What are the strengths and competitive advantages of Pontevedra's business structure?

Our main strength is our human capital as a whole and, of course, our business organisations, including the Pontevedra Business Confederation (CEP). As a province, our private sector has been characterised by its drive and dynamism, by its capacity to adapt and by its eagerness to internationalise and innovate. Our proximity to Portugal is a factor in our favour, which generates great synergy and complementarity between productive sectors.

We have the only Free Trade Zone in the northwest of the peninsula, the three ports of general interest, as well as leading technology centres, and a close partnership with the University of Vigo. The province's potential is based on the sum of all these factors.

How will the Next Generation funds impact?

So far, the flow of funding, especially to the self-employed and SMEs, has been disappointing. There is scope for such a transfer until 2025. At the CEP we are convinced that its role is crucial for many viable projects to obtain the funding they need to consolidate or maintain themselves throughout 2023. In the last two years, entrepreneurship has faced and overcome many difficulties. Depending on the sectors or the size of the companies, the recovery has been uneven. We believe that the majority of SMEs have not recovered to the level of activity before the pandemic or the war in Ukraine. From the confederation we always defend that we are the main generators of employment, wealth and prosperity. This is our responsibility. Public administrations must guarantee favourable conditions for growth and progress. And this is where our legitimate demand for recognition and, above all, the necessary support comes from.

In 2022, Galicia will close one of the best export cycles in its history and Pontevedra is one of the provinces with the highest level of exports in Spain. What are the keys to these figures?

Our traditional and emerging strategic sectors are highly internationalised. In recent years, despite the two black swans, first the pandemic and then the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, we have increased the value of our exports and offset the trade balance with fewer imports.

Its economic weight in Galicia as a whole is indisputable, we are talking about the automotive and fishing industries, but also ship repair and construction, agri-food, natural stone, forestry, tourism, etc.

What are the challenges for future industry?

The first challenge is always to maintain employment. The business community must be exemplary in its activity, promoting equal opportunities and salaries, corporate social responsibility and sustainability, as well as accepting the change in the energy model.

In addition to the naval, automotive and fishing sectors, which emerging sectors are strategic in the province?

The entertainment industry - the production of audiovisual content - seems to have discovered the potential of Pontevedra as a filming destination. So too have the aeronautical and renewable energy industries.

On the other hand, there is still room to generate added value in traditional activities, such as the agrifood sector, the automotive industry or shipbuilding, where we are leaders in many fields. This province is a great pole of attraction for new sectors.

Why is the Atlantic Corridor a key infrastructure for logistics?

The development of this infrastructure is essential due to the potential of its productive network, the population it benefits, its territorial extension, its geostrategic location, its long and solid history of cross-border cooperation and cooperation between related business organisations, among other factors.

The whole of the north-west region needs to be connected to the Meseta and to Europe through alternatives that make it possible to overcome the current logistical models, tending towards sustainability and efficiency. We will not compromise on this. Rail freight transport and integrated logistics are the basis of future logistics and Galicia cannot afford to remain isolated.

The CEP will continue to demand that the same resources be given to the Atlantic Rail Freight Corridor as have been given to the Mediterranean Corridor. When we demanded the inclusion of the north-western Autonomous Regions in its route, we brought together those who were able to understand that Galicia, Asturias and Castilla y León were staking their economic and social future on this project. We will not give in. Nor will we back down. For what has been achieved in the past, for the present claim and for the need to guarantee a prosperous future for generations to come.

One of the main demands of the CEP is also the southern exit. What impact would it have on the province's business structure?

The southern exit is a strategic and essential infrastructure for the growth and socio-economic progress not only of Pontevedra, but also of the Galicia-North Portugal Euroregion itself, where 85% of trade between Spain and Portugal passes through the border.

The competitiveness of our companies depends on it. As we have always pointed out, our geostrategic situation can be seen as a weakness - because we are a peripheral region within the European Union - but also as a strength - because we are a gateway between the European continent and other continents, such as America or Africa.

It is necessary to achieve the highest level of interconnectivity possible, as was highlighted by the European CoLogistics programme, which was led by the CEP and in which we have partners such as the Xunta de Galicia, the Port Authority of Vigo, the Portuguese Business Association (AEP), the Port of Leixoes and the Municipal Chamber of Famalicao.

Fortunately, we have the Portuguese Government on our side, which is fully aware of the importance of this territory in economic terms and which has been pushing, for several years, in the same direction: the development of infrastructures that speed up and strengthen a genuine interdependence between Galician companies and the Portuguese production network. The Spanish government should reconsider its position and coordinate its efforts with the Portuguese government.