The opening ceremony has been celebrated in the Universitat de València and it has been conducted by the mayor of Burjassot, Rafael García, by the regional ministry deputy of Sustainable Economy, Productive Sectors, Trade and Work, Rafael Climent, by the principal of the Universitat de València, Mª Vicenta Mestre, by the general director of Social Responsibility, Participation and Cooperation, Josep Ochoa and by the councillor of Economic Promotion of the City Hall of Burjassot, Roc Senent.

The mayor Rafael García supported the ‘urge necessary to have a sustainable economy and socially and environmentally engaged which implies congresses such as the one being celebrated today, as the society welfare must be the main objective to develop in the future.’

During her speech, Mª Vicenta Mestre highlighted the objective of this congress: ‘contributing to changing the Valencian productive model, what necessarily implies the structuring of production in responsible, sustainable and cooperative organisations.

What has highlighted the regional ministry deputy Rafael Climent is that ‘we are in a transformation process of the economic model, which will become a more respectful, social and environmental model.’ ‘As the professor of the Universitat de València Adela Cortina says, ethics in the business generates profits and benefits, and that is what we have to look for’, highlighted the regional ministry deputy.

This first edition of the National Congress of Social Responsibility and Cooperativism will be celebrated from the 23th and 24th of January and it has the purpose of achieving the current expectations of the target groups, not only with the purpose of building a more sustainable, economic, social and environmental development, but also of improving the competitiveness and sustainability of the business having any model or format.