On 3 March 2015,  Dr.Surin Pitsuwan, Former Secretary General of ASEAN and Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand was a key speaker at the seminar on ‘ASEAN Economic Community 2015: Opportunities and Challenges for Spain’ organized by the Royal Thai Embassy at the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organizations- CEOE) in Madrid.

Dr.Surin highlighted trade and investment opportunities for Spain arising from the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015. This was followed by presentations by Spanish speakers 1) ‘Economic and Trade Relations between Spain and ASEAN Countries’ by Ms. Maria Aparici, Deputy Director-General for Trade with Europe, Asia and Oceania, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness  2) ‘Risk Management by the State in ASEAN Countries’ by Mr. Ricardo Santamaria,Director for Country-Risk and Debt Management, Compañía Española de Seguros de Crédito a la Exportación (CESCE)  3) ‘Investment Support Instruments in ASEAN Countries’ by Ms. Ana Cebrian, Deputy Director, Commercial and Business Development Department, Compañía Española de Financiación del Desarrollo (COFIDES). The seminar ended with a Q&A session and a closing remarks by Mr. Antonio Fernandez Martos, Director-General for Trade and Investment, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain.

The Spanish speakers shared a common view that ASEAN is a robust and dynamic market with political stability and a growing number of high-income population. They strongly recommended the Spanish private sector to explore opportunities to further expand trade and investment with ASEAN, especially in areas in which Spain has expertise such as infrastructure, railway, and renewable energy. In addition, the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain is planning to organize a trade mission to Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia in May 2015.

This seminar on ASEAN was the first of its kind that was organized by the Royal Thai Embassy in Madrid with an objective of providing information and better understanding on ASEAN and business opportunities in view of the upcoming establishment of ASEAN Economic Community in December 2015. The seminar was attended by around 70 representatives from Spanish public, private and academic sectors, as well as ambassadors from ASEAN countries in Madrid.