“In just one year we have gone from 800 to more than 1,000 Spanish companies present (in Colombia), which reflects the confidence in their potential and in their economic environment,” said the permanent secretary of CEIB, Narciso Casado, at the inauguration at the CEOE of the Spain-Colombia Business Meeting: Capital, Growth, and Future.
The data confirms that Spain is currently the second largest investor in Colombia, only behind the United States. Since 2021, Spanish direct investments in Colombia have increased to nearly 10 billion euros. An evolution that all participants emphasized both parties must take advantage of.
Therefore, one of the central axes of the meeting was the analysis of the role of private capital in the economic development of Colombia and Latin America, as well as its ability to channel investment towards strategic sectors.
Also, the criteria currently guiding investment decisions were analyzed, where factors such as the scalability of projects, the solidity of management teams, and the use of advanced data analysis tools are gaining prominence over more traditional approaches.
“Colombia,” said Narciso Casado, “has consolidated itself as a priority destination for Spanish investment” and recalled that Spain plays a very relevant role as a strategic partner, not only for its investment position but for “a relationship built on trust, closeness, and sustained collaboration over time.”
“This meeting responds to the need to generate real connection spaces between investors, managers, and companies that allow for progress in concrete alliances between Spain and Colombia,” added the CEOE representative during the opening of the event. He also highlighted that access to capital, especially through instruments like private capital, is key to driving solid, innovative, and internationally oriented business projects.
The ambassador of Colombia in Spain, Eduardo Ávila, highlighted the strength of bilateral relations and Spain’s role as a strategic ally for the country’s economic development. “Trust is very important, mainly based on the consolidated business relationship between both countries,” he stated.
The diplomat emphasized the importance of legal security that the Colombian government has developed to achieve the current level of investments from Spanish companies. “In 2025, the country grew by 2.6% and it is expected to continue doing so in the coming years between 2.5 and 2.8%, partly thanks to the recovery of investment,” he concluded.
The director of ProColombia for Spain, Italy, and Portugal, Lorena Arboleda, focused on Colombia’s openness to foreign direct investment, “with solid institutions and a regulatory framework that offers incentives to attract investment and diversify its productive matrix. We want to be a strategic ally for Spanish companies.”
Arboleda highlighted that in 2025 renewable energies concentrated 15% of investment projects in the country, followed by the technology sector, with around 11%; the agro-industrial sector (8%); and activities related to retail and venture capital, with more than 6% each.
For her part, the executive director of ColCapital, Paola García, assured that her purpose is to “drive investment as a motor of economic transformation” and added that this association, which groups 167 professional managers, currently “contributes to the generation of almost 500,000 direct jobs in the country.”