20150324-Fotos-AEQT-Visita-Invest-in-Spain-1 At its headquarters in Tarragona today, the chemical cluster of the Mediterranean received a delegation from the Spanish Chemical Business Federation, known as FEIQUE, and from Invest in Spain, a national organisation that works to attract foreign investments to Spain. The three parties met for the purpose of creating synergies in policies for attracting investment, the primary mission of the Tarragona chemical cluster.

First of all, the general director of FEIQUE, Juan Antonio Lebat, gave an x-ray view of the chemical sector in Spain, in which he highlighted data showing an increase in job creation in 2014, its consolidation as the sector contributing the most to the country’s GDP and the fact that the chemical sector grew more than any other sector during the economic crisis.

After the general overview of the petrochemical sector in Spain, it was the cluster’s turn to share. The general director of ChemMed presented, as he had in Cologne the week before, the potential that makes Tarragona a benchmark chemical hub in southern Europe, stressing the importance of existing infrastructure and joint services.

Finally, the executive director of Invest in Spain, José Carlos Cabrera, presented the organisation’s investment attraction project, its mission and its action plan.

All three institutions agreed to seek lines of collaboration on order to position Tarragona as the ideal location for international investment in the chemistry industry, work that will materialise through future actions with companies and markets that they have, up to now, been working on separately.

 

 



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This last Tuesday, the Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism, José Manuel Soria, accompanied by the Secretary General of Industry, Begoña Cristeto, visited the facilities of ChemMed Tarragona, the Mediterranean chemical cluster.

The events slated for the visit began at midday at Repsol’s industrial complex in Tarragona, where an official ceremony was held with representatives of public and private entities from across the region.

The event was opened by Repsol’s chemical business director, Juan Carlos Ruiz Dorado, who welcomed the attendees and explained the importance of the Tarragona centre for his company. Ruiz Dorado talked about the need for Europe in general, as well Spain itself, to take a step forward in energy.

After his speech, the new chairman of FEIQUE, Anton Valero, took the stage. Valero, a Tarragona native who was named chair the Spanish Chemical Industry Federation at the beginning of the month, presented the values of a sector that provides solutions to the challenges facing humanity. He placed Tarragona at the epicentre of his discourse, without neglecting the importance of the rest of Spain at any point. The chairman of FEIQUE also focused on the subject of energy, a critical consideration for Tarragona’s cluster and the chemical industry in general. After the first two speeches were given, ChemMed shared its corporate video with the audience, followed by a speech from ChemMed’s president, Jesús Loma-Ossorio.
The leader of both ChemMed and the AEQT explained the potential of the cluster he represents, stating that ChemMed is not a brand seeking content, but rather over 40 years of content that needed a brand to project it to the world. The cluster represents an alliance of regional stakeholders to ensure the future of an industry that is critical to the region. Despite this comprehensive alliance, Loma stressed that the support of regulators is needed in important areas like energy and infrastructure. With this request, the president of ChemMed extended his hand to the Minister with an assurance that working together will lead to growth and, in turn, make Tarragona more attractive as a region and the chemical sector more attractive as an industry for future investment.

At his side, Minister Soria concluded the event by rising to the challenge of the previous speakers. The minister underscored his ministry’s commitment to attracting new investment and to providing access to the chemical industry. The Minister of Industry assured attendees that costs will continue to drop in 2014, and policies were being implemented to strengthen competitiveness. Soria said that the strength of Tarragona’s chemical industry can be seen in its innovation, its sales, its competitiveness and in its talent. He also affirmed that Tarragona provides a model to be followed, an example of combining environmental and economic sustainability.

After the speeches, the event was brought to a close with a ‘family’ picture with the ministerial representatives, the directors of FEIQUE, local stakeholders involved in the cluster and the directors of ChemMed Tarragona, led by president Jesús Loma-Ossorio, and the vice-president and president of the Port of Tarragona, Josep Andreu.

After the official ceremony, the leaders of the chemical industry accompanied the Minister on a visit to the northern and southern industrial parks, as well as to the port facilities in order to gain a clear overall picture of potential of the ChemMed cluster and Tarragona’s chemical sector in general.



El proyecto corporativo de la Industria Química Española, Smart Chemistry Smart Future, en el que participa ChemMed Tarragona y que está liderado por FEIQUE y el Salón Internacional Expoquimia, ha sido seleccionado, junto a 32 iniciativas más, para formar parte del eje temático “Vida Sostenible en Ciudades” de la campaña 2013-2015 del proyecto europeo Enterprise 2020 (E2020), liderado en España por Forética y única iniciativa de liderazgo empresarial reconocida por la Comisión Europea en su estrategia de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial.

Smart Chemistry Smart Future es un proyecto corporativo de la industria química española que se desarrollará en el marco del mayor encuentro internacional del sector en 2014, el Salón Expoquimia, del 30 de septiembre al 3 de octubre en Barcelona y en el que se prevé la asistencia de más de 30.000 personas. En el proyecto participan las compañías y organizaciones líderes del sector químico entre las que pueden contarse, además de ChemMed Tarragona: Abelló Linde, Air Liquide, BASF, BAYER, CEPSA,  Dow Chemical, Ercros, Feique, Grupo IQE, Justesa Imagen, Praxair, Quimacova, Quimidroga, REPSOL y SOLVAY.

El objetivo de Smart Chemistry Smart Future es poner en valor no sólo la capacidad del sector químico para generar riqueza y empleo, sino también su contribución esencial para mejorar la calidad de vida y el bienestar de nuestra sociedad y dar respuesta a sus principales retos: garantizar la disponibilidad y acceso a recursos fundamentales como la alimentación, la energía o el agua, mejorar la salud y calidad de vida de las personas, crear ciudades más sostenibles o desarrollar nuevas tecnologías.

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