Last week, a number of representatives of London-based companies such as Lloyds, Royal Scotland and Sequel attended a forum that aimed to present Malaga as a city with various commercial opportunities. Hosted by SUR, the mayor of Malaga spoke about the Malague\u00f1an city as a place in which to do business, a city which is attractive to live in and for work, and to collaborate in an economy with sustainable growth.<\/p>\n
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The quality of life and culture are the pillars upon which Malaga\u2019s prestigious reputation is founded. In recent months, the city in which Picasso was born has started to appear more frequently on the lists of places which offer the most to visitors, not only because of its natural attractions, but also because of its wide-ranging services and facilities. International media praise Malaga as a city of culture with top marks for quality of life.<\/p>\n
International media including newspapers such as the New York Times, the Telegraph, the Guardian and the Independent have all featured Malaga as a top destination that particularly packs a considerable cultural punch against its other European counterparts. On an economic level, Malaga\u2019s GDP is growing at the third highest rate in Spain and is also higher than that registered for Andaluc\u00eda as a whole.<\/p>\n
In 2015, gross foreign investment in Andaluc\u00eda doubled compared with the previous year, returning to 2012 levels and placing it as the fourth region in Spain in terms of foreign investment. Andaluc\u00eda has a complete support system for the business sector: a modern network of technology and science parks, technological centres and centres of excellence to support the innovative activities of companies which already have a presence in Andaluc\u00eda including multinational companies such as Oracle, Accenture, TDK, Ericsson and Huawei.<\/p>\n
Andaluc\u00eda also has an excellent communications infrastructure: ten commercial ports, including Algeciras which is the top port on the Mediterranean and fourth in terms of freight traffic after Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg (for container traffic it is sixth after Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Bremen and Valencia); six airport of which five are international; high-speed train connections between Seville-Cordoba-Malaga and Madrid, Zaragoza, Barcelona and Valencia; 10,420 kilometres of highways and 10.6 million square metres of logistics area in service.<\/p>\n