Casa Árabe builds bridges between Spain and the Arab world at Imex Madrid 2022
Casa Árabe, one of the public diplomacy institutions that make up the network of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was one of the partners in the organisation of the internationalisation week IMEX Madrid 2022. The Casa plays a fundamental role in disseminating and publicising the culture and current affairs of the Arab world. A culture that has one foot on the African continent, the protagonist of this 20th edition of Imex Madrid.
The public diplomacy institution has been directed by Irene Lozano since 2021, a politician, writer and journalist, from its Madrid and Cordoba headquarters of Casa Árabe, a meeting point with open doors, to which the Director General invites social actors from Spain and the Arab world. Economic and commercial actors" are also invited.
"We are greatly promoting the aspect of business relations through our public diplomacy work," Lozano explains in an interview with Atalayar from her organisation's stand at the Imex Madrid 2022 exhibition. "We are the bridge between Spain and the Arab world, in both directions, in all possible facets and with all Arab countries. Casa Árabe carries out work defined as "necessary and decisive" by its director for the mutual knowledge between Arab countries and Spain. Lozano highlights this point because it was one of the topics discussed on the opening day of the Imex fair. According to the presentations that took place at the inauguration, one of the greatest obstacles to investment and entrepreneurship abroad is the lack of knowledge and information on the part of the businessman about the countries in which he could set up his business.
"Knowledge reduces the perception of investment risk. It has been proven that businesspeople who were already familiar with African countries had a much lower perception of risk, and one that was more in line with reality, than those who had not made any approach to these countries," Lozano comments, referring to a study by the Elcano Institute published in November 2021. To this end, Casa Árabe publishes monthly analyses of the political situation of each country in its area of interest, with relevant information about the climate to which a company would be exposed if it ventured there economically.
Casa Árabe carries out its function with these objectives in mind through a large number of activities and workshops, with a cultural focus, business and institutional meetings and the promotion of publications of interest to social actors. Among the other institutions that are part of the Casas network, it is the only one that does not focus on a geographical area, but on a culture, which means that its activities are very diverse. At the IMEX fair, the focus is on the Arab countries that are part of Africa, and which are very important for Spain in terms of the rest of the continent due to their geographical location and the relations they already have with the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands. "North Africa acts as an entry platform into Africa for Spain, from a commercial point of view," Lozano adds. "Many countries first establish themselves in North Africa, and then reach the rest of Africa. Spain is already Morocco's leading trading partner; we have overtaken France". As the Director General of Casa Árabe points out, Spain's trade with North African countries has grown exponentially over the last decade. "Sustained growth, higher than in other areas. Around 6 to 7 percent. It should be borne in mind that this has taken place in a decade that has not been easy in North Africa. This shows that it is a very consolidated commercial relationship, and not a one-off one. Furthermore, we benefit from a great complementarity with these countries, which are experiencing demographic growth, which are now developing new industrial areas and which need infrastructure," Lozano adds, indicating which are the sectors of greatest interest to Spanish companies in the region.
Casa Árabe's stand headed the internationalisation fair, which is coming to an end on Friday 22 April, but the white diplomacy institution will continue to maintain its numerous activities in the coming months and years, promoting the meetings necessary to build more commercial and cultural bridges between Spain and the Arab World.