The Canary Islands business people meet up with the Secretary of State for Commerce for a working session on internationalisation at Casa África

The Secretary of State for Trade, Jaime García-Legaz, met up this morning with a group of businessmen,  political representatives and the media from the Canary Islands in Casa África. He was accompanied by the General Director for Commerce and Investments, Antonio Fernández-Martos, and Casa África's General Director, Santiago Martínez-Caro. The working session was the start of a seminar in which Casa África then continued with the launch of the Sessions for financial support for business internationalisation attended by García-Legaz y Fernández-Martos, together with the Minister for Economy, Finance and Security of the Government of the Canary Islands, Javier González Ortiz, and the Director General for Institutional Cooperation and Coordination of Services of ICEX, Fernando Lanzas.

At the inauguration of the Seminars, García-Legaz informed businessmen that the foreign sector is the key to detect the first signs of economic recovery in Spain, and after a decade where Spanish companies have mainly looked to the American continent, this next one "is the decade of Africa," with countries that are showing very good economic growth and extensive investment opportunities for Spanish businesses. In turn, García-Legaz also specified that the Canary Islands are already playing a role as a logistics and business platform for Africa, something companies from the Islands should make the most of. The Secretary of State insisted that it is important that SMEs from the Canary Islands should aim for internationalisation and highlighted the importance of seminars such as that held today in Casa África so that all companies can know first hand the extensive range of grants they can count on to face internationalisation.

During the Seminars initiatives such as the new fund for the Internationalisation of Companies (FIEM), the funding for investments abroad from COFIDES, financial services for the exporter and investor from España Expansión Exterior, the loan and country risk insurance from CESCE and ICO lines for internationalisation and debt conversion programmes for investments in Sub-Saharan Africa were presented. The strategy for international development from PROEXCA was also explained together with the internationalisation support programmes from ICEX.