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Enrique Riquelme Brings the Need to Strengthen Energy Infrastructure in Latin America to the UN General Assembly

  • Cox’s Chairman and Founder took part in one of the business meetings held as part of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, which brings together representatives from nearly 190 countries in New York to address the main global challenges. 
  • Cox’s Chairman highlighted the need to advance regulatory certainty, bankable projects and public-private partnerships to accelerate investment in energy and infrastructure. 
  • Riquelme’s institutional agenda in the United States will continue throughout the week with his participation in various meetings related to Ibero-America, culminating on Friday with the closing of a conference focused on the region’s challenges and opportunities.
 

Madrid, September 23, 2026.  As part of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, being held from September 22 to 28 in New York and bringing together representatives from nearly 190 countries, Enrique Riquelme, Chairman and Founder of Cox, has participated in various meetings focused on the main economic, social and energy challenges at a global level.

As part of the conference program, Cox’s Chairman took part in the panel “Boosting Competitiveness: A Bi-Regional Alliance to Finance a Just Energy Transition and Resilient Growth,” co-organized by CEAPI (Business Council Alliance for Ibero-America) and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), where he shared the company’s perspective on the challenges and opportunities of the energy transition in Latin America and the Caribbean.

During his intervention, Enrique Riquelme stressed that “we are experiencing a global context of high uncertainty and volatility, and these types of meetings are essential spaces for dialogue to generate opportunities for regional cooperation in the face of an adverse global situation.” He also added that this context “hampers investment and the ability of governments to act in areas as critical as energy and water, essential infrastructure for life, the economy, productivity, digitalization, industrialization and social stability.” He also warned that the current geopolitical context makes it more difficult for governments to invest and to promote strategic projects in areas such as energy and water, infrastructure that he described as essential for life, productivity, digitalization, industrialization and social stability.

One of the key messages conveyed by Cox’s founder was the need to strengthen electricity grids to enable an effective energy transition. In this regard, he stated that “the present and future of the energy transition depends on the existence of modern, flexible and interconnected grids,” emphasizing that the electrification of the economy, the expansion of data centers, artificial intelligence and electric mobility will require significantly greater energy capacity and grid quality than today.

Enrique Riquelme’s institutional agenda in the United States will continue over the coming days with further participation in meetings focused on strengthening relations between Europe and Latin America. Next Friday, Cox’s Chairman will close a conference focused on the challenges and opportunities facing Ibero-America, reaffirming the company’s commitment to developing international partnerships in strategic sectors such as energy, water and infrastructure.

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Luis Arizaga Zárate

Independent Director

Member of the Audit Committee

Date of appointment: September 17, 2024

Shareholding in Cox Abg Group, S.A.: 11,514 shares

Partner of Exus Management Partners (Exus) and GenuX Power, a global renewable energy platform with offices in nine countries, managing 11GW of installed capacity, including 2.6GW in Mexico between wind and solar energy projects. Holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at NYU in New York, and a bachelors degree in Accounting and Finance from ITESM in Mexico.

Prior to joining EXUS in 2019, he founded EIRA Capital, an investment platform focused on Energy and Infrastructure transactions in Mexico, and Latin America. He was also part of Australia’s Macquarie Group in Latin America, where he spent more than 7 years in the Macquarie Capital and Macquarie Funds divisions, working on fund capital raising, equity investments, asset management activities, as well as third party advisory roles on energy and infrastructure transactions in Mexico and Latin America. During his years at Macquarie, he also held board positions in the several investments made by Macquarie which covered energy, public private partnerships, roads, and telecom companies. In addition, his previous involvement at financial institutions include positions in the investment banking teams of Deutsche Bank’s M&A group in New York, and Citibank’s M&A group in Mexico.

Other former relevant positions include his role as independent member of the investment committee of the Instituto del Fondo Nacional de la Vivienda para los Trabajadores (Mexican mortgages and housing government agency).

Enrique Riquelme Vives

Presidente Ejecutivo

Fecha de nombramiento: 17 de septiembre de 2024

Participación en el capital social de Cox Infrastructure Group, S.A.: 50.612.744  acciones

Presidente Ejecutivo de Cox, tras iniciar su andadura profesional en el sector inmobiliario y de la construcción, en 2010 fundó Grupo El Sol en Panamá, especializado en operaciones de minería, cemento, infraestructuras y energía. Con el tiempo, la empresa se convertiría en el mayor proveedor de arena de la UTE responsable de la ampliación del canal de Panamá. Posteriormente, pasó a liderar las fases de oferta y desarrollo de Rainbow 50: el proyecto fotovoltaico de mayor envergadura ejecutado en América Latina hasta aquel momento.

Ha recibido varios galardones por su contribución al mundo empresarial en España, entre ellos el Premio del Certamen Nacional de Jóvenes Emprendedores 2018. También ha sido distinguido como uno de los «100 latinos más influyentes comprometidos con la acción climática» y uno de los «100 españoles más creativos del mundo de los negocios» según la revista Forbes. Actualmente, es miembro del Consejo Internacional de la San Telmo Business School y preside el Consejo Asesor de la Fundación Scholas para Panamá, Centroamérica y Caribe.