A Meeting with Catalonia's President

On the past May 27th, our CEO Marc Esteve had the pleasure to join a meeting with the President of the Government of Catalonia, Molt Honorable Salvador Illa.

Catalan President Salvador Illa with E&P CEO Marc Esteve

The meeting, to discuss perspectives of Catalan entrepreneurs in Japan, was a side event at a gathering with the Catalan community, hosted at the ANA Intercontinental Hotel in Tokyo.

among the topics touched were the Catalan government's support for overseas established companies, the impact of the U.S. tariffs on both the Japanese and the Catalan markets and the impulse of a direct flight connection between Tokyo and Barcelona.

The President was in a tour of Japan to promote business and cultural liasons and attend the Catalan week at the Expo in Osaka. This years marks also the Catalonia-Japan Year, promoted by the government and the Japanese consulate in Barcelona.

In Catalonia 230 Japanese companies have invested more than 42 million euros over the last 5 years in the ICT and machinery sectors and the pharmaceutical industry with firms such as Sony, AGC Pharma Chemicals, Fujitsu, Olympus or Nintendo.

NTT Data stands out, one of the leading companies worldwide in the field of technological consulting and which is the largest Japanese company in Catalonia, with 4,000 associates.

And there are 25 Catalan companies established in Japan. The president met with representatives of some of these companies such as Grifols, Puig, Freixenet, Bodegas Torres, Codorníu, Desigual, Ficosa and Henkell. Illa was accompanied by the president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Josep Santacreu.