CEIB, SEGIB and FIJE close the MERCOSUR Virtual Business Round


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.



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