As a continuation of the reflection sessions on bilateral business relations with the United States, the Spain-US Working Group met again on December 16.

After the meetings held with the General Director of Economic Diplomacy, as well as with the General Director of Trade Policy and the General Director of International Trade and Investments, on this occasion there was the General Secretary of the Spain-United States Council Foundation, Manuel María Lejarreta Lobo.

The meeting represented a great opportunity to learn more about bilateral relations from economic, political and cultural perspectives.

The president of CEOE Internacional, Marta Blanco, has participated, as acting president of the Follow-up Commission of the Development Cooperation Council, in the meeting held on December 11, in which the main points were addressed: debate and approval of the Opinion of the Report on Multilateral Policy 2018; the order of business for the Plenary Meeting of the Cooperation Council on December 18; and the Work Plans of the 2030 Agenda and Humanitarian Action Work Groups, as well as capacities and resources, which will link to one of the humanitarian action work points.

Likewise, the General Directorate of Sustainable Development Policies reported on the closure of the 2019 ODA monitoring report. This Commission is the last of this year 2020, proceeding to the replacement in the turn of the presidency in the CRUE and vice presidency of the CONGDE.

The president of the Junta de Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, held a meeting this Monday with the president of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), Antonio Garamendi, in which they both agreed on the importance of the funds Next Generation Europeans are oriented to the demographic challenge “with an objective and transparent distribution”. For this, the head of the regional executive has insisted on the importance of having the participation of society, especially businessmen, in the development of projects with which to compete for this financing.

Along these lines, Fernández Mañueco explained to the president of the employer that the Junta de Castilla y León has set up an Autonomous Office for the Coordination of European Funds, as well as another with the communities of Aragón and Castilla La Macha to join forces through initiatives joint At the meeting, he specified that the regional government already has a document with 71 strategic Recovery and Resilience initiatives.

During the meeting, the councilors of Economy and Finance, and of Employment and Industry, Carlos Fernández Carriedo and Ana Carlota Amigo, respectively, as well as the president of the CEOE Foundation, Fátima Báñez, and the president of CECALE, were also present. , Santiago Aparicio, the president of Castilla y León has insisted on the opposition of his Government to the increase in taxes for which the Government of Spain is betting in its General State Budgets through sugary drinks and with the end of the moratorium of the registration tax. Fernández Mañueco has defended that any fiscal harmonization must be downwards and has stressed the need for a new model of regional financing for which there must previously be a multilateral negotiation with the communities and that takes into account the demographic challenge.

Regarding the labor reform, the head of the regional executive has made it clear that this is not the time and that, if it occurs, it must be through an agreement of social dialogue and with the approval of the employers, never by imposition.

Budgets 2021

Fernández Mañueco has informed Garamendi of the General Budgets project of the Community for 2021, which reaches a historical figure of 12,291 million euros. He insisted that the Board will fulfill its commitment next year not to raise taxes on families, SMEs and the self-employed, and on the incentives that it will offer to companies through direct aid worth 123 million euros, as well as 32 million. of financial support, 15 for industrial land and another 1,150 million in guarantees. With the objective of boosting the labor market, the budgets will allocate 345 million to employment policies and another 296 to support science and technology.

The president of the Board has assured at the meeting that the economic objectives of 2021 go through minimizing the impact of the economic crisis on GDP and employment, as well as improving the positioning of Castilla y León for when the recovery occurs.

On the other hand, he recalled that since January the regional government has closed three agreements within the framework of Social Dialogue. Of these, two, in March and November, associated with the pandemic, generating liquidity and credit lines for 648 million euros for the self-employed and SMEs, direct aid for 70 million euros for workers, the self-employed and SMEs from different sectors, and with a request to the Government of Spain for a Shock Plan for Hospitality and Tourism in which the state, regional and local administrations participate according to their share of public spending.

Finally, Fernández Mañueco and Garamendi have agreed that the Junta de Castilla y León collaborate with the CEOE and CECALE in terms of information and coordination in actions to fight against the consequences of the pandemic.

On Thursday, December 10, the President of CEOE Internacional, Marta Blanco, participated in the annual meeting of the MENA-OECD Business Advisory Board. This meeting fundamentally addressed the role of the private sector in supporting governments' responses to the crisis, as well as the importance of Public-Private Dialogue for the recovery and resilience of the MENA region. The results of the debate will help define the role of the BAB in the new mandate of the MENA-OECD Initiative on Governance and Competitiveness for Development, for the period 2021-2025.

This event was attended by representatives of the companies and institutions of the region, among which the presence of CEOE and UTICA, co-presidents of the BAB, stands out. The conference was opened and closed by Marta Blanco, Hichem Elloumi, Vice President of UTICA, and Carlos Conde, Head of Division, Middle East and Africa, Global Relations Secretariat, OECD.

Intervention by the President of CEOE Internacional

In her speech, Marta Blanco stressed the importance of public-private dialogue, as well as the need for a joint effort necessary for recovery. In addition, he presented the results of a recent survey among Spanish companies with international activity. The companies agree that international activity has significantly reduced in 2020 and is not expected to recover until 2022.

The business areas with the greatest impact for Spanish companies are international demand, promotional activities, mobility and, to a lesser extent, the breakdown of value chains. Companies also consider that the crisis is affecting more their

domestic activity and that, in any case, are looking for new opportunities in international markets despite the difficulties.

He also pointed out the importance of the challenges in the current environment of uncertainty, among which the following stand out:

• Greater competition in international markets
• New habits and consumer preferences
• The digital transformation of the industry, especially of SMEs
• Increased protectionism
• Include sustainability in business development
• Increase the resilience of business models

Finally, he highlighted the main demands of Spanish companies in the field of internationalization, which have to do primarily with fiscal policy, financial support for exports, the elimination of administrative obstacles and support for R & D & i.

