Active, dedicated and professional. These are the three adjectives that are most repeated when in the business world you ask about Núria Vilanova (Vilanova i la Geltrú, 1965), founder and president of Atrevia. They are more than 35 years dedicated to communication and it continues. As president of the Business Council Alliance for Ibero-America (CEAPI), a position she has held since 2014, she perceives the current situation as "a golden opportunity" for Spain to position itself as a "great ally" of Latin America in its relations with Europe, a role that the Catalan businesswoman already plays for countless Ibero-American investors who consider her an indispensable contact to start their projects in Spain.
The next edition of the CEAPI Congress, the sixth, is just around the corner, what do you expect from this year's event? Despite the doubts raised by the wave of political changes in Latam and unexpected situations such as the pandemic or the war in Ukraine, all this has contributed to the Ibero-American region being more strategic than ever for Spain and Europe. Spain's role in Latin America has been greatly strengthened. The sum of these factors makes us live a moment of opportunity, but of conscious opportunity and with commitments because there are challenges to which entrepreneurs can not be oblivious or leave only in the hands of governments to face the real problems of society. We will talk about all this at the CEAPI Congress that will start on May 30. If we look at Pedro Sánchez's international agenda, it does not seem that Ibero-America has gained weight, quite the contrary... The weight of Spain in Latin America is being marked by the decisions of people and entrepreneurs. That is what is brutally consolidating the relationship between the two regions. What is missing is not so much the commitment of a president, but a joint national strategy where government and companies work hand in hand. Since the time of Felipe González and former president José María Aznar there has not been that turn so much towards Latin America. There has been a very interesting process. Historically, relationships had been unidirectional. Spain invested in Latam. They are now multidirectional. Although there were some specific cases, the great phenomenon that is bursting with force and that has accelerated in the last three years is that it is now Latin America that chooses Spain as an investment destination. The tax on large fortunes sends a very dangerous message. Although it is temporary, the concept that people are left with is that, in the end, it is a tax... and you know when they remove it. It may have a political sense, but it is so much that brings us the fact that Spain is chosen as a country for investments that we cannot lose that global vision. The aspiration must be to become the new City. We have a chance and those messages don't help. We live in a world of black and white, of simple messages. What remains is that in Spain there is a tax on the rich.What does Spain offer the Ibero-American investor? Options to invest in the purchase of companies or assets. Also an environment to create the so-called ETVE (Foreign Securities Holding Entities), which means that when these companies decide to internationalize they choose Spain to constitute their holding because it is a country that offers advantages. There are mainly three. First, Spain has more tax agreements, on double taxation, with Latin America than any of the countries in the Ibero-American region with its neighbors. For international investments, having their holding company in Spain instead of in their country of origin fiscally favors them. The European Union also has many investment protection agreements, so becoming a European company through Spain provides them with a legal shield against arbitration and other processes. Secondly, the Spanish market also opens doors for them toyield to the capital market, which in Latam is much poorer, and to other sources of financing, from loans to private equity funds (venture capital). Where you have a holding company you have to hold councils and shareholders' meetings and the Latin American investor thinks it is great to have to come three times a year to Spain ... What position does Spain play in the world race for Latam? There are new actors struggling to grow in Ibero-America. France, Italy, United Kingdom, India, Middle East, Korea.. Nobody is going to ask us for permission to go to Latam.What should Spain aspire to? We could be the strategic partners, great allies, of the Ibero-American investor in its relations with the European Union. We have been for years, in which the Spanish subsidiaries of multinationals and large funds have managed internationalization towards Latin America. And are the Spanish authorities moving in that direction? In the case of King Felipe and Queen Letizia, they are playing an impressive role in relations with Latin America, where people consider them their own and that helps us a lot to create a bond and common project. The President of the Government is working in this line, but I wish the entire central executive, the autonomies and all the institutions would be mobilized in this effort. Companies are already doing it, but together we would go further.
- Articles Paula Maria
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