The dissemination session count on the presence of Alfonso Rueda, Francisco Conde, Juan Carlos Escotet and the representative from society’s executive committee, as well as representatives from two of the most advanced projects: one about the sustainable management of Galician forests and other about circular economy
November 8th, 2022.
Impulsa Galicia, the private-public partnership created for the development of strategical projects, was presented in front of a well-stocked representation of Galician’s society as an optimal tool, unique in Spain, for investment channelling and the articulation of strategic projects worthy of European funds. In one of its dissemination sessions organized in Santiago de Compostela, representatives of its shareholders attended, both public and private, and the promoters of the main projects underway: the sustainable management of Galician forests and the circular economy.
Created in April of 2021 by the Xunta de Galicia (40%), Abanca (38%), Reganosa (12%) and Sogama (10%), Impulsa Galicia has been entrusted with the development of business initiatives that have an impact on the dynamization, progress and transformation of Galician economy through a green and digital model. It was created with the aim of encouraging productive activity in the autonomous community by attracting investment, incorporating partners and collaboration between public and private institutions for the subsequent implementation and consolidation of business proposals.
This was stated by Francisco Conde, president of Impulsa Galicia, in his welcome speech. He emphasized that this company was created with the aim of contributing to the green and digital transformation of the Galician business network. “It is an opportunity to transform the industrial network from innovation and sustainability, creating quality employment,” said the first vice-president of the Government of Galicia.
For his part, the president of Abanca, Juan Carlos Escotet, in his speech on behalf of the private shareholders of Impulsa Galicia, reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to facilitate access to European funds, attract new investors and show that Galicia “is a land of opportunities”.
The conference also included a round table discussion between two members of the company’s executive committee, Emilio Bruquetas, general manager of Reganosa, and Juan Luis Vargas-Zúñiga, general manager of Capital Markets, Management and Institutional Distribution of Abanca, moderated by the company’s general manager, Enyd López. In it, Emilio Bruquetas emphasized that the projects in the portfolio had their origin in the Polo para la Transformación de Galicia, which arose to get out of the crisis caused by the pandemic sooner and better. There, a series of strategic tractor projects for the Galician economy and interconnected with each other were identified. “They are projects that take advantage of the competitive advantages that Galicia has, that generate inputs and outputs among all of them, and we are sure that there are many more that can be part of this ecosystem,” said Bruquetas.
Along these lines Vargas-Zúñiga insisted: “There was a first phase of ideas and now we must promote other projects where other entrepreneurs participate, where we attract a qualified population”. He guaranteed that they have the capacity to make financing reach the companies in a “faster and more efficient” way. And he claimed Impulsa Galicia as a facilitator of economic resources flowing for strategic projects such as the creation of a large data centre based in Galicia, “which can generate new jobs and a differentiating productive network”. “Impulsa belongs to Galician people and its doors are open to entrepreneurs, so that an idea can come and we can conceptualize it,” he said.
In a second table, also moderated by the general manager of the company, two of the great projects already known were detailed without much significance. On the one hand, the vice-president of Altri’s executive committee, Carlos Van Zeller, the company behind the project for the sustainable management of Galician forests consisting of the start-up of a sustainable textile fiber factory in Palas de Rei, explained that there are currently 100 engineers working on the design of the textile complex and that all the permits and licenses are being processed. “The critical point is, undoubtedly, the funding”, he stated, “we held up to five meetings with the Spanish Government and it is urgent to know if European funds will be allocated to this project, which should have a particular PERTE due to the volume of investment required”.
On the other hand, Silvia Sanjoaquín, director of New Businesses of Naturgy, and Natalia Barreiro, director of the Repsol industrial complex in A Coruña, delved into the circular economy project that will use the surplus of bovine, pig and poultry slurry to produce biogas and fertilizer. They highlighted the public-private collaboration as key to the development of this project, which they affirm “is unique in Spain and Europe” and “generates quality employment in the framework of the energy transition in sparsely populated areas”. The biogas produced will make it possible to “decarbonize Galician transport, homes and industry”.
Finally, the president of the Xunta de Galicia, Alfonso Rueda, closed the day, stating that the initiatives developed under Impulsa Galicia together add up to “millions of euros of investment and the expected generation of thousands of jobs”. “They are viable, realistic projects, and they can be a happy reality and a source of wealth for Galicia”, he declared. He also reclaimed the involvement of the central government, through the European funds, for the attainment of financing of these projects. “From here we did exactly everything that was demanded from Brussels and Madrid”, he guaranteed.