The president of CEOE International, Marta Blanco, chaired the International Relations Commission (CEOE International), being one of the items on the agenda the international economic context and, in particular, commercial tensions. To address this issue, it was attended by the Principal Investigator of the Elcano Royal Institute, Federico Steinberg. During his speech, he analyzed the international context, trade relations, commercial tensions and the technological rivalry between the United States and China, as well as the implications that all this could have for Spanish companies.

Regarding the international context, there is a debate about the process of global economic slowdown. The reality is that new geostrategic dynamics are being generated apart from international economic relations.

International trade enters a new stage that needs to rethink a new scenario. We are faced with an increasingly complex trade (value chains, trade in services, …), with a boom in protectionism and a demand for limits to globalization in advanced countries, as well as phenomena of disintegration, which can have the effect of deceleration of international merchandise trade, at the same time as new issues are being incorporated into the business agenda, such as climate change, human rights, labor standards, etc.

In addition, we are facing a transformation of the multilateral trade order, with a crisis and the need for reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO). All this together with the creation of an ecosystem of new technologies, which are mixed with globalization.

The European Union, faced with this new scenario in which there is a crisis of the multilateral trading system, defends the need to preserve the international order. In effect, the WTO is the lowest common denominator and the EU has to make an effort to preserve this international order in its relations with the different economic blocs.

The current concerns are of such magnitude and importance that they make clear the need to agree on strategies in which the situation can be channeled, with the reform of the WTO, desired by many countries, as a priority.

In any case, trade policy can not be isolated from other policies and must be integrated with the policy of defense of competition and industry, the internationalization of the euro, the regulation of financial globalization and foreign policy in its most important sense. broad, as well as work to legitimize commercial and financial openness. And, in this context, the European Union must maintain the unity of action.

Unicaja Banco, within the framework of the renewal of the agreement it maintains with the Andalusian Business Confederation (CEA), will enable a financing line of 1,000 million euros, as well as a specific offer of financial products and services, under advantageous conditions, to undertake investments, address new markets and facilitate the activity of the more than 150,000 autonomous professionals and companies of the Community that are part of the Andalusian employers.

This new collaboration agreement, which has been signed by the president of Unicaja Banco, Manuel Azuaga, and by the president of the Confederation of Andalusian Businessmen, Javier González de Lara, reinforces the existing relationship between both entities for more than 20 years aimed at achieving the common objectives of favor the business fabric, facilitate the economic, social and environmental boost, and support employment in the Andalusian Community.

The company in general, and the SME in particular, continue to be one of the key collectives of Unicaja Banco's policy, especially with regard to Andalusia. Thus, the entity has as one of its priority business axes the financing of companies, determinant to boost the economy and create employment.

Products and services with advantageous conditions

The new agreement also includes a line of microloans aimed at promoting self-employment through the granting of small loans to entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs or professionals with viable initiatives. Thus, they will have a maximum amount of 25,000 euros, with which they can finance up to 90% of the project presented.

Among other specific financial products and services, under advantageous conditions, which are included in this collaboration agreement, are the following:

• Passive products: through the specialized products of the Professional Zero Business Plan and the Autonomous Professional Zero Plan, as well as treasury management for self-employed workers and companies through accounts, investment funds or private banking.
• Financing operations: through the Financing services (Unicaja Confirming products, real estate and furniture leasing, factoring and investment in assets via Renting), financing for working capital, for investment in new projects, foreign trade, ICO 2019 lines and the First Company Loan for the promotion of self-employment through viable initiatives.
• Other products and services for companies: channeling of subsidies and official credits, means of payment, payment of taxes, supply of real estate, etc.
• International business: foreign trade, financing, currencies and services.
• Digital banking: UniVía services (Unicaja Banco digital banking), mobile applications such as Unipay Bizum, mobility solutions and management services.
• Insurance and pension plans with broad coverage and benefits.

The permanent secretary of CEIB and CEOE of International CEOE, Narciso Casado, will participate tomorrow 26th at the XII Forum of the Private Sector of the Americas in Medellin, under the theme "Innovation from the private sector: driving development in the Americas." The conclusions of the Forum will be presented at the 49th Assembly of the OAS, as a substantive contribution of the private sector to the dialogue among the OAS Member States. Casado will participate in business events held in the framework of the Assembly from July 26 to 28 in Colombia.

