Idoia Mendia is the Deputy President and Regional Minister for Labour and Employment in the Basque Government led by Iñigo Urkulu. Born in Bilbao, she is a trained lawyer and was appointed Secretary-General of the Basque Socialists (PSE-EE-PSOE) in 2014.  The Basque Autonomous Region is home to a thriving cooperative economy and is where Mondragon (the world’s largest group of worker-owned cooperatives) is headquartered.

At the Congress, Mendia will be speaking alongside Iñigo Albizuri – Mondragon’s Global Head of Public Affairs at Mondragon Corporation on ‘Strengthening Our Cooperative Identity’.