Madrid, June 12, 2012.

COFIDES chairman Salvador Marin, and COFIDES deputy director of Strategy and Business Development, Cristina Mena, have held a meeting this morning with members of the Confederation of Entreprises of Cartagena (COEC), which explained the different resources funding available to this institution.

In a meeting that took place in COEC, Cartagena, Salvador Marín exposed to these entrepreneurs COFIDES financing options to support companies that want to internationalize. In the workshop participated, among others, the director of the Institute of Development in the Región of Murcia director, Juan Hernandez, COEC chairman, Pedro Pablo Hernández, the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Navigation of Cartagena chairman Miguel Martinez and COEC secretary-general, Juan Carlos Garcia Rodenas.

"Large companies have been already internationalized. Now our priority is to help SMEs to go abroad and achieve to be more competitive, more productive and generate more employment in Spain too”, said Salvador Marin.

In fact, COFIDES chairman has noted that "we have a wide variety of financing tools, from loans to equity investments, to suit the needs of businesses".

In addition, he has also pointed out that "employers in the region and, therefore, Cartagena and its surroundings, are showing together with the support of its regional government, development that I would call as excellent in the area exporter”. In this regard, he has remarked that "they have some very competitive products and services, so they must dare to take the next step, invest to create jobs and stability on and off, as data testify to this, in Cartagena and its surroundings".

After the meeting, Marin has invited the heads of COEC to spread COFIDES activity among Cartagena entrepreneurs because, as he has stressed, "we want every entrepreneur who wants to expand its business overseas know that we support them". Thus, he has recalled the agreement signed last May between COFIDES and Development Agency of Murcia, to assist entrepreneurs in the Region of Murcia.

COFIDES is a public-private partnership that provides financial support for investments by Spanish companies abroad. It manages a resource volume of approximately 1,400 million euro and has a solid experience as Development Financial Institution specialized in promoting the internationalization of Spanish companies. Under the Secretary of State for Trade, also participate in its shareholder Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Banco Santander and Banco Sabadell.