Wallonia and La Rioja strengthen business and institutional partnerships

Between 16 and 19 February, a delegation of the Walloon Region participated in an institutional journey to La Rioja, which aimed to establish local contacts and to identify business opportunities and collaboration between the two regions.

The Walloon delegation was presided by the General Director of AWEX (l’Agence wallonne à l’exportation et aux Investissements étrangers), Jean Pierre Marcelle, and consisted of the Economic and Commercial counselor of Wallonia in Spain, Frédéric Biava, responsible for public affairs at AWEX, Geoffrey Parks, as well as the General Director of roads and construction, Denis Cornet and the director of the agri-food cluster Wagralim, Isabelle Grommet. María Catalán, Secretary General of the Official Spanish Chamber in Belgium and Luxembourg, accompanied the delegation.

The program started on 16 February with a visit to Starglass, where the delegation was welcomed by its Financial Director, Jack Medina. The company, dedicated to the production of laminated as well as tempered glass for all types of vehicle applications, directly distributes to its clients in Belgium from its production center in La Rioja. During the meeting the delegation offered its collaboration to strengthen the commercial relations with the Walloon region.

 

The city of Logroño and the Walloon Region strengthen their institutional links throughout this year, especially their commercial links, based on the exchange of experiences in the ‘smart city’ and the TIC

The session of 17 February was led by the visit to the Town Hall of Logroño. Cuca Gamarra, mayor of the city Logroño, presided a meeting in which municipal and business leaders of the capital of Rioja participated. The visit was organized as a result of the established contacts during the third Meeting for internationalization of the City of Logroño and was realized by the City Council and the Chamber of Commerce of La Rioja last November in Brussels. Its agenda was coordinated by the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg.

The leader of the Belgian delegation, Jean Pierre Marcelle, emphasized the importance of sharing experiences “and the continuation of partnerships”, especially, as the Walloon economic and commercial counselor Frédéric Biava emphasized, for themes concerning new technologies “of which we see interesting actions in Logroño”.

The president of the Chamber of Commerce of La Rioja, José María Ruiz-Alejos, indicated the importance of increasing the relations with Belgium, “a permeable country for our excellent products” and he advocated for strengthening links “to improve the commercial balance” between both zones, favorable right now for Belgium, “from whom we buy 60 million and to whom we sell 40 million”. Belgium is the sixth importer in La Rioja, whereas it is the ninth country to which the community exports.

The city council of Logroño presented the delegation the app Logroño.es and the website Red de Ciudades Inteligentes de España. Furthermore, a presentation about the remote management model of the municipal facilities was given focusing on the control and reduction of energy use and the projects for smart mobility and the pilot program about lighting in LIFE Green Tic were presented.

The representatives of the City council of Logroño started a presentation about the website Red Española de Ciudades Inteligentes; founded in our city in 2012 and the mayor of Logroño being vice-president and at this moment 65 associated municipalities. Afterwards the app Logroño.es was presented, which offers more than twenty services and was already downloaded 30.000 times.

This first part of the day closed with the presentation of the project “Digital Wallonia” in charge of Geoffrey Parks, through which more than 500 million euros will be allocated to the development of Smart Cities in the region the following years. The delegation presented its strategy to the representatives of La Rioja and proposed collaboration between both regions in the digital field.

Then, the members of the Belgian delegation attended various practical demonstrations of projects Logroño is developing. In particular the applications of the app of the water and irrigations Cycle ; energy Efficiency in sports facilities and urban and interurban mobility.

The day about getting acquainted with the various innovative initiatives Logroño is currently developing ended with the presentation of the pilot program about lighting in LIFE Green TIC.

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To end the visit, the mayor announced that, during the year 2016, a visit will be made that “will not be institutional but entrepreneurial” to Wallonia, “in order to work together for the establishment of important business relations and to generate opportunities for our companies who are the ones that developed the successful systems we presented to you”. “They have experience with success stories such as some of the ones already implemented in Logroño we were able to teach about today. It is interesting that they establish partnerships with other companies, in this case Wallonia, who is also working in this field”. Indeed, this collaborative model is the model the “smart cities” promote, “some cities that generate opportunities for companies”.

In the afternoon the delegation had a meeting with the Cluster AERTIC 
(Agrupación Empresarial Innovadora del sector de las TIC de La Rioja), with the aim of exchanging experiences in the field of information and communications technology.

The secretary Javier Ridruejo and various companies of AERTIC interested in getting acquainted with the development of these technologies in this Belgian region and the possibility of establishing business partnerships participated in the meeting.

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Under the wing of the Federación de Empresarios de La Rioja (FER), AERTIC channels the interests and necessities of a wide technological area related to the Information and Communications Technology in La Rioja.

