With the planned agenda of the Australian Leaders Program now complete, all participants give a very positive assessment of the experience
The traditional farewell luncheon of the Australian Leaders Program, held at the Puerta 57 restaurant, overlooking the interior of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, brought this fourth edition to a close.
Both the participants and the Secretary General of the Council Foundation expressed their satisfaction after an intense week of meetings and activities. Alonso Dezcallar also highlighted the active participation of the Leaders, which contributed to making the meetings dynamic and productive. “Furthermore, the Spanish participants, companies, and institutions also received very useful information about Australia.”
The Leaders, in turn, positively assessed the organization of the Program and the comprehensiveness of its agenda, which, while tight, was interesting. According to Simon Ormbsby, "the more things you do, the more opportunities there are to find common ground". The representativa of the Australian Rail Track Corporation highlighted the meeting at Casa Asia Barcelona, "as well as being able to see how the Spanish Government works on transportation issues, and to study what can be done in Australia".
Jennifer Wiggins, for her part, noted the wide range of institutions and companies she met with during the week. She was pleasantly surprised by the honesty and frankness with which they spoke during the meetings and considered the Spanish companies “very open.”
The Australian Financial Review journalist also commented on the presence of Spanish companies abroad: “I think Australian companies should do the same,” she asserted. However, she did recommend that Spanish companies in Australia be more proactive in their communication efforts as an area for improvement.
Richard Sellers, who also praised the “innovative nature” of Spanish companies, expressed his surprise at discovering the close relationship between Spain and Australia. “Spain is a magnificent country, very welcoming, and our societies are very similar.”
Nicholas Hudson shared this opinion, stating that the relationship between Spain and Australia is “in very good shape.” He also expressed his willingness to promote collaboration between Infrastructure Partnership Australia (IPA) and the Transport and Logistics Observatory in Spain (OTLE) of the Ministry of Public Works.
“Before participating in the Program, I thought Spain was all about relaxation, siestas, guitar playing—the classic stereotypes,” said Simon Ormsby. Thanks to the Leaders Program, however, he was able to appreciate “how internationalized Spanish companies are, how unafraid they are to enter other countries. In Australia, exposure to Spain is limited; thanks to this Program, we have been able to see the technologies in which Spain is a leader.”
