WASHINGTON.- United States President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will participate this week in the annual virtual conference of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, where they will highlight the importance of Hispanic businesses in the country’s economy.
The White House told Efe on Monday that Biden recorded a video message that will be broadcast on Tuesday, during the first day of the virtual conference, while Harris will speak in a session on Wednesday.
According to the conference agenda, the panel in which Biden will participate will focus on the importance of Hispanic companies for the economic future of the country, and will begin at 11:00 am in Washington (15:00 GMT).
“Our future depends on Hispanic-owned businesses, who play a key role in building the nation’s business future and maintaining our collective economic vitality,” the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce said.
The same panel will also include the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, Janet Yellen, and the director of the Administration of Small Business of the United States (SBA, in English), Isabel Guzmán, who is the only Latina woman in the cabinet of Biden.
In addition, Democratic senators Alex Padilla and Tim Kaine will participate, along with Congressmen Nydia Velázquez and Raúl Ruiz, the latter president of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC).
For her part, Harris will be the main speaker in another session scheduled for Wednesday at 11:00 am (15:00 GMT), and which will focus on “the role that politics and legislation can play” given the growth of the Hispanic population and its companies in the country, according to the Chamber of Commerce.
Also participating in this session will be the US Secretary of National Security, Alejandro Mayorkas; Democratic Senators Catherine Cortez-Masto and Ben Cardin; and the congresswoman of the same party Maxine Waters, in addition to the Republican legislator Anthony Gonzalez and the president of UnidosUS, Janet Murguía.
The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce represents more than 4.7 million Hispanic-owned businesses, which together contribute $ 800 billion annually to the US economy.
The economic crisis derived from COVID-19 has particularly harmed small Latino businesses, which in have had difficulty accessing federal loans and have done so at a much lower level than other groups in the country.
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