As part of the 21st annual Warwick Economics Summit, Nadia Calviño delivered a riveting keynote address to our virtual audience on 5th February, 2022.
Below, you will find our official Summit Press Release for the event, which summarises the speech's highlights, and is accompanied by a collection of the very best quotes from Nadia Calviño at WES 2022.
PRESS RELEASE:
The 21st edition of Warwick Economics Summit, the largest student-run conference in Europe, came to an end on February 6th with a riveting address from the First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain, Nadia Calviño. As the head of Spain's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Calviño focused on the importance of cooperation between members of the European Union in her speech, arguing its importance in achieving long-term sustainable, post-pandemic recovery and growth.
For Calviño, the supra-national coordination of state actions and approaches is key in responding effectively to unprecedented economic shocks - like that meditated by the Covid-19 pandemic. This supra-national coordination should itself emphasise the protection, and regeneration where necessary, of existing economic systems, with Calviño cautioning that "it is much more efficient, and cheaper, to protect than to let something be destroyed, and then have to rebuild from scratch."
Here, Calviño underlined that we have not yet reached the finish line in the process of recovering our economies from Covid-19, or in regenerating our economies to be more resilient against future crises. In particular, Calviño emphasised the role of the youth in leading the debate about overhauling our economic and social structures in order to ensure that everyone can benefit equally, for instance, from the technological progress that has intrinsically accompanied recovery from the pandemic.
"As economists, we need to open up our minds (...) so that we can try to learn as much as possible from each other, and try to shape the future that we want". With these words, Calviño went on to posit that only a multidisciplinary outlook on the challenges and opportunities in the post-pandemic economy will allow us to pursue new, innovative solutions to drive change and guide Spain and other world economies to more equal, sustainable, and inclusive futures.
KEY QUOTES:
"Right now, we are making really important decisions that are going to shape the future, and you will be leading players in this future."
"It is much more efficient, and cheaper, to protect than to let something be destroyed, and then have to rebuild from scratch. This time around, we have acted in a decisive manner in order to ensure that we will protect a strong basis for the recovery [from Covid-19]. That has put us in a good position, facing 2022."
"Our recovery plan incudes two other key axes for our action: social and territorial cohesion, and gender equality. We think these lines of investment are the cross-cutting principles and targets that we should be looking for and acting on in the coming years - if we want to have sustainable and inclusive growth."
"A very important element, a compass that should guide us, is the concept of fairness."
"We are living in the technological revolution, and in previous revolutions we have seen that they have an impact not only on companies, not only on industry, but also on services, on social relations, on the way we live, on the way we interact - even on the functioning of our democracies."
"In times of intense change, such as the ones we are living in, when there is high volatility and uncertainty, there is also opportunity for the creation of new ideas."
"There is a new paradigm that is being built right now. (...) It is really incredible that there's an alignment of planets such that all international institutions and national governments in most jurisdictions around the world are now talking about sustainable and inclusive growth. This kind of language was not used 15 years ago."
Press release written by Ingrid Bahnemann
VIDEO RECORDING OF THE TALK:
You will find the video recording of Nadia Calviño's full talk, delivered at WES 2022, here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/onpn6vmjv9dknaj/AAC5chWgdlGL23BzFXbid8Cba/Day%203?dl=0&preview=calvino+.mp4&subfolder_nav_tracking=1
A NOTE ON PRESS RELEASE REDISTRIBUTION:
If you, or any organisation which you represent (media, educational, or otherwise) would like a bespoke press release regarding Nadia Calviño's WES 2022 talk - or any of our other 2022 talks - please get in touch with our Press and Communications team at presscoordinator@warwickeconomicssummit.com
We are also able to provide full event transcripts, or bespoke collections of quotes from Nadia Calviño's (or any other WES 2022) talk upon request.
Any press release or promotional material issued relating to Nadia Calviño's talk at WES 2022 must explicitly mention Warwick Economics Summit by name. Where this requirement has been upheld, third parties are free to produce and distribute their own press releases at will.