The president of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi; the president of the OIE, Erol Kiresepi; and the former president of CACIF and CEIB, Antonio Malouf; yesterday inaugurated the XXX Meeting of Presidents of Latin American Business Organizations CEIB-OIE, held in Geneva, coinciding with the OIE world meeting and the first centenary of the International Labor Organization (ILO). This edition was attended by the highest representatives of the 23 business organizations that make up CEIB, including the presidents and vice presidents of the organizations of Andorra, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Uruguay , Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Guatemala. In addition, the permanent secretary of CEIB, Narciso Casado and the Secretary General of the OIE, Roberto Suárez, also participated.
During the inauguration, the President of the OIE, Erol Kiresepi, highlighted the role of the organizations to be able to influence the economic growth of the Region. He explained that the same methods adopted to date, will lead to the same results, so today, more than ever, we must be open to innovation and change. He insisted that dialogue with our sectors must be fundamental, and the role of business organizations must be incisive and responsible. It is necessary, he stressed, to adopt policies that encourage employment, that impact MSMEs as a source of employment and guarantee the sustainability of these companies. "99% of formal companies are MSMEs and 60% of formal employment is generated by these companies," he said.
In this regard, he mentioned an additional factor, which is the intensification of the intraregional migration process and the absence of migration governance. It is pertinent for employers to insist that legislation and policies be clear and transparent so that migration is controlled. The coordination and unity of the organizations in this matter, according to Kiresepi, is of special relevance.
Innovation and entrepreneurship
Also, the president of the OIE said that innovation and entrepreneurship are the foundations of our countries. "The 2030 agenda raises these sustainable development goals, so they must be a commitment and a responsibility to achieve the change we all want," he explained. Our implication, as a private sector, is indispensable to advance in the right direction, he added.
For his part, the president of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, stressed in his speech that "the unity of business organizations is the key to be recognized in a globalized world." This is what the Council of Iberoamerican Entrepreneurs pursues, and what is working day by day on essential issues to ensure the economic growth of our economies and social welfare, such as market freedom or decent employment.
Iberoamerican Business Council
In this sense, Garamendi highlighted the Ibero-American Business Council, in which, together with the OIE, the most important Ibero-American organizations participate, and that it is developing a broad activity in the framework of the Summits of Heads of Ibero-American States, in collaboration with SEGIB , but also in other areas, such as training, arbitration or innovation. CEOE, he informed, is firmly committed, together with the OIE, to CEIB and will continue to offer its best support as its Permanent Secretariat.
He also appreciated the role of the Office in the activities of the ILO's employers, as it fosters the strengthening of business organizations around the world. For social dialogue and tripartism to fulfill their work effectively, Garamendi stressed, it is essential that there exist strong business organizations in all countries, capable of negotiating and assuming the agreements reached. "Everything the ILO can do in this area will be essential for tripartism to work positively," he said.
He also spoke of other matters of special regional importance, such as training and communication. From CEOE and from CEIB, work is being done to favor the training of students, with the possibility that they can do so in any of the countries of the Region. In this regard, he referred to the CAMPUS Program, promoted by SEGIB, which allows companies to approach the training of candidates and integrate into the labor market. Also, he said, it is important to carry out a joint communication strategy, the vision of unity of the Council of Iberoamerican Entrepreneurs allows all these elements to be united in an institution that already exists, that is underway and that will continue working for the collective good of the business communities.
The Ibero-American General Secretary, Rebeca Grynspan, in turn, conveyed the message that we must continue to fight for the unity and strength of the Ibero-American economies to continue in the region. "CEIB is the best tool for this," he said.
In his speech, Grynspan stressed the need to continue promoting collaboration among Ibero-American business organizations, "a collaboration that should have innovation as a driving force for a more prosperous, inclusive and sustainable Latin America," he said.
In her message, the Ibero-American General Secretary emphasized the need to incorporate the private sector in this collaboration, an essential aspect if one wants to guarantee "the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the success in fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals".
The former president of CACIF and CEIB, Antonio Malouf highlighted the valuable contribution of CEIB, created in 2015 in Madrid, in the framework of the Ibero-American meeting of Presidents of the OIE. We are witnesses of the fruits of CEIB's work, not only in the organization of Ibero-American business meetings, he explained. "Since my inauguration speech as president of CEIB 2 years ago in Madrid, our priorities have been focused on giving continuity to the work and mandates of the summits and revitalizing them, in order to maintain their credibility and today I can say with all satisfaction, pride and concrete result, that we have achieved in Antigua Guatemala, "he said.
As in each edition, the presidents addressed the political and economic situation of their respective countries and shared the concerns of their business communities. During the session the transfer of the pro-tempore presidency of the CEIB to the Andorran Business Confederation- CEA- was formalized, which will be responsible for assuming the organization of the XIII Ibero-American Business Meeting, coinciding with the XXVII Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government in Andorra in November 2020.
In his acceptance speech, the president of the CEA, and since yesterday pro-tempore president of CEIB, Gerard Cadena, thanked the trust placed in the Andorran employers and has emphasized the will of the Andorran business network to strengthen commercial ties and of cooperation with the rest of the countries of Ibero-America.
Future activities
During the meeting the activities developed by CEIB in the last year, both in Spain and in other countries of the Region, were presented, and it informed the preparatory work of the XIII Ibero-American Business Meeting, in which the Council has been working for months together with the Ibero-American General Secretariat-SEGIB, such as the Mipymes Forum on 2 and 3 July in Buenos Aires or the Open Innovation Forum, to be held in autumn in Madrid. The next Summit will take place in November 2020 in Andorra and will have as its theme "innovation for sustainable development".