The objective of the Forum is to provide a space to reflect and interact on business opportunities and challenges facing the Latin American region and is part of the Forty-Ninth Regular Session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States.

This edition of the Private Sector Forum will bring together representatives of business organizations and leading business leaders in the region. In addition, it will have as main topics of debate: the opportunities and challenges for the Americas before the IV Industrial Revolution; the future of integration in the Americas; innovation from the private sector, as a development tool; and smart energy in the Americas. The forum has been organized by the General Secretariat of the OAS together with the Government of the Republic of Colombia and the support of the business organizations of Ibero-America and Spain.

The general director of CEOE International and permanent secretary of CEIB, Narciso Casado, will speak on the panel: "The future of the integration of the Americas", which will address the opportunities for collaboration and public-private solutions to address the challenges of technological changes that disrupt integration, trade and production. Likewise, the role of business organizations in the integration processes of the Americas will be discussed, as well as what can be achieved with public-private partnerships and the importance of the links between the European and American regions.

The Forum will be opened by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Carlos Holmes Trujillo; the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro; the president of the Private Sector of the Americas, Eduardo Eurnekián; the mayor of Medellín, Federico Gutiérrez, and the governor of Antioquia, Luis Emilio Pérez. The day will be closed by the President of the Republic of Colombia, Iván Duque, and the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro.

Bilateral meetings

Casado will participate in the 49th OAS General Assembly and will meet in Medellin with official authorities and business organizations of the country, to report the conclusions reached at the XXX Meeting of Presidents of Iberoamerican Business Organizations CEIB-OIE, which celebrated last week in Geneva.

Also, the CEOE of CEOE International will present the activities developed by CEIB in the last year, both in Spain and in other countries of the Region, and will report on the preparatory work for the XIII Ibero-American Business Meeting, in which the Council is working from for months together with the General Secretariat Iberoamericana-SEGIB, as the Forum of Mipymes 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".

In the last two years, the OnGranada Tech City cluster has established itself as a driver of change in the business ecosystem of Granada and Andalusia. Its qualification as an Innovative Business Group and its inclusion in the European catalog of Digital Innovation Hubs have allowed it to become a lever for attracting projects and funds linked to innovation and digital transformation, which have directly benefited 60 companies associated.

"We are contributing our grain of sand to consolidate the knowledge industry, innovation and technology", explained this morning the president of OnGranada Tech City, Gerardo Cuerva, during the celebration of the General Assembly. The president has indicated that, although OnGranada is the entity that channels and coordinates the different projects, the objective of the cluster is for these funds to reach the companies, allowing them to carry out their R & D & I initiatives by converting them into training providers and services. "Our goal is to boost the ICT and BioTIC business fabric, make it stronger, and for this it is essential that we provide our companies with the financing they need to carry out their projects," said Gerardo Cuerva.

Since 2017, OnGranada has distributed directly between its associated companies 2.13 million euros for the execution of innovative projects or digital training through various calls and programs of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism or Network. is.

Thanks to the Ministry's funds, the companies associated with OnGranada Tech City have been able to develop a dozen R + D + i projects related to cybersecurity, smart electric networks, the treatment of oncological waste, Big Data technologies and Intelligence. Artificial or the development of formulations for the treatment of oral diseases. In addition, through Red.es, OnGranada has developed the training program for Digital Professionals and is executing the Digital Transformation Office project, whose dissemination and awareness service is being developed directly by companies associated with the cluster.

The capacity of the Cluster Technical Office to mobilize funds and promote projects is even greater, since since 2015 OnGranada has mobilized along with other entities and business groups around 8.5 million euros, which include the two international projects (Bio-ALL and Digiclusters) that is currently developing.

The General Assembly of OnGranada Tech City has had the presence of the mayor of Granada and honorary president of the cluster, Luis Salvador, who has transferred the institutional commitment of the City of Granada with OnGranada and has guaranteed his support to help turn the city into spearhead in Spain within the digital economy and knowledge sector. "The City Council can not be a mere spectator, but an active agent for the development and strengthening of business initiatives in a sector where there are no borders and where we have to be very ambitious," he said.

