At this meeting, the new tool for financing the process of internationalizing the businesses, the Fund for the Internationalization of Businesses (FIEM), was presented. This fund, the FIEM, can be applied to all projects that are of special interest for the strategy of internationalizing the Spanish economy, both in developed countries and developing countries.

Mr. Iñaki Ortega Cachón, manager of Madrid Emprende, opened the speech by emphasizing "the challenge that Madrid’s small and mid-sized businesses have in positioning themselves in the international arena"; Mr. Martín García Vaquero, President of the Innovation Forum and Ms. Marianne Koefoed, President of the Spanish-Danish Chamber of Commerce also took part.

The presentation on the FIEM fund was handled by Mr. Carlos Jiménez Aguirre (Sub-Director General of Financial Internationalisation Development of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism, and Trade). Carlos Jiménez emphasized that the fund finances "what the Spanish people do, even though it is not done in Spain," and hence it is also open to the branch offices of Spanish companies abroad.

The guiding principles of the FIEM are: internationalization of the economy while keeping coherence with and becoming integrated in the rest of the policies; complementing the actions of the market; coordination of other tools (CESCE, COFIDES, ICO, and ICEX); coherence with the international regulatory framework, and the efficiency in the use of public resources.

The event also had a presentation on the State-operated Spanish Company P4R, which was under the direction of Mr. Juan Barba, the Company’s General Manager. Its name comes from a chess movement for king’s pawn opening, known as the "Spanish opening".

P4R is a consultancy with public capital dedicated to Internationalization and Cooperation, and it is specialized in commercial and financial assessment for Spanish companies in export operations and investment. Among the commercial services provided for Spanish companies they provide the identification of business opportunities, the identification of local businesses and search for local services, collaboration in creating consortiums and support in the relationships with the authorities in the country of operation.
In order to carry out its internationalization process, Spanish companies need financing tools that support this process in an adequate and coordinated manner. Madrid City Council, through its agency Madrid Emprende, strives to support the efforts of the City of Madrid’s entrepreneurs, and to raise awareness of tools such as the FIEM, which provides financial resources for foreign expansion.

The video of the event is available at the following link (in Spanish):

http://www.froozetv.com/alacarta/?p=397

The presentation on the FIEM fund used by Mr. Carlos Jiménez Aguirre is available here (in Spanish):

http://www.slideshare.net/madridemprende/fondo-para-la-internacionalizacin-de-la-empresa-fiem

The presentation used by Mr. Juan Barba of P4R is also attached.