The senior associate researcher at the Elcano Royal Institute, Enrique Feas, has held a meeting with representatives of companies and business organizations of the International Relations Commission (CEOE Internacional). Likewise, the meeting was attended by Jesús C. Miramón García, Bankia's Director of Foreign Trade, José Eugenio Salarich, Acciona's Director of International Relations, and Pedro Fortea, General Director of Mafex, as business representatives.

The objective of the meeting, led by the president of CEOE Internacional, Marta Blanco, represented a great opportunity to discuss the challenges and opportunities that arise in international trade in the current context, as well as the importance of internationalization as a lever for the recovery of the Spanish economy.

The unemployment and affiliation data for the month of October reflect an apparently positive trend, which nevertheless must be analyzed with great caution.

These data, as will be seen, are deeply conditioned by the evolution of the pandemic and the heterogeneous impact of sanitary containment measures in the different sectors of activity.

Thus, unemployment grows by almost 50,000 people, mainly focused on the service sectors, with more than 30,000 more unemployed, and more than 10,000 in agriculture, for very different reasons. While the first is being deeply affected by outbreaks and sanitary restraint and containment measures, the second responds to issues of seasonality.

Likewise, the increase in affiliation by about 114,000 people is mainly focused on the education sector, with more than 135,000 more affiliates, and in the public sector, with more than 27,000 people, responding to the demand for professionals to face the Rotating and social distancing measures implemented in the education and public sectors as a whole.

This reality contrasts with the vertiginous drop in membership in the hospitality sector, with more than 85,000 fewer members, being one of the most affected by outbreaks and health containment measures, to which it also has more of 211,000 members in ERTE, and whose short-term situation is worrying or, at least, uncertain.

In this sense, it is essential to remember the importance of accompanying measures for the sectors of activity hardest hit by the effects of the pandemic and health containment measures, particularly those related to ERTE, agreed by the social partners CEOE, CEPYME , CCOO and UGT and the Government in the III Social Agreement in Defense of Employment that was translated into Royal Decree Law 30/2020, and whose figures are not yet reflected in the data made public today. These measures, aimed at guaranteeing the survival of the productive fabric and employment, require a rapid application and adjusted to what has been agreed.

The President of CEOE Internacional and Vice President of the Business at OECD Trade Committee, Marta Blanco, has participated in the Business at OECD Trade Committee. The meeting discussed trade and climate change, and served as an opportunity to prepare for future meetings and the Trade Committee of the OECD.

The following fundamental aspects stand out from the intervention by Marta Blanco:

· Multilateral or bilateral agreements can contribute significantly to the fight against climate change, by eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers on ecological goods and services.

· Trade can do a lot for the climate, but it should not replace environmental policy in the fight against climate change.

The general director of CEOE Internacional and permanent secretary of CEIB, Narciso Casado; the head of Economy and Business at SEGIB, Pablo Adrián Hardy, and the institutional vice president of FIJE and director of AJE Uruguay, Matías Fernández, closed the MERCOSUR Virtual Business Round, which was held from October 28 to 30. 400 entrepreneurs from more than 11 countries in Latin America and Europe participated in it, with the aim of generating greater business opportunities and strengthening Latin American companies through the internationalization and consolidation of the business fabric, seeking in this way the reactivation economic block in the post COVID-19 phase. These sessions try to connect business representatives who intend to sell or import services and products from and abroad, as well as generate business with businessmen from other countries with the same intention.

The permanent secretary of CEIB, Narciso Casado, highlighted during the closing ceremony the commitment of all institutions and companies in the development and economic recovery of the Ibero-American region. And this happens, he assured, to reduce its dependence on third markets and support its growth in promoting interregional trade, one of its structural problems compared to other regions such as Asia or Europe. In this context, Casado mentioned, both Latin America and MERCOSUR have great potential and advantages inherent to the Region, such as: talent, common language and culture, in addition to their own business synergies. And this Business Round is an excellent example of this, he considered.

However, in order for this potential to be exploited, he pointed out, SEGIB, CEIB and FIJE have worked to correct another of the structural problems that the Region is dragging, and that is the productivity of their companies. Element, he added, that constitutes a strategic element for companies, since it results in the efficiency and competitiveness of the business ecosystem, and this in turn is transferred to the economy and social welfare of a country.

Más Iberoamérica, a firm commitment to the Region

For this reason, Casado pointed out, through the various summits, forums and dialogues that the 3 institutions have organized over the last few months, a diagnosis has been made of the business communities of the Region and of the main problems they cause. This work, he reported, is included in a report entitled “More Iberoamerica. A firm commitment to the Region ”, which will be released soon.

