The CEOE accompanies the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, on his trip to Colombia and Ecuador

The Vice-President of the CEOE and President of the Institute of Economic Studies-IEE, Íñigo Fernández de Mesa, and the Director General of CEOE International and Permanent Secretary of CEIB, Narciso Casado, will travel from to Colombia and Ecuador 23 to 27 August, accompanying the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, on his official visit to both countries.

The schedule of activities includes business meetings in both Bogota and Quito, as part of the tripartite agreement between the Secretary of State for Trade, through ICEX, the CEOE and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce.

Colombia: a country of opportunities

The visit to Colombia will begin on the 24th with a business meeting in Bogota, coordinated by the CEOE, ANDI, ProColombia and the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, to assess the state of bilateral relations with Spain, to present success stories of companies from both countries, and to highlight the importance of promoting responsible investment in the region.

The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez; the Minister of Finance and Public Credit, José Antonio Ocampo; the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism of Spain, Reyes Maroto; the Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism of the Government of Colombia, Germán Umaña Mendoza; the Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez; the Vice-President of the CEOE, Íñigo Fernández de Mesa; the President of the Colombian National Employers’ Association-ANDI, Bruce Mac Master; his counterpart from the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, Nicolás Uribe; and the most senior representatives of companies from both countries, among others.

The business meeting will be followed by a colloquium between the entrepreneurs and the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and a round table with representatives of various Colombian ministries to set out priorities and sectors offering opportunities for Spanish companies in the areas of infrastructure, information and communication technologies, tourism, energy and the environment.

During their visit to Bogota, Fernández de Mesa and Casado will also hold meetings with the President of ANDI, Bruce Mac Máster, and his team, to follow up on the matters discussed at the Director General of CEOE International’s recent visit to Colombia to participate in ProColombia’s 30th Anniversary.

The aim is to assess the Open Innovation Forum held at the CEOE, to discuss the 5th Ibero-American Forum of MSMEs, to be held in October in Lisbon, and to continue organising the 14th Ibero-American Business Meeting, as part of the Heads of State and Government Summit, which will take place in 2023 in the Dominican Republic.

The purpose is also to be able to follow up on the Spain-Colombia Business Council, which was created a few months ago, and of which Íñigo Fernández de Mesa is Co-president for Spanish side and Sylvia Escovar, for Colombia.

Bilateral relations

Spain has become an important trading partner of Colombia. Spain’s exports to the Colombian market were worth 1.1018 billion euros in 2021, 48.1% higher than the previous year, positioning Spain 9th for Colombian imports (2.2% of the total); while, in the chapter on Spanish imports, Spain’s imports from Colombia were worth 610 million euros in 2021, 29.4% more than in 2020, ranking it as the 13th destination country for Colombian exports.

According to the provisional data for 2022 (January-April), the Spanish export figures to Colombia were 471 million euros, 50.6% higher than in the same period in 2021 (313 million euros). This good relationship is also reflected in trade in services, where tourism from Colombia is notable. 

As regards investment, bilateral relations are stable, but over the last two years they have been characterised by reduced flows between the two countries due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, Spain remained the leading European investor with €150.3 million in gross investment flows, almost 50% lower than in 2020 (€258.2 million), and 72% lower than in 2019 (€544.9 million); resulting in an investment position of a stock of €5.8634 billion in 2019 (latest available data). In the first quarter of 2022 Spain had gross investment flows of €113 million, 391% higher than in the same period in 2021 (€23 million) and 76% more than in the first quarter of 2020 (€64 million).

Ecuador

As part of the official visit to Ecuador by the Spanish Prime Minister, a major Spain-Ecuador Business Meeting will be held on the 25th; it will be coordinated by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Secretary of State for Trade, through ICEX and the CEOE, and will bring together businessmen from both countries, business institutions and representatives of both governments.

The conference is an excellent opportunity for Spanish companies to learn first-hand about the priorities of the Ecuadorian Government, as well as the sectors offering opportunities and projects that will be implemented in the country.

The Prime Minister will be accompanied by the Spanish Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, and the Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez; the Director General of CEOE International and Permanent Secretary of CEIB, Narciso Casado, and a large delegation of Spanish companies with interests in the Latin American country.

Also participating in the business meeting for Ecuador will be the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso; the Minister of Trade, Investment, Production and Fisheries, Julio José Prado; and the heads of the country’s leading companies.

During his visit to Quito, Narciso Casado will hold meetings, as he will in Colombia, with the most senior representatives of our counterpart organisation, the Chamber of Industry and Production-CIP, with whom he will assess the preparatory work for the Ibero-American Business Meeting, as part of the Heads of State and Government Summit next year.

Bilateral relations

Ecuador is a market that shows great potential for Spanish business interests, with which there are currently warm and fluid political relations. Both countries also collaborate in international and regional forums such as the Ibero-American Summits.

Regarding trade, according to the Secretary of State for Trade, in 2021 Spanish exports to Ecuador were worth 497 million euros, 32.5% more than the previous year. The most exported items were: machinery and mechanical appliances (€289.62 M); pharmaceutical products (€153.28 M); paper, cardboard and its manufactures (€102.55 M). On the other hand, Spanish imports increased 22.1%, to 637.7 million euros, with the largest items being: fruit, nuts and preserves (973.94 million euros); fish and shellfish (689.77 million euros); canned meat or fish (556.14 million euros); which resulted in a coverage rate of 77.94%.

All of this made Spain Ecuador’s ninth-largest supplier and seventh-largest customer in the world in 2021, according to the IMF. Between January and May 2022, Spanish exports were worth €204.21 M and total imports were €312.06 M, and currently shows a positive trade balance for Ecuador of about €107.85 M. As of May 2022, Spain ranked as the 14th-largest supplier and the 7th-largest customer in the world.

In terms of investment, in 2021, there were 19,520 Spanish exporting companies, almost the same as in 2020 (19,547). However, in 2021, 5,189 regular exporters were recorded, 38.9% more than the previous year (3,735).​​​​​​​