The Director General of International Trade and Investments of the Secretary of State for Commerce, María Paz Ramos; the CEOE Presidency Cabinet director and CEOE International CEO Narciso Casado; and the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Spain, José Luis Bonet, have closed the XX plenary session of the Committee on Economic Cooperation Spain-Korea, in which trade and investment opportunities between both countries were announced, as well as the possibilities of bilateral cooperation and in third markets. The opening of the meeting was carried out by the chairman of the Bilateral Committee by the Korean side, Yongmaan Park, and by the Spanish side of Bruno Vilarasau; of the South Korean ambassador to Spain, Hong-jo Chun; and the director of International of the Chamber of Spain, Jaime Montalvo.
The CEOE Presidency Cabinet director highlighted during his speech the growing bilateral relations between Spain and Korea, "although much remains to be done," he said. In this regard, he considered that the free trade agreement between the EU and Korea marked a before and after in trade relations.
Casado has highlighted the participation of CEOE in April 2016 in the visit of the Secretary of State for Commerce to Korea, during which the Business Confederation renewed with our homologous employer, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the agreement of existing collaboration between both organizations to promote and strengthen relations between companies in both countries. From Spain, he informed, several delegations of the Korean public administration and private companies have been received in CEOE in recent years, interested not only in bilateral business and investment opportunities, but also in the functioning of our labor system, among other issues .
Cooperation in third markets
Casado also highlighted during the closing ceremony the close collaboration that CEOE maintains with its sector organizations and with the Agency for the Promotion of Trade and Investment in Korea (KOTRA), especially in areas such as infrastructure and rail, ICTs, automotive, renewable energy, agrifood and drinks, or tourism, as well as cooperation in industrial and infrastructure projects in third markets.
In this sense, the director of CEOE International has explained that it is in this cooperation in third markets where companies, both Korean and Spanish, offer added value compared to most competitors, such as their good image and quality, recognized internationally . This has allowed them, he continued, to be a reference both in Latin America in the case of Spanish companies, and in Asia to Korean companies. "However, we must not forget the great opportunities for collaboration offered to both of us by the African continent," he said. Likewise, Casado has pointed out that CEOE has an extraordinary international network that highlights its participation in the OIE, as well as in BusinessEurope at European level and the Council of Ibero-American Businessmen (CEIB), where national organizations of all kinds are grouped Latin America and whose Technical Secretariat rests with CEOE.