Representatives from 68 countries participate in IMEX-Madrid 2025, the international business fair
For two days, on 19 and 20 February, the Palacio Cibeles will host one of the main international business fairs: IMEX-Madrid 2025. This event will bring together 63 exhibiting companies with the participation of representatives from 68 countries and an extensive programme of conferences and debates on logistics, legality, taxation, AI, branding and talent in which 106 speakers will take part, according to Jaime Ussía, president of IMEX-Impulso Exterior, during the inauguration.
The guest country at this edition is Morocco, which from early Wednesday morning is holding a Doing Business conference under the slogan ‘Investing in the Tangiers-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region: a business potential open to the world’, in which it analyses the territorial offer and investment incentives in the region, as well as training, human capital and the flexibility of the Moroccan tax system.
In favour of small and medium-sized enterprises
At the opening ceremony, Óscar Romera, General Coordinator of Economy, Trade and Consumer Affairs of the Madrid City Council, expressed his gratitude to the organisers, who have already held 52 editions in Madrid and other provincial capitals, with the participation of hundreds of entrepreneurs from the internationalisation sector and more than 131 countries. He also highlighted the more than 60 countries in this 23rd edition, as well as the participation of the main institutions that play an important role in trade policies, such as the ICEX ‘in favour of small and medium-sized companies, just like this fair’, he said.
Romera referred to Europe's role with respect to China and the USA to defend that ‘we must react and move from perplexity to a clear policy orientation that allows us to play a relevant role’. He highlighted IMEX as a meeting point for different initiatives, where the economy of Madrid and Spain is related to the economy of other worlds, such as Morocco and other African and Asian countries.
Finally, he highlighted Madrid's support for SMEs, a statement he backed up with data such as the fact that employment in 2022 linked to foreign activity was over 559,000, that is, 31.4% of employment in foreign companies at national level; Madrid's contribution to GDP was 12.1% in 2022; they host foreign companies from over a hundred countries; and they are leaders in the creation of companies and attracting foreign investment ‘thanks to collaboration with the different institutions and public-private collaboration’. ‘We are making Madrid fashionable,’ he said.
Juan Manuel López Zafra, Director General of Economy of the Community of Madrid, also spoke. He referred to IMEX as ‘the fundamental export forum for Spanish companies’ and encouraged, like the Community, the participation of other organisations, ‘because support for the business fabric is fundamental’.
He spoke of the outstanding growth that the Community of Madrid has experienced in the last 6-7 years, ‘and if we grow, the rest of Spain grows’, with the creation of one out of every 4 companies, more than 20,000 new companies in 2024, with 13 million tourists, with foreign investment of 72% of national investment, and with an international vocation with more than 14,000 subsidiaries in more than one hundred countries... ‘Madrid is moving forward with its companies and its citizens to improve the business environment’, he said.
Uncertainty and challenges
The vice-president of the Madrid Chamber of Commerce, Eva Serrano, described this event as key to internationalisation and spoke of Madrid ‘as an engine that connects Europe with Latin America, Africa and Asia and attracts investment’.
In the face of uncertainty and current threats such as volatile energy markets or trade conflicts that affect the stability of international trade, Serrano said that internationalisation is not an option but a necessity to face the challenges that lie ahead, because foreign trade is a pillar of growth for Spain and because internationalisation is a more effective strategy for strengthening companies and diversifying opportunities.
In the face of the challenging international scenario, for Serrano, the best partner is the Madrid Chamber of Commerce, a benchmark in international support with programmes in collaboration with the City Council and the Community, she stressed.
Finally, he referred to the importance of talent, the presence of women in internationalisation, innovation, competitiveness and training, issues on which the Chamber is working to offer tools and support for companies to position themselves successfully on the international stage, she concluded.
The event also featured Íñigo Fernández de Mesa, vice-president of CEOE, who conveyed a message of optimism ‘because Spain has everything to be a leader in Europe’. He highlighted the cheap source of energy, first-rate infrastructures, a first-rate tourism sector that is key in Europe, a very healthy financial sector and a very powerful export sector, with highly diversified exports.
However, he also cited very important challenges for the business sector, such as legal certainty for foreign investment; the consolidation of public accounts; the problem of housing, ‘we need to create more housing to create a workforce’; the tax burden...
With regard to Europe, he pointed out that it is necessary to invest in new markets, ‘but we are very fortunate to belong to the EU, where we are protected’.
The event was closed by Elisa Carbonell Martín, CEO of ICEX Spain Export and Investment, who stressed that we must boost the prosperity of our economy through internationalisation, as this generates more and better paid employment,
they are more productive and more resistant to crises, only 5% of the companies that went bankrupt in the financial crisis were internationalised, and they provide jobs: there are 18,000 subsidiaries of foreign companies in Spain with 2 million jobs. ‘The internationalisation of the Spanish economy brings prosperity’, she reiterated.
She alluded to the growth in the volume of regular exporting companies in Spain and how our country has maintained and gained market share in the EU, where Asian competition has grown, which gives an idea, he stressed, that we compete in differential value, in added value.
Carbonell pointed out that internationalisation is not easy, but that this is why IMEX and a rich ecosystem of agencies and public bodies have understood that internationalisation is important, and that they must help companies to overcome barriers, to overcome ‘the pain points’: the lack of reliable economic and market intelligence information, access to decisive and relevant contacts in the foreign market, talent, access to financing, the generation of a brand, and the necessary differentiation of Spanish products. ‘ICEX works on these pain points through the services it makes available to entrepreneurs,’ she concluded.
Spain-Panama relations
IMEX has also hosted the congress for the internationalisation of the agri-food industry of companies in the Community of Madrid, ‘AGROIMEX’.
During the second day, various panels will be held, including those analysing the Spain-Panama connection with the presence of Héctor Infante, ambassador of Panama; expectations regarding internationalisation for 2025; and the geostrategic, political and commercial situation; the resurgence of protectionism; the crisis in Germany and the necessary reconversion of the European Union and the role of China.
The Secretary of State for Trade, Amparo López Senovilla, will be responsible for closing the fair on Tuesday, 20 February.