction that would be unthinkable without its people. It is the fruit of affections, migrations, affinities, and exchanges among people on both sides of the Atlantic.” 
“a colourful, often traumatic and at other times wonderful, varied and dynamic experience,” recalled Grynspan.

Our Region is, like no other, a Community of values, history, culture, “a recognisable identity based on rich diversity. A solid reality that encompasses Latin America with the Iberian Peninsula. What does it represent? Opportunities, progress and future. “, the Secretary General of SEGIB, Andrés Allamand, said recently. Our commitment to the future, in the motto that unites us and identifies the institutions who, like SEGIB, FIJE and CEIB, work hard to put our Region where it deserves to be: MORE AND BETTER IBERO-AMERICA, to which we now add: FAIRER AND MORE PROSPEROUS AND SUSTAINABLE.

And a commitment that Andrés Allamand explains perfectly: “To revitalise the elements that unite us and that characterise us to use them to move forward with implementing coordinated solutions to new challenges.”

In Ibero-America we have the best tool for integration in existence: the Heads of State and Government Summits and the business meetings preceding them are the embodiment of the business reality of a Region that knows how to unite and create and recreate the future. We celebrate this great day absorbed in preparing the 14th Ibero-American Business Meeting, which is due to be held at the end of March, 2023. We also celebrate the Ibero-American companies’ commitment to their countries, societies, and to an identity that defines and unites us. Being Ibero-American.

19 July: Ibero-American Day

In November 2019, the foreign ministers of the 22 countries in the region approved the celebration of Ibero-America Day on 19 July, the date on which the first declaration by the region’s heads of state was signed in Guadalajara (Mexico) in 1991, and to make Ibero-America’s historical and cultural affinities an instrument of unity and development based on dialogue, cooperation and solidarity.

Happy Ibero-American Day! Let’s continue with that commitment to make ourselves felt and heard as a Community in the world.