The Catalonia Mission 2021 is designed for companies to establish relationships with international companies through virtual meetings. 

The Mexico Automotive Mission was inaugurated on February 8th with the presence of Mrs. Matilde Villaroya, General Director of Industry of the Government of Catalonia; Mr. Alex Vidal, consultant of ACCIÓ Mexico; Mrs. Gabriela Gándara, Director of ACCIÓ Mexico; and, as part of the strategic alliance with CLAUGTO, Mr. Alfredo Arzola, Director of the Automotive Cluster of Guanajuato, was also present.

Matilde Villaroya, Director General of Industry of the Government of Catalonia, began the inauguration by stating that Catalonia has a dynamic industrial-based economy and is open to the outside world. She mentioned that in 2019, exports grew by over 10% compared to 2018, reaching more than 73,000 billion in exports.

In terms of exports, Mexico is their main trading partner in Latin America; in 2019, exports grew by 3.4%, which represented more than 1,500 million euros, nearly 85% of the exports from the Spanish region to the country.

She also highlighted that there are 481 Catalan affiliates in Mexico. Catalonia has a strategic geographical position as a gateway to Europe and the Mediterranean, which fosters its commercial activities. The automotive sector in Catalonia is the third most important sector after agri-food and chemical industries, both in terms of production and employment, generating around 143,000 direct and indirect jobs and billing more than 23,000 million euros (10% of GDP). It's worth noting that Catalan exports in this sector represent 23.2% of the region's total exports.

Matilde explained that Mexico is the fourth-largest exporter of vehicles worldwide, as 90% of the main automotive parts companies are manufactured in Mexico. The Mexican market offers significant opportunities for Catalan companies supplying OEMs, Tier 2, Tier 3. Therefore, it is relevant to maintain a presence in Mexico.

Alfredo Arzola, the General Director of the Automotive Cluster of Guanajuato, offered attendees the general context of the automotive industry in Mexico. He mentioned that there are 10 assembly plants located in the central region of the country, with 6 of them being in Guanajuato.

Near Guanajuato is the state of San Luis Potosí, where there are BMW and General Motors plants; also nearby is Aguascalientes, home to Daimler's largest plant and one of Nissan's.

Guanajuato has a production capacity of 1 million vehicles. Arzola emphasized that last year we reached nearly 800,000 vehicles produced, and the entire region has the capacity to manufacture around 2 million.

In terms of employment, up until February 2020, the state had experienced an annual growth of 20,000 jobs in the automotive industry. Given the pandemic context, the automotive sector only lost 1,000 jobs in 2020, while the state lost 50,000 overall. This provided attendees with the context of the sector's importance in this region.

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https://event.meetmaps.com/7835848601/ca/virtual/home