The day ended with a visit to ADER (Economic Development Agency of La Rioja).

The manager of the Economic Development Agency, Javier Ureña, welcomed the delegation and informed them about the strengths La Rioja offers and about the fact that they convert these into a suitable location for receiving each type of business investment.

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A business mission from La Rioja is expected to travel next October to the Belgian region Wallonia, with the wish to lead commercial exchanges and to look for mutual negotiation formula between companies of both areas

On 18 February, the delegation met with members of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services of La Rioja, headed by its President, José María Ruiz-Alejos; “Since today we have started to build a solid collaboration bridge for business and trade between La Rioja and Belgium, primarily for the companies of both regions, of La Rioja and Wallonia, and we hope that it is already a lifelong bridge”, Ruiz-Alejos stressed.

He added that it is about “a bridge that has its pillars in the Chambers of Commerce of La Rioja and the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg”, since these will be the institutions that will be the reference for the companies.

He also referred to the fact that other possibilities of collaboration between the companies of both countries could focus on the joint participation in European programs of possible mutual interest.

Marcelle remembered that this meeting was the second part of a gathering that started at the end of 2015 in Brussels and that it will continue in the future because “La Rioja and Wallonia are two very similar regions”, that can collaborate in many aspects.

Afterwards, a meeting with Cluster Food+i took place. The installations of the Centro Tecnológico Empresarial Alimentario CTIC-CITA en Alesón (La Rioja), partner of Cluster FOOD+i, were the setting of this meeting between entities from La Rioja and Wallonia, who share the objective of fostering the competitiveness of the agribusiness industry of the respective regions by means of innovation.

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Thus, during the meeting they could give a short presentation of the sector, in addition to dealing with issues such as innovation policy or participation in common European projects. They analyzed the main lines of research of both clusters with the aim of establishing the bases for future collaborations.

The final meeting was held with representatives of the company Constantia Flexibles.

With a production plant in Belgium, the company, originally from La Rioja, is leader in its sector with more than 3.000 clients and nearly 10.000 employees around the world.

Extension of the collaboration agreement with IBERIA – New On Business program

The Chamber is delighted to inform you that its collaboration agreement with IBERIA has been extended for one more year. IBERIA offers the following discounted fares to Spain and the America’s for the members of the Chamber:

· 10% in economy class

· 15% in business class

You can access this offer through our Intranet.

As a novelty, Iberia launched On Business for companies: A loyalty program allowing your company to save and to collect points for future reward tickets and upgrades. Every euro spent on travelling with Iberia, American Airlines, British Airways and partners can bring up to 1.5 points. Register your company in  On Business and enjoy the welcome offer : Triple points on the 6 first sectors of your flights.

Click here for more information on discounts and On Business benefits.

Fernando Iwasaki Symposium – 15/16-02

On 15 and 16 February the first international symposium about the Peruvian writer Fernando Iwasaki took place at the Faculté de Lettres, Traduction et Communication at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). This event has been made possible thanks to the collaboration of the ULB and the main Spanish and Peruvian institutions in Brussels (the Instituto Cervantes, the Consulate of Peru in Brussels, the Ministry of Education from Spain in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, the Ministry of Culture from the Spanish Embassy in Brussels and the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg).

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This symposium has raised strong interest and international speakers from Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Croatia came by to discuss about the major aspects of his literary production.

The conference was opened on Monday 15 February at 2 PM with a roundtable of writers that discussed about the position of Fernando Iwasaki in the contemporary literary canon in which the author of Helarte de amar (2006)- who have been present during all the symposium- has been accompanied by two other Hispanic American writers: Edmundo Paz Soldán and Carlos Herera. Furthermore, the closing session took place at the Instituto Cervantes on Tuesday 16 February at 7 PM with a discussion between the writer and institution researchers and the event organizers: Fernando Díaz Ruiz and Lidia Morales Benito.

 

Participation of the Chamber in the International Network Lunch L’Espagne, organized by CCI

The event counted on the collaboration of the Belgian and Luxembourgian Chamber Commerce in Spain and took place at the headquarters of the CCI Brabant Wallon in the city of Nivelles, on February, 4th.

As an initiative from Jacques Glorieux, Vice-President of the Belgian Chambers of Commerce abroad and member of the Board of Directors of the bilateral chamber in Spain, this Network Lunch was developed and was attended by an important number of entrepreneurs and Brussels and Walloon consultants.

During the conference, the Spanish example was highlighted as a EU member-state which faced the crisis, that started in 2008, with the best results.

