Speech by President of the Government at closing event of 1st Spain-Brazil Forum

Sao Paulo

Mr Minister for Foreign Affairs; Mr Minister for Science and Technology; Mr Governor of the State of São Paulo; Mr Governor of the State of Goias; Mr Mayor; ladies and gentlemen,

It is impossible, as the former President Cardoso mentioned in his speech, to name all of you, but, dear friends, I wish to start my short speech by saying that it gives me great satisfaction to take part in this 1st Spain-Brazil Forum. To that end, I wish to congratulate the Spain-Brazil Foundation Council for having set up this initiative, and in particular, the two co-chairs of this forum, who addressed you just a short time ago - Antonio Huertas and Márcio Utsch - as well as the whole of their team. I am convinced that the forum will henceforth become a very important instrument in the service of relations between our two countries.

It has also been an honour for me, as President of the Government of Spain and also as a Spaniard, to award the 1st José de Anchieta Prize granted by the Foundation, a prize that bears the name of the Jesuit priest from the Canary Islands known as "the Apostle of Brazil". José de Anchieta was a priest, a poet, a chronicler, a linguist and a defender of the native peoples at the dawn of the creation of Brazil. His recent canonisation by Pope Francis was an important event for the people of both Brazil and Spain.

The prize has been awarded, as you are aware, to one of the most important characters in the contemporary history of Brazil, to the former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. If the aim of the prize is to acknowledge the work of a leading individual who has worked in a sound and consistent fashion to draw our two countries closer together, it would be very difficult to find a more suitable candidate than the former President Cardoso. Congratulations.

Ladies and gentlemen,

This forum has gathered together very important leading figures from civil society in both Brazil and Spain. It seems important to me to have achieved this because, in order to work together, it is first necessary to pay the necessary attention, something that Spain and Brazil have not always done. We need to set our sights on the other country, identify opportunities and, of course, know how to harness those opportunities. All of you, through your presence here, have shown your interest in working in this direction. It is you who must go on to mobilise the interest and resources necessary to harness all of these opportunities that may arise, by collaborating at an economic, political, academic and cultural level. Working to help boost the negotiations between the European Union and MERCOSUR is a pressing example of what we can do together.

This is an issue on which Brazil knows - and I mentioned this earlier today to President Temer - it can count on Spain for its full support, and after many years, I believe that today we have a wonderful opportunity to finally reach this agreement.

The opportunities for bilateral cooperation are, on another note, very extensive, for example, in contributing to the economic progress and political fortification of Latin America, which has made significant progress in this direction in recent years.

I know that you are aware that everything happening in Ibero-America is very important for the Spanish people and that Brazil's role in the region is key. We would also like to strengthen our collaboration with Brazil in this area. Our two countries defend the same democratic values and very similar goals. By working together, we can better defend them, particularly in Latin America, but also on the main global issues such as climate change, migratory phenomena, the fight against international terrorism and the issues included on the agenda of the United Nations. That is what corresponds to us as two countries that are strategic partners.

When we talk about harnessing the opportunities facing Spain and Brazil, I should underline the path set by universities, which have established cooperation agreements among themselves, as well as the fact that the Cervantes Institute has the most extensive network of centres set up in any single country, and the investments already made by leading Spanish companies. I would like to thank the chairmen of some of these companies for their presence here today at this forum. These are investments in key sectors with a vocation to remain here, which have been maintained, and some even stepped up in the times of crisis that both Spain and Brazil have gone through.

We are also seeing how some of the major Brazilian corporations are starting to invest in Spain. It is natural that this should be so, because this is a great country, with some very strong companies. We welcome them and hope that their number will increase over time.

We will work to ensure that this investment process in both directions also filters down to small- and medium-sized enterprises, which constitute the majority of the business fabric of our two countries.

I am convinced that this forum, and indeed its future editions, will help us a great deal to achieve these goals. I have indicated that Spain and Brazil are strategic partners, but before that, we are sister nations that share the same cultural roots, defend the same values and share a very similar outlook on life. I believe that what is important is to now put all of this to the service of our common interests and build on this basis an even broader and more profound relationship than the one we have at present.

The mayor of this city mentioned a few words in his speech that I stated this morning in Brasilia following my meeting with President Temer. This morning I recalled that Spain had gone through five straight years of negative economic growth, five straight years of recession, something that had never before happened in our country over the last 100 years. 3.4 million jobs were shed; we went through a time of tremendous difficulty in accessing financing, our economy was highly uncompetitive and the outlook for Spain's future was very bleak to say the least; but I would like to say to you that Spanish society was able to make a great effort and was able to support the government at times of difficulty.

Now, only five years after a time when everyone announced that Spain was going to be bailed out by the European Union and that, hence, it was going to lose its economic sovereignty, well, Spain has now just enjoyed three straight years of positive growth. We have grown, over the last two years, at twice the Eurozone average, a great deal more than Germany, Italy, France or the United Kingdom. Spain has been creating jobs at a rate of half a million a year over these last three years. This year the economy has begun very well; we have enjoyed a buoyant first quarter.

I would just like to say one more thing to all of you; as generally tends to occur in most walks of life, things don't just happen. Very few people win the lottery and on very few occasions in people's lives; for the vast majority, this never tends to happen. What falls to us is to do things well, to make an effort, to be serious and to think of the medium and long term.

I should say to all of you that we had to undertake difficult, yet important reforms. We have lost no less than 50 seats in Parliament from one election to the next, but today we can say that Spain is in an infinitely better position than it was five years ago.

I would encourage all of you, firstly because it is my obligation to do so, and secondly, because I believe it is right. I follow very closely what is going on in Brazil and I believe that, when an effort is made at fiscal consolidation, when public spending is controlled, when you say that you need to undertake a labour reform, when you talk about reforming the pension system; in other words, when you talk about important issues, even though you are criticised for doing so, then you must push on because, if not, you will also be criticised. In the first case you are not going to achieve anything at all but in the second case you are going to manage to save the country, achieve very positive things for your country, allowing you to have a clear conscience and, furthermore, even win the elections again.

Many congratulations and I wish you every success.