After the 2nd European Unión (EU) – Community of Latin America and Caribbean (CELAC) Summit, which was aimed at strengthening relations between the two regions and finding mechanisms to increase EU investment and business cooperation in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, BROSETA participated in a meeting organized by Fundación Euramerica, Casa América and Global Strategies in order to discover the conclusions and expectations of the Summit on future relations between the two regions, as well as the impact they can have on the European and Latin American companies.

The Conference was attended by Julio Veloso of BROSETA, who took part in the roundtable “Europe and Latin America, a Business Vision”, alongside Juan Arsuaga, Chairman of Lloyds Iberia; Eduardo García Moreno, Director of corporate responsibility and institutional services at Repsol; Ángel Rivera, General Director of Banco Santander, and Luciana Taft, Chief Economist of CEMEX.

With the El Mundo journalist John Muller acting as moderator, the participants emphasized the natural link between Latin America and Spain in terms of trade relations; the importance of Spain as a platform for Latin America; the importance of SMEs for the region, and the need for Latino companies to be accompanied and advised, both those already established and also larger companies, advice that should be motivated by collaboration, and not by obligation.

Julio Veloso, during his speech, highlighted the true role of Spain as a hub for Latin America, as well as a resource that Latin American companies have in terms of investment in Spain and vice versa (in this latter sense, the foreign direct investment – FDI – of Spain in Latin America fell 44% last year), and also highlighted the possibilities of FDI in China via America.

The day also featured the participation of Pablo Gómez de Olea, General Director for Latin America of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation; José Ignacio Salafranca, Vice President of the Spanish Federal Council of European Movement and Deputy to the European Parliament; Alejandro Álvarez Von Gustedt, representative for Europe of the Inter-American Development Bank; Guillermo Fernández de Soto, director for Europe of the Development Bank of Latin America; Lluís Prat, head of international affairs at the General Directorate of Industry and Enterprise of the European Commission, and Jorge Cachinero, Corporate Director of Llorente & Cuenca and a member of the Scientific Council of the Elcano Royal Institute.

Jaime Garcia-Legaz, Secretary of State for Trade, closed the Conference, with emphasis on the new business relationships and in the much broader security framework that lies ahead for the European and Latin American countries after the agreements adopted at the EU-CELAC Summit.