references
1.4. Montemadrid Foundation
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JOSÉ GUIRAO CABRERA, GENERAL DIRECTOR OF THE MONTEMADRID FOUNDATION
IFEMA’s experience over its 35-year history gives us reason to feel proud. The over 80 million people who have enjoyed its facilities since it opened its doors in 1980, the thousands of companies who have participated in its trade fairs and provided impetus to their businesses, and the jobs created through its activities; these are all the fruit of coordinated work between public and private institutions. This is an activity, combined with a Feria de Madrid exhibition complex, which is not just a point of entry and encounter for the different business sectors. It is also, and most especially, a driving force for Madrid’s economic development. IFEMA should be congratulated because in 2015 over 2.7 million people visited the different trade fairs and events hosted at Feria de Madrid. However, this is no time to be complacent. We need to address the constant need to analyse those aspects where there is still room for improvement. This is why we should highlight in the year just ended the endeavours made by the consortium’s institutions to progress still further in the professionalisation of IFEMA’s management. The months spent studying and changing the Statutes is the first step in the renewal that must be overseen by an institution whose aim and purpose is to energise entrepreneurial activity and the economy itself.
It gives the Montemadrid Foundation satisfaction to share with IFEMA many of our lines of action and the values that we as an institution wish to represent. The areas to which we devote our attention are solidarity, the environment, culture and education and these are present at Feria de Madrid year on year in the form of the agreements with some of the most notable NGOs; the presence at events that cover these fields, such as GENERA, the Energy and Environment International Trade Fair, Mulafest, the Urban Life & Arts Festival; ARCOmadrid; and the International Contemporary Art Fair, or AULA, the International Educational Opportunities Exhibition. This collaboration is the most visible part of a commitment that enables the professionals who open IFEMA’s doors each day to enrich trade fair business and contribute to entrepreneurial momentum and development. We congratulate all of them on another positive year.