This Monday 17 March, Jordi Vidal, executive director of Leather Cluster Barcelona, took part in the meeting with the ICEX delegation at the headquarters of the UEA (Unió Empresarial de l'Anoia). The cluster attended the session with the aim of obtaining detailed, up-to-date information on the latest developments in grants, subsidies and international investment, in order to pass it on to its members.

ICEX, España Exportación e Inversiones, is a national public business entity whose mission is to promote the internationalisation of companies and the promotion of foreign investment. Attached to the Secretariat of State for Trade of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, ICEX has a network of 31 Provincial and Regional Trade Offices in Spain and 105 Economic and Commercial Offices abroad.

The business association UEA has the mission of representing and defending the interests of the companies of the Anoia, fostering economic growth and innovation with the vision of consolidating the Anoia as a diversified, competitive hub of economic activity connected to global markets.

The Unió Empresarial de l'Anoia organised this meeting so that ICEX could learn at first hand about the concerns of the Anoia's business community regarding internationalisation.

The visit, which began with a meeting at the headquarters of the Unió Empresarial de l'Anoia, was headed by Elisa Carbonell, chief executive of ICEX; Vanesa Álvarez, director of Foreign Investment Projects at ICEX Invest in Spain; and Rosario Gelabert, regional director of Trade and of ICEX in Catalonia; and was attended by some twenty people, among them Jordi Marcè, councillor for Economic Promotion of Igualada City Council; the president of the UEA, Joan Mateu, and its manager and secretary general Paula Arias, along with other members of the entity's Board of Directors and Investment committee; and companies from the Anoia region with a strong international presence such as Talleres Felipe Verdés, Maquinària Agrícola Solà and Meritem. In addition to Leather Cluster Barcelona, other business associations and economic stakeholders were present, such as the investment and attraction office of the Mancomunitat de la Conca d'Òdena; Acexpiel (Asociación Española del Curtido) and Modacc (the Catalan Fashion and Textile Cluster).

The aim of this event was to put on the table how the Anoia has a strong, dynamic business community, but also a firm exporting vocation and track record, while not losing sight of the fact that companies must adapt to global changes, withstand geopolitical tensions and keep abreast of economic developments in order to make sound strategic decisions: "We are aware that in order to grow and consolidate our position in international markets we need firm, determined support; and that this calls for increasing the budget for internationalisation, especially in strategic sectors of our economy; strengthening public-private collaboration, drawing on the knowledge and capacity of business organisations such as ours to roll out effective internationalisation policies; boosting investment attraction by promoting the Anoia as an attractive destination for national and international companies; but above all, working together with ICEX so that the companies of the Anoia can make the most of the programmes and resources supporting exports and establishment abroad", said the president of the UEA, Joan Mateu. The president of the Unió Empresarial de l'Anoia also set out the importance of having a coordinated strategy between companies, public administrations and the entities and bodies that support internationalisation and investment, so that "the Anoia becomes even more competitive and has a greater presence in international markets".

Along these lines, the ICEX representatives at this meeting presented a series of tools and actions promoted by the Spanish body in order to support and drive companies from any sector towards internationalisation. One of these is ICEX Vives, a training programme whose aim is to foster the internationalisation of Spanish companies by bringing in young talent. Also presented were the services provided through the network of 105 economic and commercial offices abroad, such as personalised services, identification of potential partners, B2B agendas, on-the-ground support and tailored advice on each company's specific expansion strategies.

The meeting ended with a round of contributions, questions and suggestions from the Anoia business representatives in attendance.

Although today the companies belonging to Leather Cluster Barcelona export more than 80% of their production, internationalisation remains a key strategic area for the cluster. In this respect, Leather Cluster Barcelona has a specific international working group made up of cluster members: Miret, Colomer 1792, Splenda, Despell and Combalia. This working group is developing projects to give both the cluster and its member companies greater visibility and international profile.

Leather Cluster Barcelona is an environment of competitive cooperation for promoting cross-cutting, transformative strategic projects with the aim of driving forward the ecosystem of the Catalan leather sector within the framework of Shared Value policies. The cluster is an accredited entity within the Catalonia Clusters programme and has the support of Acció.