At the Business Summit 2025 held in Barcelona on July 10, business organizations from Aragón, Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands agreed to increase their trade exchanges from €47.5 billion to €60 billion by 2030, addressing economic challenges and the housing crisis.
Objectives and Economic Challenges
The business organizations from the four Spanish regions have set a goal to increase their trade exchanges to €60 billion by 2030. This increase aims to respond to the need to boost economic growth and the international projection of the Mediterranean axis.
One of the most pressing issues addressed at the summit was the need to construct 220,000 homes annually in these communities to avoid a deficit that could exceed 3 million homes by 2039. In the year 2024, only 136,187 homes were initiated, leaving an annual deficit of between 80,000 and 100,000 units.
Josep Sánchez Llibre from Foment del Treball emphasized the importance of eliminating bureaucracy and rejected the reduction of the working day by law. Carmen Planas from CAEB stressed the need for a balance between economic progress and citizen welfare. Salvador Navarro from CEV advocated for a regional financing model that promotes equity and territorial cohesion. Meanwhile, Miguel Marzo from CEOE Aragón highlighted interregional cooperation as key to achieving the proposed trade objectives.
Decalogue for Competitiveness
The business organizations agreed on a decalogue of ten priorities to strengthen competitiveness, which includes social dialogue and legal security, as well as innovation and digitalization, competitive taxation, and strategic infrastructures such as the Mediterranean Corridor.
This joint commitment also includes pressure on the Government to implement structural reforms that prioritize the business environment, considered essential for the sustainability of the Welfare State. Cooperation among these regions is presented as fundamental for achieving the established economic objectives.