In the document, he stressed, the need to promote investment in infrastructure is highlighted due to the fundamental role they play in promoting territorial cohesion and greater equality of opportunities; and it also highlights the importance of promoting international and interregional trade, ensuring the continuity of global supply chains, as a lever for the recovery of our economies. And, according to Casado, interregional trade is the main integrating and development vector. In fact, he pointed out, in the case of Spain, the foreign sector represents 34% of its GDP, while the value of foreign investment in the European Union represents around 40% and 16 million jobs depend on it.

On the other hand, the report prepared jointly by the three institutions insists on the need to guarantee legal certainty, key when it comes to generating credibility and attracting and retaining investments, as well as a more flexible regulatory framework adapted to changes. and reality of the economy; in promoting reindustrialization to generate quality and better paid employment; promote innovation and digitization of the productive fabric, especially of small and medium-sized companies and the public administration; establish and promote consensus and social dialogue, to reach agreements that facilitate a prompt exit from the crisis; and to strengthen public-private collaboration, placing special emphasis on the need for cooperation and complementarity of the economies of the Region, and less on competition.

On this last point, highlighted the permanent secretary of CEIB, “it is essential to improve political and economic relations regarding the exchange of resources, technology, knowledge and information, relying on experiences and knowledge acquired by each of the countries, and build a more united and cohesive Ibero-America and a more integrated MERCOSUR ”.

The report, according to Casado, also includes the idea of ​​promoting the training and retention of talent, an issue of great relevance for young entrepreneurs in the Region. In this sense, he suggested enhancing education and training, adapting it to current market needs. It also made available to all attendees the communication tools that CEIB has implemented, in order to bridge the gap between countries, share information and learn about the latest economic and commercial data in Latin America.

Along these lines, Casado reported, the Business Council has made “Covid Bulletins” available to the Ibero-American ecosystem, which are sent to all agents with interests there; a Newsletter that collects issues of interest to the Ibero-American community; a series of reports on digital transformation, open innovation, the orange economy or global value chains, among others; and a multitude of meetings, seminars and forums have been held, organized by CEIB, in coordination with SEGIB and FIJE, in order to find possible solutions to overcome this and other future crises. "All this so that, in our societies, entrepreneurs can display their greatest potential, since the MERCOSUR market presents enormous potential for Ibero-American companies and for the diversification of their value chains," he said.

The permanent secretary of CEIB concluded his speech with a series of concepts, which perfectly define the objectives of business organizations, entrepreneurs and companies, and can be applied to almost everything, especially in these difficult times. He defined them as the 12 "is": Company; Job; State; Efficiency; Education; Equity; Effectiveness; Evaluation, something that entrepreneurs do constantly in their day to day; Success; Excellence; Stability; and Spirit. And all this, he pointed out, is not a one-day job, but a work of continuity, effort, enthusiasm and determination, to materialize the commitments of the business sector and the public sector together, on issues relevant to the economic and social development of MERCOSUR .

SEGIB's head of Economy and Business, Pablo Adrián Hardy, highlighted the importance of this event in order to create more community and strengthen ties on both sides of the Atlantic. He also highlighted the importance of supporting SMEs, which represent 95% of the productive fabric of the Region, and helping them in their innovation processes, so that they can actively participate in the global process. He also highlighted the work on the digitization of SMEs, which has proven to be most useful considering the context in which we are, since it represents an important factor of competitiveness, a key element when it comes to integrating into global chains of value. Open innovation, he stressed, is another of the lines of work that have been launched, thanks to the joint collaboration between CEIB, SEGIB and FIJE, and which has turned out to be a great success. Finally, he mentioned the need to provide companies with the necessary instruments to be able to face this crisis and highlighted the importance of establishing appropriate public policies to alleviate the consequences of the pandemic in the Ibero-American space.

The institutional vice president of FIJE and director of AJE Uruguay, Matías Fernández, in turn, agreed with Casado and Adrián in praising the joint work that the three institutions are carrying out, and valued the unity of organizations and companies to bring businesses closer together and create more community. During these days, he assured, the main objective was to do more Latin America, through business and networking that, in fact, have turned out to be very productive in the face of the economic recovery in the Region. The training and retention of talent, as the permanent secretary of CEIB has already underlined, will be key elements for the cohesion, unity and resilience of societies in the Ibero-American space, Fernández pointed out.

