Fátima Báñez urges business owners to strengthen relations on both sides of the Atlantic as this leads to more jobs

The Minister for Employment and Social Security, Fátima Báñez, urged the Presidents of Ibero-American Employers' Organisations to strengthen relations between businesses on both sides of the Atlantic "because this leads to more jobs".

According to Fátima Báñez, economic and trade relations between the European Union and Latin America are in a privileged position and must continue to be so.

These statements were made by the minister on the occasion of the 26th meeting of Presidents of Ibero-American Employers' Organisations, being held on Friday at the headquarters of the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organisations (Spanish acronym: CEOE).

The Minister for Employment and Social Security highlighted that the strong economic development of Latin America, together with the fledgling recovery in Europe, offer an opportunity to continue stepping up these flows, as well as consolidating Europe's role as the leading investor in the region and strengthening the internationalisation of Latin American multinationals.

To this end, she encouraged working together to make "our economies more open, connected and diversified, with increased investment due to the offer and support of legal certainty for investments between our countries".

Total Spanish investment in Latin America stands at over 120 billion euros, representing over a quarter of Spain's foreign portfolio.
Every day Latin America businesses are stepping up their investments in Spain. In 2014, investment grew by 43.9%. Fátima Báñez also stressed the need for greater two-directional trade exchanges.

In terms of imports, the minister confirmed that we import products from Latin America countries to the tune of some 17 billion euros, whereas only ten years ago this figure barely amounted to 7 billion euros.

"The increase in investment and commercial exchange must be backed up by improved international mobility", stressed Fátima Báñez.

This highlights the importance of promoting international mobility between the citizens of our countries, "because this will provide a source of opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic. Spain has taken steps in this direction. The approval of the Law to Support Entrepreneurs has led to a new regulatory framework for measures on international mobility linked to investment, research and international trade", she added.

During her speech, the Minister for Employment and Social Security stressed that investment and trade are linked to human capital, "and to strengthen this we must support training and talent as the drivers of our economies, as these will lead to improving the quality of our jobs. We have to compete in terms of innovation and talent, not in low prices".

Training, one of the priority points on the working agenda of the meeting, was highly rated by Fátima Bañez, "as, in a knowledge-based economy, training is a key factor in terms of competitiveness and job quality. With this in mind I urge you to commit to stable employment and permanent contracts, because this is good for everybody: for workers, for businesses, for our Welfare State and for the pension system".

Fátima Báñez mentioned the change starting to be felt in Spain, highlighting that just four years ago we were a country in recession, whereas "today we have turned this difficult situation around; we have gone from recession to growth, from closing businesses - 300,000 business were closed down during the crisis - to creating new businesses, the precursor to employment".

She went on to congratulate the president of the CEOE and his team for the Collective Bargaining Agreement "which will lead to higher salaries, more competitive businesses and also provide the opportunity for many people who are currently unemployed to find work. Therefore we will all join forces: the businesses, the workers, the trade unions and the public authorities".

Fátima Báñez ended her speech by expressing her gratitude for the efforts made by everyone, because it is due to everyone pulling together that Spain has returned to the path of growth and the creation of jobs. "For that reason, I would like to thank the business owners, the self-employed, the SMEs, the workers in the social economy and all of those who have placed their trust in Spain".