The meeting, that was held under the title of “Spain, The Bridge of Ibero-America and Europe. The time is now: the great opportunity”, agreed to find the certainties at a time of opportunities, but also of tectonic changes in world geopolitics.

The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, highlighted on the final day of the gathering that Madrid has a vocation towards Latin America as a project for the future.

“We want to be the epicenter of Latin America and of the Spanish language thanks to our lifestyle, our ease for doing business and our competitiveness (…) we want to promote the vocation of Spain as the bridge between Europe and Latin America and Madrid as its heart. We do not understand the future without Latin America”, he declared.

The director of the Development Bank for Latin America (CAF), Colombian Sergio Díaz Granados, said in his speech that he is confident in the success of the summit between the European Union and the Community of Latin America and the Caribbean States, to take place in Brussels on July 17th and 18th.

Díaz Granados argued that it is a moment that both the EU and CELAC should make the most of.

The debates during various colloquiums and round tables at the CEAPI summit insisted on the need to strengthen a strategic alliance between the EU and Latin America; the need to promote infrastructure, innovation and education in the region and to combat inequality, as well as to vindicate the role of business and investment as a driver of change.

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