^{Roberto Sánchez, Reyes Maroto, queen Letizia, Julissa Reynoso and María Peña}

The Queen of Spain presided over the ceremony that marked the beginning of the mission, and which includes conferences, institutional meetings, site visits and meetings with companies, technicians and Spanish talent.

This activity is part of the 'Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe' plan launched by the Government to consolidate this strategic industry, in line with the Digital Spain agenda and deployment of the Recovery Plan.

A delegation of members from the United States Motion Picture Association (MPA) and other top US audiovisual platforms and companies took part in an information day chaired by Queen Letizia on the opportunities offered by the Spanish audiovisual ecosystem. Her Majesty was accompanied by the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, who stressed that Spain is extremely well placed to become a leading European and global audiovisual hub. This is because the country boasts a wealth of creative and innovative talent in every profession related to the audiovisual arts, as evidenced by the international success of numerous television series and films created and developed in Spain.

This technical seminar is part of a reverse training mission organised by the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure, ICEX-Invest in Spain and the Spain Film Commission, which aims to raise awareness of Spain's audiovisual ecosystem, its strengths and the opportunities it provides.

Today's session saw the presentation of regulatory updates on tax incentives and visa management, as well as the Spanish Government's main projects to promote the audiovisual industry. The Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure, Roberto Sánchez, highlighted the value of the ‘Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe’ plan launched a year ago, and the measures implemented to consolidate the industry and turn Spain into a magnet for attracting film shoots and investment.

In relation to this, María Peña, CEO of ICEX España Exportación e Inversiones, gave an overview of the 'Spain Audiovisual Bureau', a centralised information point for dealing with all queries related to the internationalisation of the industry, both with a view to attracting investment and film shoots to Spain, and to help Spanish companies and productions to implement their projects abroad.

The programme for the mission, which will run until 14 May, includes site visits, meetings with companies and talent from the sector in Spain and institutional meetings. Those taking part in the mission attended a welcome reception on Sunday 8 May, where they were introduced to the strengths of the Spanish audiovisual industry by the First Vice-President of the Government and Minister for Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño; the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, and the Minister of Culture and Sport, Miquel Iceta, as well as the President of the Spain Film Commission, Carlos Rosado. The mission will tour several regions of Spain, the plan being to travel to Seville, where a day will be spent networking with film commissions from all over Spain and visiting locations for future shoots, and also the Canary Islands, to visit possible filming locations and learn about the region’s audiovisual business ecosystem, as well as its special tax system.

Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe

This activity is part of the audiovisual industry promotion plan ‘Spain Audiovisual Hub of Europe’, launched by the Spanish Government in March 2021, and key to the Digital Spain agenda.

The aim of the plan is to turn Spain into Europe's main audiovisual hub by promoting national audiovisual production in the digital era, and by attracting investment and economic activity. One of the goals is to achieve a 30% increase in audiovisual production in the country by 2025. The plan encompasses all activities and services throughout the audiovisual industry, in all formats: cinema, series, short films, advertising, video games and animation, etc. Public investment of 1.603 billion euros is planned for the period 2021-2025.

The measures are structured around four key pillars and based on three priorities: making Spain a magnet for audiovisual production; reducing administrative and regulatory costs; improving the competitiveness of companies through the application of new technologies that enable them to compete in a digital market, and generating talent by reducing the gender gap.

Last March saw the launch of the new Spain Audiovisual Hub portal, which provides information about the plan and is aimed at both the industry in Spain, and foreign companies interested in producing here. In view of the revolution it has undergone in recent years the Spanish government has made the audiovisual sector one of its priority industries.

^{_{This activity is part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, funded by the European Union through the NextGeneration EU Fund}}