Koldo Arandia was re-elected as the Association’s President after the presentation of the data for the financial year 2009, one of the worst years in the sector’s entire history, and the forecasts for this year.

Invited by AFM, Koldo Saratxaga, the promoter of K2K and Gbe-ner, gave a speech entitled “A new style required for survival”.

In his speech, Saratxaga presented the organisational change based on companies’ most important asset – people – which he put forward as a model for the future social economy.

The Basque Government’s Cabinet, Planning and Strategy Deputy Minister Pedro Gómez Damborenea, the MP for Mobility and Land Planning of the Gipuzkoa Regional Government Arantza Tapia, the Director-General for Innovation and Knowledge Promotion Iñaki Ibarra, the SPRI’s Promotion and Business Development Manager Lara Cuevas and the Mayor of Elgoibar, Alfredo Etxeberria, were some of the people who attended the Assembly and the lunch served afterwards.

Participants from the business world included the respective Presidents of Adegi, Confebask and the Gipuzkoa Chamber of Commerce, Eduardo Zubiaurre, Miguel Lazpiur and Pedro Esnaola and the Managing Directors of BEC and ELKARGI, José Miguel Corres and Jesús Alberdi, in addition to representatives from most of the machine tool manufacturing companies associated to AFM.

The Association paid a tribute to the Catalan firm Industrias Puigjaner, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year and is the Association’s oldest company. Veteran Rafael Casanova also received acknowledgement for his dedication to the machine tool sector throughout his professional career.