The Andorran Business Confederation (CEA) and MEDEF Occitanie (mouvement des entreprises de France Occitanie) signed an agreement on Friday to promote cross-border initiatives to revitalize the economy of the two countries.
As reported by the CEA in a statement, the agreement also seeks to reaffirm and enhance business cooperation between Andorra and the Occitania region, as well as with companies throughout the south of France.
The agreement was signed during a working meeting between the two parties at which government representatives also took part.
The agreement foresees to reinforce the necessary assistance for the organization of business visits for the members of the two employers’ associations in the respective countries, to exchange economic, commercial and legal information and to provide mutual assistance in the field of international cooperation on joint projects of interest, among other aspects.
The president of the main Andorran employers’ association, Gerard Cadena, emphasized during his speech the CEA’s desire to recover the «historical balance» between Spain and France in the Principality.
In this sense, he made it clear that the understanding and «political will» of the institutions of Toulouse, Barcelona, Paris, Madrid and Brussels and, of course, of the country itself, is needed so that Andorra can «assume the historical mission» of contributing to the economic development of this part of the Pyrenees.
JOINT WORK For her part, the president of MEDEF Occitanie, Sophie Garcia, highlighted the «good predisposition» of the French employers’ association to work together and make this meeting the first of many profitable ones, she said.
Garcia stressed that it is necessary to «work together» to economically revive this whole area with the business collaboration of the two sides of the Pyrenees.
In fact, Garcia and Cadena agreed that Andorra is the ideal platform to promote business relations and partnerships between companies in Occitania, Catalonia and the Principality of Andorra itself.
The working session has had different interventions that have helped to publicize the country, the first, by Andorra Business, which has been responsible for exposing the new country model and the transformation that Andorra has undergone in the last decade.
MINISTERS The second intervention was given by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maria Ubach, who explained the details of the cooperation program between Occitania and Andorra that is currently being deployed.
She also gave a brief summary of the negotiations of the association agreement with the European Union.
Finally, the Minister of Territorial Planning, Victor Filloy, presented the road infrastructure plan planned between Andorra and France.
After the signing of the agreement, the working session continued with an exchange of views and experiences among the various participants in order to start establishing cross-border contacts in different business areas.
The meeting is part of the CEA’s desire to «establish ties» with neighboring employers’ associations, which began a few months ago with the Catalan employers’ association Foment del Treball.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
