The Ibero-American Secretary General (Segib), Andrés Allamand, highlighted this Saturday the "gigantic opportunity" that Latin America represents for large corporations in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), a potential that, in his opinion, is being wasted, and called for the establishment of an Ibero-American alliance around AI.
At the same time, the president of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), Antonio Garamendi, pointed out that he would "love" for this commitment to materialize in Spain and launched an implicit criticism of the draft royal decree that sets the requirements for energy sustainability, environmental sustainability, and digital resilience and sovereignty for data centers.
With a view to the II Meeting of Ibero-American Cities, which will be held on October 19 in Madrid, Allamand expressed his intention to "approve an Ibero-American agreement, an alliance for artificial intelligence," in light of the current situation in which the 22 countries of the Ibero-American space are carrying out "scattered things."
"For this to work, computers are needed, data is needed, and language models are needed. And we are going to have electricity," he explained. "If we could simply coordinate all efforts, that would be a gigantic step forward. And if I had to say it in one word, I would say: transform potential into power. That is what we need to do," he added during his speech at the 'Foro La Toja 2026.'
In this line, he claimed "the gigantic opportunity that perhaps is not being sufficiently exploited" that Latin America offers in AI and data centers, since the region has received "a blessing of natural resources" such as wind and geothermal energy, which have great economic value because "they are expressed in electricity, which is abundant and cheap there."
He emphasized that "AI works with electricity, not with oil," so this factor will be "a differential factor" when large multinationals decide where to locate their data centers.
Furthermore, he has assured that "he had never seen so much political and economic interest" coming from Europe —including Spain and Portugal, which he has defined as "the natural bridges"— towards Latin America, although he has warned that the Old Continent "is not seeing" the opportunity that the region represents, "neither politically nor economically." For this reason, he has called for greater support for the entire Latin American region, and not just for Mexico and Brazil, which have absorbed 80% of the investment in recent years.
"Opportunities are growing. You do not have to invent anything, you have to grow on what you already are. For that, political momentum is needed," insisted the Chilean lawyer and politician.
In relation to the II Ibero-American Cities Meeting, Allamand expects an "absolutely unprecedented" presence of heads of state, which could reach 20 leaders, compared to the usual figure of around 15.
The Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities (UCCI) and the Ibero-American General Secretariat (Segib) will be responsible for organizing this II Meeting on October 19 in Madrid, with the participation of around thirty Ibero-American mayors, including the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, and the head of government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Jorge Macri, both co-presidents of the UCCI.
Garamendi: "many" opportunities and "great challenges"
In the same forum, under the title 'The Ibero-American space: institutional and political challenges', Antonio Garamendi has intervened, recently re-elected for a third term at the head of the CEOE and also president of the Ibero-American Confederation.
Garamendi has recalled that Spain is the second investor in the region, only behind the United States, and that it has "great companies" in Latin America that are "true world leaders" and maintain a "deep vocation" in the area, such as Mapfre and Iberdrola.
In this line, he has acknowledged that Mexico and Brazil are the "most important markets right now" for Spain, "with a huge difference," and has pointed out the treaties that are being negotiated as a "positive" element. In his opinion, the region offers "many" opportunities in areas such as infrastructure and energy.
"In many countries of Ibero-America, we have been treated poorly," he countered, referring to problems of insecurity, adverse regulatory frameworks, and "deep expropriations."
He has also criticized that the situation in Venezuela "doesn't make much sense either." "When it seemed that, well, let's see if a brutal dictatorship disappears..., to place someone who is still the same. You change Franco and Franco is the one who sets up democracy," he has compared.
"Progress is being made, but there are still great challenges that need to be overcome," Garamendi has summarized.