Growth of investment opportunities for Spanish companies in the Japanese market

Representatives of Japan and Spain highlighted the growth in investment opportunities for Spanish companies in key sectors of Japan on May 25 at the Spain-Japan Business Meeting, organized by the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), with the participation of the Secretary of State of Commerce, Jaime García-Legaz Ponce. As part of its mission to promote and foster interests of Japanese companies in Spain and Spanish companies in Japan, the Spain-Japan Business Circle (CEJE) participated in the event, with the presence of members of its Board: Jorge Arteaga, director general of the Grohe/Lixil Group; Jaume Gotanegra, Strategic Planning Director for Ricoh; and Jorge Lasheras, CEJE president.

CEOE Vice President and President of the International Relations Commission, Joaquím Gay de Montellá, noted sectors such as agribusiness, environment, fashion, culture, design, and technology since they are of great interest for Spanish companies with interests in the Japanese market. Also present was the chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of Japan, Kenji Hirata, who noted that in the tourism sector, more than 600,000 Japanese tourists visited Spain in 2015 and 77,000 Spanish tourists visited Japan.

Several speakers mentioned the evolution of commercial relations between the two countries in the last 15 years and highlighted that Spain has recorded the highest growth in exports to Japan between 2004 and 2015, more than doubling exports in this period.