Minister for Industry, Energy and Tourism opens two factories owned by Mondragon Group and visits Chinese technology firm Huawei

Wednesday 19 September 2012

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The Minister for Industry, Energy and Tourism, José Manuel Soria, officially opened a vehicle components factory owned by Fagor Ederlan and another factory making rubber parts for vehicles and electrical appliances owned by Cikautxo, both part of the Mondragon Group, in Kunshan, near Shanghai, China.

He also visited the innovation centre at the Chinese multinational technology firm Huawei and finally attended a meeting with Spanish business leaders that was organised by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in China. On the previous day of his trip to China, Tuesday, the minister visited the helicopter simulator owned by Indra for Eurocopter in Beijing.

At the meeting held with business leaders at the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in China, which has a total of 473 members, José Manuel Soria highlighted the excellent progress being made by Spain in its process to expand overseas. The leadership demonstrated by a large number of Spanish multinational companies and the increase in exports and Spanish investments overseas reflect the capacity of Spain's production fabric to compete within a context of global expansion in economic affairs and trade.

José Manuel Soria highlighted the need to maintain progress on this transition towards a new production model that is more open and internationalised, and supported by a growing number of companies that are exporting and investing overseas. These companies are also the main channel for incorporating such features as the generation of stable and qualified employment, increased innovation, a resistance to cyclical change via market diversification and the positive transfer of skills and know-how to the rest of the production system into the Spanish economy.

Within this context, China is one of the main countries where Spanish companies will find growth opportunities in the future.

Bilateral trade has increased exponentially over the last decade and direct Spanish investment has accelerated significantly in recent years, with an estimated 600 Spanish companies now operating in the country.

The minister told the Spanish business leaders at the meeting that the Government is absolutely willing to collaborate on fostering internationalisation and supporting their entry into the Chinese market, measures that accompany efforts on fiscal consolidation and structural reforms by the Government aimed at returning the country to balanced, sustainable growth capable of creating jobs.

Opening two new factories owned by the Mondragon Group

Early on Wednesday morning, the Minister for Industry, Energy and Tourism attended the official opening of the two new production plants owned by the Mondragon Group in Kunshan, near Shanghai, together with the Director-General for Industry, Manuel Valle, and the Director-General for Trade and Investment, Antonio Fernández-Martos. The plants in question are a vehicle component factory owned by Fagor Ederlan and another owned by the Cikautxo cooperative that makes rubber parts for the automotive industry and electrical appliances.

José Manuel Soria, who visited the new factories together with a team of executives from the Mondragon Group, the Councillor for Industry, Trade and Tourism of the Regional Government of the Basque Country, Bernabé Unda, and numerous Chinese authorities, including the Mayor of Kunshan, Mr. Lu, highlighted the work undertaken by this business group in China, which now owns 18 factories and employs more than 2,000 people in the country after operations that span more than a quarter of a century.

At a time when the Government wishes to facilitate the internationalisation of the Spanish business fabric, the minister said that the activity of the Mondragon Group and the new factories at Kunshan Park are a fine example of an important cluster of Spanish companies that have been capable of adapting to the strong competition from the Chinese market in such an important part of the economy as the automotive sector, among others.

The joint investment made by the cooperatives to build and open the two new factories amounts to approximately 40 million euros. The project undertaken by Fagor Ederlan that is focused on the production of chassis components for the automotive industry in China represents an investment of 30 million euros. Investment in the factory owned by Cikautxo, which makes parts and assemblies using polymer materials, exceeds 7 million euros.

Internships and an innovation centre with Huawei technology

During his visit to Shanghai, José Manuel Soria visited the installations of the innovation and development centre owned by the Chinese telecom solutions provider Huawei, together with Guotian Min, the Vice-President of Huawei Technologies, and Walter Ji, CEO of Huawei in Spain and Portugal.

Huawei is a Chinese multinational telecom solutions provider that offers its services to the majority of operators around the world. Its products and solutions are used in more than 140 countries and cater to the communication needs of one third of the world's population. The company's Spanish affiliate, which last year celebrated its tenth anniversary in Spain, has 5 regional offices, a central headquarters in Madrid and employs almost 1,000 professionals in Spain.

After visiting the innovation centre, the Spanish minister signed a partnership agreement between Huawei and the School for Industrial Organisation (Escuela de Organización Industrial (EOI)), operated under the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, under which both parties will develop an annual training programme with 10 internships for Spanish telecommunications students, who will receive the opportunity to work at the R&D centres owned by the company in China.

Furthermore, the Minister for Industry, Energy and Tourism and the Vice-President of Huawei Technologies also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the ministry and the company to set up a joint working group to explore the possibility of establishing a new R&D centre in Spain.

The minister highlighted Huawei's commitment to innovation and said that Spain is a good investment choice as the country has skilled and creative human resources conducive to the undertaking of activities with considerable added value. He went on to say that the Spanish telecommunications market boasts significant business volume and Spanish companies have an important presence in such emerging markets as Ibero-America, thus making Spain a perfect springboard for the development of activities aimed at this emerging region. Furthermore, Spain has announced it will be deploying new 4G technologies in a year's time, as it did last year with GSM technology.

Visit to the helicopter simulator owned by Indra for Eurocopter

On Tuesday, and shortly before travelling to Shanghai, the Minister for Industry, Energy and Tourism, also visited the helicopter simulator owned by Indra for Eurocopter at the EADS installations in Beijing, which represents a milestone in the Chinese aeronautical sector as it forms part of the process to deregulate its air space. For the time being, only the Chinese Authorities and a limited number of companies have authorisation to fly helicopters in Chinese skies. However, this situation is expected to change in the short term due for the entry of new operators.

Therefore, the expected explosion of new companies will exponentially increase the demand for helicopter pilot training services. Indra and Eurocopter will thus be in a good position to provide these services as they will be the first to offer this type of training based on the demands set by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).