Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, José Manuel García-Margallo, held similar meetings to ones that Zapatero held with CEOs and representatives from the globe's 31biggest international companies. The outcomes and practical effectiveness of Zapatero's meetings were dubious.
Zapatero conducted four meetings with bankers and at least two major meetings with nearly 40 impartial businessmen. With more than 5 million unemployed workers and an economy en route to a recession and depending largely on small and mid-sized businesses, the Minister of the Foreign Affairs and his counterparts from Public Works and Industry opted yesterday to surround themselves by the best of the business world to bolster projections for Spanish industry in the exterior and improve the global image of the country, which has been severely affected by the financial crisis and sovereign debt crisis.
Attempting to carry out this double objective, García-Margallo, appealed to economic principles in lieu of short-tern political diplomacy. This was one of the main proposals issued yesterday by leaders who showed up for the meeting.
Minster of the Economy and Competition, Luis de Guindos, was absent from the meeting. Yesterday he was in Brussels to help Ecofin. García-Margallo was there, accompanied by Minister of Industry José Manuel Soria and Minister of Public Works Ana Pastor along with the Secretary of State for Commerce, Jaime García-Legaz.