The general director of CEOE Internacional and permanent secretary of CEIB, Narciso Casado, spoke at the 5th edition of the Global Youth Leadership Forum (GYLF), which is being held these days in Santander, under the slogan “Towards a Sustainable Globalization process for the century XXI ". Today's conference, titled “More Iberoamerica” and moderated by the general director of GYLF, Giogiana Martínezgarnelo, also participated the general director of SMEs and Entrepreneurship of SEGIB, Esteban Campero, and the undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Secretariat of Foreign Relations of the Government of Mexico, Maximiliano Reyes.

During this forum, which began on Monday 26, representatives from all regions of the planet participated. At the opening session, the Commissioner for the Promotion of the European Lifestyle, Margaritis Schinas; the president of the government of Cantabria, Miguel Ángel Revilla; the councilor of Santander, Noemí Méndez; and the president of the Forum, Jacobo Pombo. The event was attended by, among others, the Ibero-American Secretary General, Rebeca Grynspan; the Minister of Defense of the Government of Spain, Margarita Robles; the Minister of Education, Isabel Celaá; his counterpart in Innovation, Pedro Duque; and the Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), José Ángel Gurría. At the closing of these days, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Government of Spain, Arancha González Laya, and the Mayor of Santander, Noemí Méndez, among other authorities participated.

Resilience, social dialogue and public-private collaboration

The permanent secretary of CEIB and general director of CEOE Internacional, Narciso Casado, highlighted that, since the beginning of the pandemic, both the Ibero-American Business Council and SEGIB have been working on “a roadmap that allows us not to only to resist this crisis, but also to provide solutions, moving forward in the face of adversity and demonstrating a great capacity for resilience ”. In this sense, he assured that the title of the panel “More Iberoamerica” is not a coincidence, but also represents the commitment of institutions such as CEIB, SEGIB and FIJE (Federation of Ibero-American Entrepreneurs), with companies, workers, society, and with the future of our Region. The motto, he explained, emerged in the middle of the pandemic, and has remained as a corporate identity and as a mark of many of the joint actions that have been carried out. “Más Iberoamérica” is a reality in which we must work every day, in order to achieve a more prosperous, cohesive, innovative, sustainable and inclusive Ibero-American space, he stated.

Casado insisted that, to achieve these objectives, it is crucial to bet on committed leadership, defend social dialogue, and try to build a new social pact that allows us to contemplate a more promising, fair and resilient future. In these months, he noted, it has been possible to see how companies have gotten the best of themselves when offering solutions, through the implementation of solidarity initiatives and collaboration with public institutions. "This crisis has valued the importance of public-private cooperation, placing it at the center of all policies, and guaranteeing the survival of the most vulnerable sectors and the most affected groups," he said.

The permanent secretary of CEIB recalled a reflection by the Ibero-American general secretary that perfectly defines this unprecedented situation, and that is that “when we thought we had all the answers, all the questions changed”. The crisis has served to demonstrate, he stressed, that in exceptional situations exceptional responses are required, and this has been precisely what companies have shown, managing to maintain hope in the midst of the pandemic and betting on digitization, innovation, investment in research, science and technology, taking into account the productive chains and access to new markets. "Values ​​such as unity, solidarity and regional cooperation have been and will be essential to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth in Latin America," he considered.

Casado also stressed the importance of being more preventive and proactive than reactive in the face of this and other future crises, and mentioned one of the main problems that Ibero-America already had before the pandemic: productivity. Therefore, he insisted, the CEIB considers it essential to promote intra-regional trade as one of the great pending issues, since, in Latin America, it only accounts for 16.8%, compared to other regions, such as Europe and Asia, where it is between 60 and 70%. In addition, the set of exports and imports of barely account for 7.12 and 7.21% of the world total and the volume of trade in Latin America falls by 23%, compared to 17% globally, according to data from ECLAC last August. These are the worst figures in the last eighty years, said Casado, and this implies making joint efforts to recover the integration agenda, strengthen regional value chains and strengthen intra-regional trade, which is undoubtedly key in this scenario.

Faced with this panorama, the CEIB representative guaranteed that collaboration is the only way out. “It is time to join forces, to invest, to bet on sectors with high added value. In short, make everything add up ”, he considered. It is also important, he stressed, to defend values ​​such as multilateralism, freedom and progress, fair and inclusive work, development, the strength of institutions, transparency, legal security, international trade and the fundamental values ​​of democracy. .

