A relevant meeting took place in Cadiz (Spain) from the 22nd to the 25th of October 2002: the VI Conferencia Latinoamericana de Zonas Francas-Managerial Forum for the investment and trade between Europe and America, which gathered over 300 representatives of companies established in the free trade areas (industrial/manufacturing, commercial and services), State authorities and other relevant institutions (European Union, Free Zone Consortia, Comité de Zonas Francas de las Américas, etc.). Since 1986 all Spanish Free Zones have been obliged to comply to EEC regulation or to adapt their practices to EEC directives enacted to harmonize the legislation of the Member States; this has meant losing their industrial, their fiscal benefits and their extraterritoriality as they form now part of the EU customs-controlled area. The Free Zones in Spain have played a very important role in developing the Spanish industrial sector and economy. They have been established when the economy of Spain used to be very in-wards. As a matter of fact they have dynamised the economy and created a competitive economic space. Trade links between Spain and Latin America are not new: Spain was the main direct investor in South America in the second half of the 20th century while in the first half the prevailing investment was English and Dutch. Today, particularly strong are the economic and cultural relationships between Spain and the Latin America Countries, may they belong to the Andean Community, MERCOSUR, NAFTA, or ALCA.
