Colombia and Spain strengthen their relations with the creation of a Bilateral Business Council

The Vice-President of the CEOE and President of the Institute of Economic Studies-IEE, Íñigo Fernández de Mesa; the President of ANDI, Bruce Mac Master; the Director General of CEOE International, Narciso Casado; and the President of the Board of Directors of Sanitas, Sylvia Escovar, inaugurated a business meeting held yesterday in Bogota, in the context of the establishment of the Spain-Colombia Business Council, with which the both countries are committed to strengthening their bilateral relations.

The meeting, organised by CEOE and ANDI, and supported by the Spanish Economic and Commercial Office in Colombia, was attended by entrepreneurs from both countries and an agreement was signed to create the Business Council between the two countries, which represents a private cooperation tool which will contribute to the development of business, bilateral trade in goods and services, and reciprocal investment in third markets. During the event, Sylvia Escovar of the Colombian chapter and Íñigo Fernández de Mesa of the Spanish chapter were appointed as Co-Chairs of the bilateral Council, while Narciso Casado and ANDI Executive Vice-President Paola Buendía were appointed as Secretaries.

Following the agreement’s signing, a discussion was held to analyse bilateral trade and investment opportunities, moderated by Paola Buendía; the Spanish Ambassador to the Latin American country, Joaquín de Arístegui, and the President of ProColombia, Flavia Santoro also took part.

Spain-Colombia Business Council

The Vice-President of CEOE, Íñigo Fernández de Mesa, highlighted in his speech the significant boom in economic and commercial relations between the two countries, due to the climate of security, tax incentives and the Colombian government’s good macroeconomic management. “With the creation of the new bilateral Business Council we are launching, we will strengthen our relationship, thanks to this private cooperation tool that will contribute to developing our businesses, to trade in goods and services between both countries, and to reciprocal investment and investment in third markets,” he underlined.

Fernández de Mesa explained that this Council is coordinated by the business organisations. “I think this involvement of ANDI and the CEOE is essential to ensure that it works properly,” he said. The agreement, he said, will help to foster cooperation between the two business organisations; to build strategic synergies between companies and promote productivity; and to contribute to implementing and disseminating the trade treaties signed by the EU-Spain and Colombia. “I think we can do a lot more together, especially when it comes to initiatives that affect both countries (energy, finance, etc.),” he said.

“Colombia and Spain have ambitious goals in terms of both sustainability and trade and investment. That is why we in the Colombian private sector is committed to continue to promote long-term dialogue between the business community and the governments of both countries to develop greater institutional capacity and to promote the social, economic and environmental development of our nations,” said Bruce Mac Master, the President of ANDI.

“We hope the agreement we signed and the creation of our Council will be the beginning of further galvanising our activities and will give us framework to work on specific projects that will benefit the business sector we represent and thereby support the transformation our societies need,” added Mac Master during his speech. In this regard, Mac Master stressed that one of the commitments made was to promote a dynamic interchange of experiences and technologies between Spanish and Colombian businesspeople, which would benefit both ecosystems.

Support tool for Spanish and Colombian companies

The Bilateral Business Council, according to Narciso Casado, Director General of CEOE International and Permanent Secretary of CEIB, has a single aim: to act as a support tool for companies from both countries, interacting with other existing tools, such as embassies, trade offices, ICEX-Invest in Spain and ProColombia. “We’re going to work together, but through the business organisations, that’s the big difference with this Committee,” said Casado. Moreover, he pointed out, we are going to do it with two organisations that are very similar, since we work within the framework of the IOE, within the Ibero-American Business Council-CEIB, and also with major achievements at the Ibero-American Summits.

“We have been able to find useful information tools, instruments that enable us to work together and that allow us to be closer to each other on issues of common interest,” he said. He also reported that the Colombia Investment Roadshow will be held in Spain on 4 and 5 May; it will be organised by the CEOE and ProColombia, and is the main European event on investment in Colombia and, now in its fifth edition, will be attended by the most senior government representatives, as well as leading Colombian and European companies and senior officials from multilateral organisations. “We will act as a bridge to other organisations, to collaborate together in third markets,” he explained.

Sylvia Escovar, the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Sanitas and President of the Colombia Chapter of the Business Council, highlighted the active political dialogue that the two nations have undertaken since 1881, when they first established diplomatic relations.

Escovar also stressed that “we will continue supporting Spanish companies that are already operating in the country and those interested in entering or relocating to this market, which, due to its geographical location, culture and language, is a strategic nation in the region for Spain’s interests. I would also like to invite Spanish businesspeople to continue to consider Colombia as their business partner in South America.

Presentation of the Global Latam Report 2021

Tomorrow, the 26th, the programme will continue with another business meeting, organised by ICEX-Invest in Spain, CEOE-CEIB, SEGIB and ANDI, in the context of the presentation of the Global Latam Report 2021, which was launched in Madrid last Tuesday.

A new feature this year is that the fourth edition of the report includes the results of the first Global LATAM Barometer, which was conducted in collaboration with the Consejo de Empresarios Iberoamericanos (Ibero-American Business Council - CEIB). In this respect, the business organisations that are members of this Council have been heavily involved in this initiative, which has seen the very active participation of their entire network of Latin American companies.

During the conference, leading authorities and experts from the region will tackle the great significance of the internationalisation of Latin American companies in the post-Covid era. The event will be opened by Spain’s Economic and Trade Advisor in Colombia, Alicia Montalvo, and the Director of Economy and Business at SEGIB, Pablo Adrián Hardy; and the report will be presented by the Head of the Latam Desk of ICEX-Invest in Spain and the Director of Macroeconomics of FEDESARROLLO, Martha Elena Delgado.

Afterwards, the Editor of La República, Fernando Quijan; the founder and CEO of MELONIN, Andrés Gómez; and the Commercial Manager of ARUS, Mario Loaiza, will participate in a discussion under the slogan “Building global companies from innovation.”

The event will conclude with the panel: “How to have more global Latin companies? The cases of Colombia, Spain and the Dominican Republic,” moderated by the Permanent Secretary of CEIB, Narciso Casado, with the participation of the president of ANDI, Bruce Mac Master; the Vice-President of the CEOE, Íñigo Fernández de Mesa; and the President of CEIB and of the Confederación Patronal de la República Dominicana-COPARDOM, William Matías Ramírez.