Xavier Ibarrondo, a Spanish lawyer and the CCI Brabant Wallon Vice-president, led the debate. In this debate, the Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Spanish Embassy in Belgium and Luxembourg, David Martínez Hornillos and our President, Juan Rodríguez-Villa, participated among other persons.

David Martínez Hornillos presented some comparative figures of the evolution of the different macroeconomic indexes during the crisis years. Figures that principally made reference to the Belgian, French, German and Spanish economies. Likewise, the statistics on bilateral commerce were presented.

Juan Rodríguez-Villa made a historical reference of the Chamber he leads, going over the different periods established, starting with the Spanish accession to the EEC, the adoption of the Single European Act and the Euro integration.

Jacques Glorieux and Juan Rodríguez-Villa agreed on the need of collaboration of the Chambers in order to achieve their main goals.

Nieves Villar, President of the Belgian and Luxembourgian Chamber of Commerce in Spain, explained the audience the advantages of being partner of the Chamber, for the business establishment and development in Spain.

María Catalán, Secretary General of our Chamber, established contacts with the attendees.

The event was organised by the person responsible for the CCI Brabant Wallon International Relations, Dominique Verleye, and we congratulate her for the excellent result.

 

 

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Presentation of the Navarra Capital’s Economic Magazine in Brussels

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg has the pleasure to invite you on Tuesday 23 February at 6PM at the headquarters of the Chamber (Rue Belliard 20 – 1º, 1040 Brussels) for the presentation of the Navarra Capital’s Economic Magazine in Brussels, with the collaboration of Navarra’s Government, the Economic Planning Director, Izaskun Goñi, and the delegate in Brussels, Mikel Irujo.

Navarracapital.es is Navarra’s first digital informative platform specialised in the dissemination of high value added contents related to the world of economics and enterprises in the Navarra Community.

Navarracapital.es is mainly addressed to the responsibles of the business fabrics and production of our region. From executives, control panels and big companies’ managers; executives and SME managers as liberal and independent professionals; politicals in charge and high rank civil servants linked to the management world; university teachers, researchers and qualified technicians.

The Navarra Capital’s Economic Magazine makes a selection of those facts, analyses, data and relevant ideas that are worth being reread to understand the past, the present and the economic future of the region. They hope that this document will receive a reserved place in hundreds of companies and that it will expand there year after year with news about jobs, wealth and success which will benefit the whole society. Thus, this editorial will be presented in Pamplona (9 February), Madrid (16 February) and Brussels (23 February) with the aim of promoting and making visible the economic muscle of fertile land for companies. A land called Navarra.

For more information please click here to consult the statement issued by Navarra Capital.

After the presentation, a Spanish glass of wine will be offered. Places are limited, so we ask to confirm your attendance at info@e-camara.com.

Belgium continues to be an attractive location for investment

In the light of the recent security events and misrepresentations in some media, the international business community in Belgium feels that it is important to state that Belgium remains an attractive place for investments, a safe place to do business and a great place to live.

As representatives of the international business community, which directly employs about 700,000 people in Belgium, it is important to reiterate this statistically, Belgium is one of the safest countries in the world.

The underlying fundamentals which attracted our companies to set up subsidiaries and branches in Belgium have not changed. The more than 1000 companies, represented by our chambers together, have a long history of over 100 years of successful, sustained business activities in this country, and we feel it is time to recall Belgium’s unique selling points as a destination for investment:

  • The people: Belgium’s workforce is talented, highly skilled, multilingual and diverse.
  • The location: Belgium is geographically situated ideally with a strong transportation and logistics infrastructure providing access to key markets.
  • Innovation: Belgium’s state‐of‐the‐art research universities, clusters and R&D centres – for example, in food & drinks, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, automotive, nanotechnology and clean tech – put the country at the cutting edge of technology and innovation. Belgium is also a very interesting market to test new ideas and products.
  • Quality of life: Belgium has world‐class healthcare and education systems, dining and cultural options.
  • Finally, Belgium has an open, internationally‐oriented and stable economy, anchored by the presence of many international institutions and company headquarters.

All of this combined makes Belgium the perfect environment to conduct business very effectively.

With its modest national character, Belgium seldom boasts about its own successes. Yet, Belgium is quietly progressive and many examples in the dredging, flooring, clinical trials, frozen foods, nuclear medicine and other industries confirm this.

The reality is that we enjoy comfortable, safe and professionally stimulating lives in Belgium, day in day out. We work, our children go to school, we take public transport, we dine in high quality restaurants, we enjoy easy access to a vibrant cultural life, entertainment and nature, and we benefit from a wide range of high standard housing options.

Speaking on behalf of the international business community, we continue to say YES to Belgium and we are committed in the long run.

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