According to a statement made to this paper by SPRI, a company attached to the Basque Government’s Department of Economic Development and Competitiveness, "this global benchmark for the financial press and an essential guide on markets and international investment operations” conducts an annual ranking of Cities and Regions, broken down by continents.

The company has further noted that the ranking has been published only a few days after Arantxa Tapia, the Basque Minister for Economic Development and Competitiveness, has disclosed the "excellent data" recorded by Invest in the Basque Country, the specific area of SPRI -the Basque business development agency- for attracting and maintaining direct foreign investments, which has arranged for 22 new industrial projects to invest in Euskadi-The Basque Country in 2015. This figure is more than a fourfold increase on the five investments recorded the previous year.