• Its president, Juan Antonio Pedreño, stresses the importance of promoting more responsible production and consumption models globally, which promote transparent and participatory businesses that end with job insecurity and inequalities, such as the social economy.
• His intervention was framed in the II Ibero-American Forum on Social Economy and Sustainable Development Goals organized yesterday in Seville before government officials and representatives of the social economy 15 countries of Latin America.
Madrid, June 7, 2018.
The president of the Spanish Business Confederation of Social Economy (CEPES), Juan Antonio Pedreño , reiterated yesterday in Seville that Social Economy companies represent a fundamental role in achieving the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Pedreño made the remarks in the framework of the II Ibero-American Social Economy Forum " Strategies and Partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals" organized by the Federation of Cooperatives of Associated Labor of Andalusia (FAECTA) and the Andalusian School of Social Economy Foundation these days in Seville, where representatives of more than 15 countries participate.
The President of CEPES closed a session of this Forum, moderated by the Costa Rican Ambassador in Spain Doris Osterlof, which addressed the key role of cooperatives and the social economy in Latin America. The interventions of the Deputy Minister responsible for Social Economy and SMEs of Honduras, Mario Kafati, of the President of the Gender Committee of the International Cooperative Alliance and Director of the Association of Cooperatives of Colombia, Eugenia Pérez, and Mario Radrigán, former Director of Social Economy of the Government of Chile, coincided in pointing to the social economy as a key actor in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Latin America.
Pedreño said in his speech that it is time to work to give greater prominence to the social economy in an international context in which countries, European Institutions and international organizations are betting on the SDGs and are designing the future of work with the objective of building a more just, solidary, democratic and sustainable society.
He affirmed that "the social economy responds to these objectives by providing a transparent and participatory business model, which promotes more responsible production and consumption models that also respond to new social needs and, above all, generate quality employment and growth inclusive economic ".
For the President of CEPES, the responses of the social economy to the new economic, social or environmental challenges and the way in which this business model adapts to technological changes, such as digitization or artificial intelligence, will be factors key that will affect a reduction of inequalities, which is one of the most pressing problems that affect our societies.
Juan Antonio Pedreño also valued very positively the celebration of the Seville Forum, because it is "fair at the local and regional level where it should be made known and demonstrate what the social economy contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. These companies respond to the ODS because they are able to combine their relationship with the territories where they are born, with a global presence, since the social economy generates 7% of GDP and employment in the world ".