The debate between the organizations and governments present was very dynamic and on the specific point of public-private dialogue, CEOE highlighted the importance of social dialogue, always but especially now to overcome the crisis.

The day before, December 9, a specific session dedicated to tourism took place, in which CEOE was also invited to participate. The president of the CEOE Tourism Council took the opportunity to highlight the systemic importance of tourism in the economy of Spain and the need to preserve its value chain to overcome the crisis generated by the pandemic, for which aid in the short term. He also underlined that it is essential to face the challenges related to digitization and sustainability, to which we must add a third one, which is safe mobility.

The permanent secretary of CEIB and general director of CEOE Internacional, Narciso Casado, participated in the VII Business Summit of the Pacific Alliance “The crisis as an opportunity”, held virtually, and in which various proposals were presented to governments to regional economic reactivation. At the meeting, organized by the Business Council of the Pacific Alliance (CEAP, which groups together the business associations of Colombia, Mexico, Chile and Peru), the instrument "Commitment and Business Report, which seeks to promote the evolution of the companies at the regional level in four pillars: Covid-19, Labor, Economy and Competitiveness, and Environment and Social.

Prior to the celebration of the Forum, the CEOE International CEO, Narciso Casado, conveyed to the Summit organizers (SOFOFA, Chile) the importance of the 59 observer countries and their business organizations in the future of the Alliance. It also became known. that the president of Nutresa and of the Colombia chapter of CEAP, Carlos Gallego, will assume the pro tempore presidency of the Council, following the mandate of Bernardo Larraín, also president of the Sociedad de Fomento Fabril de Chile (SOFOFA).

Casado advocated that CEOE exercise the leadership that it maintained in the past, in order to continue working from the organizations of the 59 observer countries on issues of general interest for the development and proper functioning of this regional integration process.

I Forum of the Pacific Alliance in CEOE

In this sense, Casado recalled the organization in CEOE in October of last year of the 1st Pacific Alliance Forum, under the slogan "The future of the Pacific Alliance: Vision on SMEs in member and observer countries and their business organizations" , and attended by more than 40 representatives of the organizations of the observer countries. "We consider it essential to give continuity to these important meetings and to work on the development of future events that serve to share the vision of the member countries and observers on issues that affect world trade and investment," he said.

VII Business Summit of the Pacific Alliance

Under the slogan “The crisis as an opportunity”, this Summit focused on addressing the business actions necessary for a recovery with adaptability; in the presentation of the Commitment and Business Report of the AP: Towards a culture of business evolution; in public policy proposals for recovery; and in the insertion of Latin America in the reconfiguration of global trade in a polarized world.

Leading authorities, economists, lawyers and representatives of business organizations and companies from the PA member countries (Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru) spoke at the Summit. It is worth highlighting the participation of the Minister of Foreign Relations of Chile, Andrés Allamand; the president pro tempore of CEAP, Bernardo Larraín; The president of CONFIEP and the Peru chapter of CEAP, María Isabel León; the president of ANDI, Bruce Mac Master; or the presidents of the Colombia chapter of CEAP, Carlos Ignacio Gallego and of the Mexico chapter and president of COMCE, Valentín Díaz Morodo; among others.

During the conference, the president pro tempore of CEAP and SOFOFA in Chile, Bernardo Larraín, assured that “never before have we experienced an environment as dynamic and unpredictable as the current one. Digital regulation and multiple social transformations generated by demographic, climatic, political and economic changes are challenging all public and private institutions, including companies, to adapt, survive and thrive in an environment of many changes ”. He also reported that a declaration will be delivered to the presidents of the CEAP member countries, with a view to transforming this crisis into an opportunity. A task that, in his opinion, "will depend on the commitment of all of us who make up this business ecosystem, so the invitation is to become active, commit ourselves to future challenges and to the destiny of our countries."

For her part, the president of CONFIEP (a Peruvian business organization member of CEIB) and of the Peru chapter of CEAP, María Isabel León, referred in detail to the content of the document "The Crisis as Opportunity", prepared with the participation of prominent business leaders of the Region, and that establishes three objectives: the need for an economic and social recovery that generates decent jobs and at the same time faces the challenges that the future holds for our economies, the importance of modernizing the institutional and regulatory frameworks of the States; and finally, deepen in business evolution. "Today we emphasize once again that the path to success of our countries depends on the development of our society as a whole, on achieving social and economic progress for all members of the Pacific Alliance" , he stressed.

In turn, the president of ANDI (a Colombian business organization member of CEIB), Bruce Mac Master, said that, in the face of post-pandemic challenges, we are facing a "labor revolution" that requires the greatest efforts to be in line with world trends. "We are really facing the great labor change, it is the great revolution, the next generations and centuries will remember these decades and perhaps this decade from '20 to '30, as the decade in which a great labor transformation took place", manifested.

New pro tempore presidency of CEAP

The Summit culminated with the ceremony of handover of the pro tempore presidency of CEAP to the president of Nutresa and the Colombian chapter of the Council, Carlos Gallego. Upon assuming office, he highlighted the great work done by Chile during his tenure and showed his commitment to continue the work agenda. “From Colombia we received that Varayoc, that baton of command of our ancestors, and we received the Pro Tempore Presidency, which is a temporary assignment that we see as a great responsibility, but also as a great opportunity. The alliance of our countries is an alliance that is sown in a land of opportunities ”, he explained.

"We will continue to be committed to that agenda, seeking to promote investment and trade, how to promote human capital, innovation and entrepreneurship, and how to achieve an accelerated, resilient and sustainable recovery in the four countries," Gallego concluded.