Infrastructures

Another priority factor to increase productivity in the Region, he mentioned, is the firm commitment to the development of infrastructures, both physical and digital and, for this, perfect coordination between public and private investment is required, as well as greater involvement of development banks to solve investment gaps. In this sense, he also highlighted the importance of the sectors with the highest added value, especially as a result of the pandemic, such as open innovation and the Orange Economy, the latter better known by the name of creative industries and its 7 I's: information, institutions, industry, infrastructure, integration, inclusion and inspiration, which sound a lot like business, the women and men who create them and make them grow, and the environment of business organizations.

Casado also highlighted another type of infrastructure for the Region, and that, in his opinion, is the most important: human infrastructure. He referred to training, training, education and above all to talent retention. At CEIB, he added, we consider that investment in human capital is essential for our societies, and should represent a priority for public policies and a long-term challenge.

By way of reflection, the permanent secretary of CEIB closed his speech with a series of concepts that perfectly define the world of business organizations, entrepreneurs and companies, and can be applied to almost everything, especially in these moments so complicated. He defined them as the 12 "is": State; Efficiency; Education; Equity; Effectiveness; Evaluation, something that entrepreneurs do constantly in their day to day; Success; Excellence; Stability; Spirit; Company and Employment. Reaching these goals, he concluded, is not a one-day job, but a work of continuity, effort, enthusiasm and determination, to do more Latin America and build a more prosperous, integrated, innovative and sustainable space.

In turn, the head of SMEs and Entrepreneurship at SEGIB, Esteban Campero, agreed with Casado by pointing out the intense activity that the Ibero-American Secretariat has carried out in recent months, together with CEIB and FIJE, to provide effective solutions to the crisis and contribute to the development of the Region. Campero considered that Covid can affect everyone equally, but not everyone will suffer the consequences in the same way, and Ibero-America is a clear example of this. In this sense, he mentioned some of the priorities to take into account for the sustainable growth of the area, among which are a greater support for SMEs, which represent 99% of the productive fabric of the Region; the relocation of global value chains to gain competitiveness; the importance of fostering and driving digital transformation; the development of infrastructures; strengthen public-private collaboration; and to bet, as Casado mentioned, to establish entrepreneurial ecosystems and promote open innovation and other sectors with high added value.

Measures against Covid in Latin America and the Caribbean

The undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of the Government of Mexico, Maximiliano Reyes, for his part, focused on the current context in Latin America as a result of the crisis generated by the Covid. In fact, he reported that from 2019 to 2020, people in extreme poverty have increased from 67 to 88 million and added that the population that is in a vulnerable situation has increased by 30 million during the same period. Reyes explained that Latin America is the most unequal region in the world, taking into account that 10% of the population accumulates 71% of the wealth that is generated and only pays 5% of its income, compared to other areas such as States United where this figure reaches 14% or Europe that can reach up to 20%.

Despite the delicate situation generated by the Covid, highlighted the representative of the Mexican government, the pandemic has also created great opportunities. In fact, taking into account the situation that previously existed in the Region, three important measures were adopted, aimed at alleviating the effects of the crisis. Among them, Reyes assured that a taxation that can reach up to 3% will be applied for the great fortunes of the Region; interest payments on the outstanding debt of Latin America and the Caribbean will be forgiven this year; and it is established that multinational companies reinvest their profits (not their profits) in the Region. All this, he said, would help generate new resources and could alleviate poverty, inequality and unemployment. In other words, these and other possible measures could contribute to the sustainable and inclusive development of the Region, in order to make “More Ibero-America”.

Global Youth Leadership Forum (GYLF)

The Global Youth Leadership Forum (GYLF) was born in 2016 with the aim of becoming a forum for debate and discussion where international leaders, experts, businessmen, representatives from different countries and international organizations meet with young leaders with outstanding profiles in their different areas of action, generating a single propositional framework that welcomes a serious, rigorous and firm debate in the search for solutions to the main problems facing the international community. This edition analyzed the main challenges that will have to be faced in the coming years, as well as the challenges to consolidate a sustainable globalization process. Along these lines, three fundamental issues were addressed, which are the Inclusive Economy / People's Economy, the Green Deal / Ecological Transition, and the Technological Revolution

The GYLF has been conceived with a permanent and inclusive vocation, forming a great international forum for debate on the main challenges that the world will have to face during the 21st century. For this, the Forum wanted to involve in this proposal the largest possible number of countries, regions, international organizations, civil associations and companies, giving rise to a rich, plural, inclusive and decisive space.