The president of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), Antonio Garamendi, has defended this Tuesday that Ibero-America constitutes the “most suitable natural partner” of the European Union, not only because of synergies in the economic sphere, but also because of affinity in values.
“Ibero-America is the most suitable natural partner for Europe to move forward toward genuine strategic autonomy, diversifying suppliers and ensuring energy supplies and technological alliances,” he emphasized during the opening in Madrid of the XVI Ibero-American Business Meeting (EEIB), which began with a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the Urda (Toledo) rail accident, in which, along with 68 other people, the president of the CEOE Foundation, Fátima Báñez, lost her life.
In his remarks, Garamendi pointed out that, in the face of some “very complex times” marked by geopolitical uncertainty, the fragmentation of international trade and the “progressive retreat of traditional multilateralism,” Ibero-America is configured as an “indispensable and active” piece in the “solutions of the present.”
The top CEOE official highlighted that the region has significant strategic, energy and agri-food resources, although he warned that such potential will not translate into greater well-being unless it is accompanied by productive investment, a push for innovation, and the creation of quality jobs.
In this context, Garamendi has claimed the three “Cs”: trust, linked to legal certainty and the fight against corruption and informality; public-private cooperation, to offset the limitations of each sphere separately; and the Council of Ibero-American Businesspeople (CEIB), as an expression of business associations in the region.
The CEOE president emphasized that dialogue between governments and companies must serve to transform the priorities of the Ibero-American Summits into “real proposals and commitments,” especially after the meeting brought together 29 business organizations representing 33 million companies.
Likewise, Garamendi had a special remembrance for the victims of the Urda rail incident on October 28 of the past year, among them the former Minister of Employment in the Government of Mariano Rajoy, Fátima Báñez, who died in that accident.