In his speech at this Forum, organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Spain and Spain-US Chamber of Commerce, Ábalos has pointed out, as a sign of the good economic relationship, about 85,000 million euros in contracts awarded to Spanish companies in the United States since 2004 and the extensive activity of American companies in Spain, in the technological, industrial, pharmaceutical, financial and health sectors among others.

In the presence of the United States ambassador to Spain, Duke Buchan III, the president of the Chamber of Spain, José Luis Bonet, and the president of the Board of Directors of the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce, Alan D. Solomon, the head of the The Department has valued the important projects led by Spanish companies, such as the expansion of the Panama Canal, the Mecca and Medina High Speed ​​Train, the expansion of the airports in Kuwait, Lima or Abu Dhabi.

In that sense, the Minister of Development explained that Spain currently has one of the most modern and complete transport networks in the world, which leads it to occupy the 9th place worldwide for the quality of its infrastructure according to the World Economic Forum. This is a fact that he described as especially relevant considering the delay of the network that Spain had in the 80s and the general deficit of public capital and infrastructure that dragged its economy at the end of the dictatorship.

Spanish leadership

For Ábalos, as a result of this modernization effort, technical, human and business capabilities have been generated in Spain that today allow our companies to compete around the world. That is why, currently, 80% of the activity of the large Spanish infrastructure groups is carried out outside Spain and Spanish companies lead the world ranking by income from international contracts, obtaining 44,000 million euros in 2018, of which more 35,000 correspond to traditional jobs and almost 9,000 million to concessions.

As an example of all this, the minister put AENA, which is the first airport manager in the world, to railway rolling stock companies such as CAF, which manufactures, operates and maintains trains on all five continents, also in the United States, and TALGO, which has a presence in several countries and that in the United States serves the line that connects Vancouver with Eugene and has just won a contest in Los Angeles.

But, in addition, Ábalos mentioned that Spanish companies have large projects in the United States, in the field of infrastructure and transport, such as the following of RENFE:

  • A contract to advise on the development of the project and the operation, maintenance and business plans of the High Speed ​​line between Dallas and Houston, with the collaboration of ADIF and INECO. Emblematic project in the US and that will be the first private high-speed line in the world. RENFE participates as an advisor, but aspires to be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the services when the line enters service.
  • The Los Angeles Cercanías contest, which is the most important in the country so far, and short-term contests are expected for similar projects in San Francisco and Boston and other cities.

On the other hand, the head of the Department said that Spain is also opening its market to companies in other countries, as evidenced, for example, by rail liberalization.

It is, according to the minister, an important fabric of public and private companies capable of undertaking major projects in the United States and in the world.



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