2nd Annual Forum of the ESADE China Europe Club highlights quality and talent as the keys to successful China-Spain relations
After the 2nd Annual Forum of the ESADE China Europe Club, held the last wednesday at the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Alfons Sauquet, Dean of ESADE Business School, summarised the conclusions of the event as follows: "Quality, speed and talent are the keys to successful China-Spain relations." The Forum featured the participation of business owners from both countries as well as various Spanish public- and private-sector figures, including Javier Solana, President of ESADEgeo, and Ji Xianzheng, Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Spain. The event was opened by Huang Cunxun, President of the ESADE China Europe Club and General Manager of Cosco Iberia. All of the invited speakers agreed that, although bilateral relations between China and Spain have advanced considerably thanks to – among other things – the shared imperatives of globalisation, there is still ample room for improvement.
"Chinese investors perceive the European Union as a stable environment with advanced technology, qualified professionals and a high degree of legal transparency and security," declared David Höhn, Partner Responsible for China Practice at KPMG Spain. "However, our research has shown that there are still various factors that complicate this, such as the existence of 27 different regulatory systems." According to Eugenio Bregolat, former Spanish Ambassador to China, this circumstance "means that no EU member state can talk to China in terms of globalisation – the only institution that can do that is the European Union".
Trade challenges
The invited business leaders, who participated in two panel discussions – about Spanish investment in China and Chinese investment in Spain, respectively – agreed that Spain-China relations entail considerable challenges. The first panel discussion featured the participation of José Pedro Sebastián de Erice, Secretary General of Técnicas Reunidas Internacional; Joaquín Serra, Director of Institutional Relations at Natura Bissé; and Jordi Brufau, General Manager of Applus+ LGAI; and was moderated by Ivana Casaburi, Director of the ESADE China Europe Club. The panellists stressed that Spanish businesses must focus strongly on China and that their efforts must involve more than just overcoming initial entry barriers: their value propositions and the Spain brand will be their biggest assets in this regard.
The second panel discussion featured the participation of Li Xiaoke, Vice President of Huawei Iberia; Pengwei Pan, General Manager of Baosteel Spain; and Dawen Huang, General Manager of Huayi Compressor Spain; and was moderated by Josep Berbel, Director of Internationalisation and Business Investments at ACCIÓ. The panellists highlighted the strong appeal of Spanish professionals and the shared need to find partners for globalisation. Like the speakers on the previous panel, the professionals agreed that the primary difficulties in Spain-China relations had to do with cultural integration.
Opportunities here and now
Florentino Carreño, Partner at Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira highlighted the strategic importance of Spain as "a privileged gateway to Europe, Africa and Latin America" and of the agreement between Spain and Hong Kong. "Relations between China and Spain have tripled over the past few years," declared Hugo Castejón, Director of Financing and Investor Relations at ICEX–Invest in Spain. "However, there is still much room for improvement," he said, referring to the €8.5 billion trade deficit between the two countries over the past eight months. "In Spain’s case, we are fortunate to have the eurozone’s largest bank and to be ranked twelfth in the list of countries receiving funds."
