Basque entrepreneurs double their interest in Africa, Asia and the Middle East

China, Morocco, Algeria and India are the countries that have aroused most interest as regards meetings with SPRI’s representatives and counsellors The first session focused on Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and 278 meetings were held, an 87.83% increase on last year’s amount (148 meetings)

Spri, 08/03/2012

The Basque Government is now present in 62 different countries through the SPRI group, with 16 corporate offices in 14 countries and with 48 consultants, each in a different country. Last year, 422 projects were carried out for Basque companies on 59 different markets.

There will be three sessions a week of individual meetings with SPRI’s corporate office managers and consultants, and they will conclude on 14 March.

The first session focused on Africa, the Middle East and Asia and consisted of 278 meetings, an 87.83% increase on last year when 148 meetings were held. The main increases were 35 meetings for China (150% more than last year), 30 for Morocco (58%), 27 for Algeria (80%) and 24 for India (100%). Interest in South Africa also augmented, with 19 meetings held this year (90% more).

In the Asian area, the meetings were attended by SPRI’s Manager in China, the Project Manager in China, SPRI’s Manager in India and 3 consultants. A total of 118 meetings were held, representing a 96.67% increase on the figures for March 2011. A new consultant is covering Australia. By countries, those with the greatest demand were China, India, Malaysia/Indonesia/Singapore and Japan, and those that have shown the greatest increase in interest this year were China, India, Thailand and Japan.

Some of the internationalisation support services that SPRI offers Basque companies through its network abroad are as follows:

• Information and analysis of target markets.
• Market introduction.
• Help with business and production establishment abroad.
• Temporary relocation at the SPRI business centre.
• Organisation of individual market research trips.
• Paperwork assistance.
• Contact with local authorities and administrations.