“Three decades after the historic Madrid Peace Conference, this city and Spain as a whole, with its rich Jewish and Muslim history and record of coexistence is once again leading the way towards closer relations amongst nations in the Middle East,” said David Hatchwell, one of the conference’s initiators

 

Three decades after the Madrid Peace Conference, the Spanish capital hosted the first Madrid and The New Middle East Business Summit to promote investment and trade relations between the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Spain.

The Summit titled ‘’A future of shared prosperity for the Middle East,’’ was attended by close to 200 representatives from the business and financial words interested in developing commercial and investment operations between the nations.

The initiators and founders of the summit are two businessmen from Madrid, David Hatchwell, President of EXCEM Group and Borja Gervás, President of Access UAE,  both with extensive experience in the territories of the UAE and Israel, respectively.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, President of the Community of Madrid, who inaugurated the historic event, emphasized the importance of positioning Madrid as a leading economic hub, while promising to continue to work to cooperate on initiatives related to digitalization, cybersecurity and entrepreneurship.

“Madrid will always defend freedom, rule of law, and prosperity, and will always be thinking about the future,” she said, emphasizing Madrid’s economic relations with both the UAE and Israel.

Israel’s Ambassadors to Spain, Rodica Radian Gordon, and to the United Arab Emirates, Majid Hassan Mohamed Hassan Al Suwaidi, both spoke at the conference.

“Three decades after the historic Madrid Peace Conference, this city and Spain as a whole, with its rich Jewish and Muslim history and record of coexistence is once again leading the way towards closer relations amongst nations in the Middle East,” said David Hatchwell. “There is a great importance placed on peace between governments, but more importantly peace is made between peoples, and the business sector has a great role to play in this respect,’’ he added.

He expressed the hope that for the next Summit ‘’we can count on more participating countries like Bahrain, Oman and Egypt, among others”.

The round table “Joint investment opportunities in the UAE, Israel and Madrid” was moderated by Alfredo Bonet, member of the Executive Committee of Madrid Open City, and included the participation of Minister of Economy, Finance and Employment, Javier Fernández-Lasquetty, who highlighted that “the Community of Madrid aspires to become the technological hub or epicenter for the concentration of companies in the sector in Southern Europe”.

“Israel, UAE and Spain want to work with trust and confidence, generate trade, and maintain friendship. In Madrid, we are a space offering great opportunities, and investors are realizing this. All those who want to start projects here are welcome,” said Begoña Villacis, Deputy Mayor of Madrid.