(Cadiz, November 15, 2012) - The president of the Spanish Business Confederation of Social Economy (CEPES), Juan Antonio Pedreño, is defending the Business Summit being held today in which the conclusions of the XXII Latin American Summit is a commitment to co-operatives and the Social Economy.
The objective of their presence in this important event is to highlight the contribution of the business model of the social economy to the integral development of the countries of the Latin American Community of Nations. Along with the president of CEPES, also assists Emili Villaescusa, Counselor of CEPES and responsible for Corporate Social Responsibility.
Based on this contribution, CEPES Board agreed that along with the Latin American Foundation for the Social Economy (FUNDIBES) Requested the representatives of the Latin American Community continue to show their commitment to the social economy enterprises a major player in the Ibero-American agenda, so as to put in place projects and programs at the regional level to encourage their growth and settlement .
At previous summits different national governments and international institutions and stressed to cooperatives and other organizations of the social economy as elements that strengthen the participatory nature of democracy, promote job creation, support the fight against poverty, announce the integration and social cohesion - inparticularly women, youth, and adults with disabilities - generating a high development conditions.
According Pedreño with these perspectives in the current crisis "Social Economy companies have become a preferred source for the generation and maintenance of employment worldwide."
Moreover, more recently the European Economic and Social Committee has stressed that the Social Economy in Latin America is "a key tool in the fight for decent work and overcoming socio-economic informality, resulting in essential developmental processes Local and social cohesion ".
All this is reflected by the strong presence in Latin America in this way of doing business, which according FUNDIBES, is calculated so that we can talk about the existence of more than 700,000 Social Economy organizations that bring together about 14 million members.
Social Economy in Spain accounts for 10% of GDP, with revenues of over 76,000 million euros, and the interests of nearly 44,000 companies, more than 2.39 million jobs and more than 12.5 million of associated persons.
In this way and in the name of FUNDIBES and CEPES has been requested to include the following paragraph in the conclusions of the Summit of Cadiz:
'Since cooperative enterprises and social economy are a key player in the creation and maintenance of sustainable, quality employment and in overcoming socioeconomic informality, and proving all essential in the process of local development and cohesion social, Ibero-American cooperation will promote initiatives that encourage the development ofcooperatives and social economy, in response to the priorities established by the United Nations in 2012 to mark the International Year of Cooperatives "
