The Government of Puerto Rico, in collaboration with the Government of Spain, held the Puerto Rico-Spain Economic Forum to strengthen trade ties, promote foreign direct investment, and expand economic cooperation between the two jurisdictions.<\/p>\n
The event brought together high-ranking government officials and leaders from the Spanish and Puerto Rican private sectors, including the Governor of Puerto Rico, Jenniffer Gonz\u00e1lez Col\u00f3n; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain, Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares Bueno; the Spanish Ambassador to the United States, \u00c1ngeles Moreno Bau; and the Secretary of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC), Sebasti\u00e1n Negr\u00f3n Reichard, along with representatives from the business sector in both Puerto Rico and Spain.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday we are not starting a conversation. We are continuing an economic relationship that is already generating real results and is now entering a more demanding stage: execution, scale, and sustainability. We are not simply seeking to attract capital; we continue building long-term strategic alliances with stakeholders who understand the value of operating in a competitive, connected environment with global access. Puerto Rico is now a strategic investment platform for Europe and a direct gateway to the United States market. This forum has a clear purpose: to transform interest into decisions, and decisions into concrete projects,\u201d emphasized the Governor of Puerto Rico, Jenniffer Gonz\u00e1lez Col\u00f3n.<\/p>\n
This forum is part of a sustained work agenda by the Government of Puerto Rico to strengthen its economic relationship with Spain, which has included trade missions led by the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC) in recent years. These initiatives have allowed for direct contact with Spanish companies and institutions, the identification of areas of mutual interest, and the advancement of discussions in strategic sectors. The meeting held in San Juan represents a continuation of these efforts, aimed at translating the generated interest into concrete investment and collaboration projects.<\/p>\n
For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Spain, Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares Bueno, affirmed that \u201cSpain sees Puerto Rico as a strategic partner in the Caribbean and a privileged connection point to the U.S. market. Our economic and business relationship continues to grow, based on trust, productive investment, and institutional cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC), Sebasti\u00e1n Negr\u00f3n Reichard, pointed out that \u201cthis forum represents an opportunity to expand Spanish investment in Puerto Rico and strengthen our exports. We are focused on facilitating economic development, job creation, and the modernization of key sectors such as energy, infrastructure, and advanced manufacturing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis forum is an implementation step within an agenda that we have been building with Spain. Trade missions allowed us to open doors and hold high-value conversations; today we are focused on converting that interest into concrete investment, viable projects, and long-term business relationships,\u201d added Negr\u00f3n Reichard.<\/p>\n
Puerto Rico’s exports to Spain reached $3,971.7 million in 2025, an increase of approximately 9.2% compared to the previous year, making Spain the island’s second largest export destination. As part of ongoing efforts to deepen this relationship, the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC) contracted the Spanish firm IE Team to serve as a trade office supporting Puerto Rican companies seeking to expand in Europe, coordinating business agendas, trade shows, and trade missions. These developments are part of Puerto Rico’s growing international positioning, which was designated a main partner of FITUR 2027, in an interagency effort led by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company that includes the DDEC, Invest Puerto Rico, the Ports Authority, and the private sector.<\/p>\n
The forum addressed strengthening bilateral trade between Puerto Rico and Spain, increasing foreign direct investment, opportunities for collaboration in strategic sectors such as energy, infrastructure, digitalization of public services, and advanced manufacturing, as well as Puerto Rico’s role as a gateway to the United States and Caribbean markets.<\/p>\n
Mechanisms to facilitate investment, improve the competitiveness of the regulatory environment, and promote public-private partnerships aimed at sustainable economic development were also discussed.<\/p>\n
As a result of this meeting, the groundwork was laid for new strategic alliances and investment opportunities between Puerto Rico and Spain, including follow-up on trade missions, strengthening institutional cooperation agreements, and identifying priority projects in sectors such as energy, infrastructure, and technology. The parties reaffirmed their commitment to continuing this dialogue through concrete initiatives that will promote economic development and business expansion between the two jurisdictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government of Puerto Rico, in collaboration with the Government of Spain, held the Puerto Rico-Spain Economic Forum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7933,7932,7930,2245,7934,17,7931,7936,7937,4761,7935],"class_list":{"0":"post-13184","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-bilateral-exports","9":"tag-economic-cooperation","10":"tag-foreign-direct-investment","11":"tag-infrastructure-development","12":"tag-market-gateway","13":"tag-spain","14":"tag-strategic-alliances","15":"tag-the-news-journal","16":"tag-the-weekly-journal","17":"tag-trade-ties","18":"tag-w-journal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}