The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Provincial Council of Granada, the Junta de Andalucía, the Chamber of Commerce and the University.

While it is true that Spain is ranked 11th in the overall ranking of the 28 countries of the European Union in the recently published "Index of the Digital Economy and Society (DESI) – 2019", we are ranked 17th in terms of the qualification of our human capital, below the European average. Almost half of the Spanish population still lacks digital skills, which undoubtedly implies a high risk of exclusion in an increasingly digital work context.

Given this, the Telefónica Foundation and the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) will promote the digitalization of the Spanish productive sector through "Conecta Empleo", the digital training program of the Foundation that connects its participants with the country's technology companies . The first "nanograde" will be on "Construction 4.0".

The objective of both institutions is to launch a joint training program that can contribute to the training of workers in the different productive sectors of Spain, through online content in a "nanograde" format. So, the collaboration agreement signed this morning by the general director of Fundación Telefónica, Carmen Morenés, and the general secretary of the CEOE, José Alberto González-Ruiz, in an event that was attended by the president of Fundación Telefónica, César Alierta, and the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi.

Fundación Telefónica, through its "Connect Employment" program, which connects its participants with technology companies through digital training, will monitor the evolution of students and the development of the training action, while CEOE will lead the coordination with those companies, business organizations, organizations and entities of the different productive sectors of Spain that are interested in being part of the program.

According to the report made by the Cotec Foundation, Digital reinvention: an opportunity for Spain (2017), the sector with the lowest digitization index is that of construction. And in the field of productive sectors, those in construction, agriculture and transport and logistics are those that most need to digitize.

The potential of the sector in Spain, according to experts, is very large. In construction, material innovation, home automation and energy efficiency play a very important role. For its part, the agricultural sector of our country has a great technical potential for automation. And also the Spanish transport and logistics companies have a serious deficit in terms of digitizing the management of their businesses.

The project responds to a real demand of the current labor market with a "nanograde" of the construction sector. According to the latest INE Innovation Survey (2015), of all the expenditure on innovation made by Spanish companies, only 1.1% comes from construction, a sector that reaches about 800,000 employees and 350,000 self-employed workers, according to the CEOE.

This first "nanograde" – flexible and modular – will offer 270 hours of online training of a transversal nature common to any sector through the existing "Connecta Empleo" MOOC, specific online training in the "4.0 construction" sector and a continuous evaluation through several partial exams corresponding to both modules and a final face-to-face examination that will enable the participant to obtain a diploma.

Fundación Telefónica, the social side of the digital era

Fundación Telefónica has been working since 1998 to be a catalyst for social inclusion in the digital era, mobilizing other social agents to join forces and promote transformation. With this vision, it seeks to improve the development opportunities of people, through educational, social and cultural projects.

It works in 4 strategic lines: Education, betting on its quality as a vehicle for social transformation, exploring, inspiring and transforming teaching models to end the educational gap; Employability, helping people find job opportunities and training in the most demanded technological profiles; Digital Culture, creating and sharing cultural and technological knowledge through different initiatives related to science, innovation, art and learning STEAM; Y Corporative volunteering, mobilizing through Volunteers Telefónica to our employees, present in 32 countries, to carry out solidarity actions that respond to social needs.

CEOE, "Digital Plan 2025"

CEOE has prepared a roadmap to significantly improve the positioning in the digital field of our country in the international context that has been called "Digital Plan 2025", In which it incorporates more than 280 concrete proposals and which is based on three basic pillars: education, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Furthermore, given its absolutely transversal nature, the Plan covers all sectors and all parties involved: citizens, Business Y Public administrations. If the measures proposed in this Plan are carried out, the degree of digitalization of Spanish society would increase by 10%, which would imply an increase in Spanish GDP of 3.2 additional percentage points in the year 2025, that is, they would be added 35,000 million euros to the GDP of that year.

Regarding employment, the application of these proposals would increase the employment rate by 1.3%, which would result in the generation of 250,000 additional jobs in the year 2025, always taking into account the new employment generated and the one hypothetically it would be destroyed by robotization and the implantation of new technologies.