Boosting the preparatory work of the XVI Ibero-American Business Meeting, which will take place in Madrid on November 3 and 4 as part of the XXX Ibero-American Summit, was the main objective of the institutional and business agenda in Mexico City of the permanent secretary of the Council of Ibero-American Entrepreneurs (CEIB), Narciso Casado.
The participation of CEIB in Mexico occurs at a particularly relevant moment for the region and responds, according to a press release from CEIB, to “a clear strategy: to consolidate the Ibero-American business space as one of the main engines of regional integration, economic cooperation, dialogue, and public-private action, in preparation for the upcoming Summit in Spain.”
During his stay in the country, Casado, also director of Relations with Ibero-America at CEOE, conveyed to business leaders, representatives of institutions, and reference business organizations the importance of the upcoming Ibero-American meeting in Madrid, conceived as the great meeting point of the Ibero-American private sector before the Heads of State and Government of the region.
The agenda developed by Casado in Mexico City included meetings with some of the most important business organizations in the country. Among them, the Employers’ Confederation of the Mexican Republic (COPARMEX), the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), the Confederation of Industrial Chambers of the United Mexican States (CONCAMIN), and the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade (COMCE).
This dialogue with the various business organizations in the country “allowed to advance in the coordination of the preparatory work for the Business Meeting in Madrid and strengthen the commitment of Mexican organizations to an increasingly solid, cohesive, and results-oriented Ibero-American agenda,” according to the CEIB statement.
Mexico today occupies a strategic position within economic relations in the region and represents one of the main destinations for Spanish investment in the world. Its economic, business, and geopolitical dimension makes the country an essential partner to promote a more integrated, more competitive, and more internationally projected Ibero-America.
Congress CEAPI: “The strength of Ibero-America“
The permanent secretary of CEIB spoke at the CEAPI Congress during a session focused on the XXX Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, whose motto is “A new beginning.” Along with Casado, the Ibero-American Secretary General, Andrés Allamand; and the Vice President of Cooperation, Alliances, and Mobilization of CAF (Spain), Alicia Montalvo, participated in the panel.
The debate, moderated by the director of The Objective, Álvaro Nieto, focused on the building of consensus in preparation for the upcoming Summit in Madrid “around a common agenda based on investment, competitiveness, innovation, sustainability, and regional integration,” adds the press release.
Finally, Casado highlighted the role of companies as generators not only of investment and employment but also of stability, cohesion, and future. “The true strength of Ibero-America lies not only in what we share; it is in all that we can still build together.”
New direction for Ibero-American Business Meetings Ibero-American
One of the main messages he wanted to convey during the Congress was the evolution that the Ibero-American Business Meetings have experienced since 2016, the year in which CEIB took on the leadership of these business dialogue spaces along with SEGIB.
“For years, we at CEIB have been working to turn the Ibero-American business space into an increasingly solid, cohesive, and useful reality for our companies and our societies. We have moved from narrative to action; from intentions to concrete commitments; and from occasional meetings to a permanent agenda of work, collaboration, and follow-up,” Casado emphasized.
In this regard, he recalled that the Business Meetings are much more than a mere activity of the official program of the Ibero-American Summits. “They constitute,” he said, “a platform for regional construction, which is nourished during the period between Summits through the various forums and initiatives promoted by CEIB along with important business organizations and institutions related to the Ibero-American space.
Among these lines of work, the Ibero-American Forum of Mipyme, the Tourism Forum —which is being held this week in Honduras—, meetings on connectivity and digital transition, or initiatives aimed at youth employability stand out. All of them have been conceived as tools that contribute to generating content, proposals, commitments, and business continuity.
“Today Ibero-America has a more connected, more committed, and more aware business network that the great challenges of the region can only be faced through collaboration and public-private action,” Casado pointed out.
