Inaugural speech at IMEX"04

Your Excellency, Councillor for Economy and Citizen Participation of the Madrid City Council, illustrious gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen:
As director of IMEX, I welcome you to what we have called the largest international business event. IMEX is therefore a meeting place for businesspeople, primarily Spanish, but also open to businesspeople from any background; to achieve, through these meetings and contacts, the practical goal that every businessperson desires: to do business.
This auditorium will host the six roundtables that define the 2nd International Business Congress. As the brochure you received indicates, these roundtables will showcase the six key markets or groups of markets that no internationally minded company should overlook: Spain's main trading partners; the business opportunities offered by the countries that will join the EU in just over two months; business possibilities in North Africa; the vast Russian market; the Chinese market, of course!; and finally, the complex American market. I sincerely believe that, thanks to the invaluable collaboration of the diplomatic corps representatives here in Spain, combined with the insights of the business leaders participating in these roundtables, and enriched by the contributions of the audience—I'm referring to you, the true protagonists of international trade—we will have the opportunity to see the realities of doing business in these global markets.
But as you know, the 2nd International Business Congress is one of the seven components of IMEX. I urge you to visit the exhibition area, meet with the economic and commercial advisors, attend one of the interesting conferences specializing in foreign trade, and come to the dinner being held here today at the Municipal Congress Palace, where the director of Moneda Única will present the call for entries for the IMEX awards, which will be presented next year.
The economic magazine Moneda Única, which you are surely all familiar with, and which organizes IMEX (Impulso Exterior), does not cease in its endeavor, begun three years ago, to communicate coherently, truthfully, and without political bias, all those issues that can ease the arduous business task abroad.
And this is IMEX. The fact that it doesn't have the support of some government agencies that focus their efforts on propelling Spanish companies abroad is not, and will not be, an obstacle for the many other institutions, development agencies, financial entities, and companies that have wholeheartedly and wholeheartedly supported this initiative. Ultimately, what you, the business community, truly value is dynamism, business effectiveness, and the efficient use of resources, and that is precisely what you can find at IMEX.
My thanks to the Madrid City Council, to you personally, Madam Councillor, whose presence encourages us to continue along the lines of action mentioned, to the sponsors and collaborators of this meeting, whose symbolic yet important help has made this business meeting possible.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Chairman of the Editorial Board, Alfredo Rambla, for his invaluable contributions to the Scientific Secretariat of IMEX.
I would also like to congratulate Felipe Núñez, the director of Moneda Única, and his entire team for their daily work in producing the magazine, consistently improving their standards. And of course, I extend my gratitude to all of you business owners, for whom all our actions are essential, as they are all designed to alleviate, as I mentioned before, the difficult task of achieving business success in foreign markets. Thank you all.