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Seoul , 15/10/2013 ( EFE ) . – The spanish Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism Jose Manuel Soria , defended today in Seoul the "significant commitment to innovation " of South Korea, which can provide a valuable lesson to Spain to overcome the crisis and begin the road to recovery .

Soria , in an interview with Efe in the first two days of his visit to South Korea, said : " When we see a giant like Samsung, with 370,000 employees and 50,000 engineers, we get an idea of the importance of innovation " in the economy of a country.

Heading into his meeting today with representatives of the South Korean electronics giant, Soria said that " we will make available to Samsung increase its presence in R & D in Spain “, today less than in other European countries.

The minister acknowledged that the rise of South Korea, Asia's fourth largest economy , and his technological and digital power " is preceded by important policies in education " , of which emphasized the high preparing students in mathematics, something that has also Minister noted .

Asked about the cuts in expenses currently affecting education and R & D in Spain , he explained that before expanding investment in these sectors is necessary to generate confidence abroad through policies of austerity.

"The policy of austerity is creating greater confidence and that is one of the bases of recovery ," he said , citing the Spanish risk premium has lowered the 250 points without specifying how the government intends to feed the engines cited future growth .

José Manuel Soria attend tomorrow the XXII World Energy Congress in Daegu , southeast of South Korea, a major international event that brings together 6,000 senior executives , businessmen and politicians from 113 countries .

The main contribution of Spain in Congress will , according to the minister , sharing the " successful " government policies on energy this year have allowed the country to join Switzerland, Denmark , Sweden and the UK in the select club " triple A " energy efficiency World Energy Council ( WEC ) .

Soria ruled that " the government's commitment to renewable energy is clear, unequivocal and irreversible " , but acknowledged that the Spanish electrical system suffers from " structural deficit rate " that each year adds losses 2,600 million to a debt 26,000 million already accumulated .

"We have introduced systems to increase revenues and reduce costs and premiums changed by systems other investment incentives ," he said , in response to criticism from advocates of renewables to the new rate of 6 % ​​per kilowatt generated imposed on last month by the government.

On tourism , the canary political bet for increasing the number of South Korean visitors to Spain " by a new action plan 2014-2015 " , which includes the appointment of a representative " entirely devoted to improving our tourism image in South Korea " .

As part of its agenda , Soria met with representatives of asian 's largest airline , Korean Air , who proposed to use the " underutilized " T4 terminal of Barajas Madrid airport and use as a bridge to their routes to Latin America.

Soria 's visit to Seoul is the first of a Spanish minister in three years since the former head of Economy Elena Salgado acudiera in November 2010 , although the prime minister Mariano Rajoy traveled in March last year to the South Korean capital on the occasion of Nuclear Security Summit 2012.