Madrid, Spain, March 4, 2013 - The Director General of Casa América, Tomás Poveda, says the institution will also focus on collaborating with the Marca España.

Casa América will this year devote a large part of its work to helping small and medium-sized Spanish companies internationalise in the Americas, and will also be cooperating with the Marca España – despite budget and staff cuts.

Its Director General, Tomás Poveda, explained that the institution, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year and has a budget of €3 million, will not only focus on continuing with its traditional cultural agenda, but will also increase its institutional and economic activity.

The idea is for Casa América to serve as a point of reference in relations with the Americas and a meeting point where the continent’s embassies in Spain can present the reality of the current situation in their countries. It also wants to act a pivot with the Americas for Spanish entrepreneurs and SMEs, enabling them to establish themselves in these countries, as well as in Brazil and the United States, and also to attract foreign investment.

This year, Casa América will be organising the Hispano-German Forum and the High-Level Meeting of UN agencies in April. It will also be monitoring the elections in Chile, Honduras and Paraguay, celebrating the tricentennial of the birth of Fray Junípero Serra, and commemorating the fifth centenary of the arrival of Ponce de León in Florida and Vasco Núñez de Balboa’s sighting of the Pacific Ocean. In the economic sphere, the body will also be hosting a forum on Chile and another one on a particular state of the United States, which is yet to be confirmed.

Casa América’s relations with the Spanish Senate’s Committee on Ibero-American Affairs will also be further strengthened, with senators participating in activities that Casa América organises with Latin American leaders, ministers and senior civil servants. Members of the Committee on Ibero-American Affairs will also be studying ongoing electoral processes in Latin America.