Dag van Spanje

On October 20, the Chamber organized, in collaboration with the Spanish Office of Tourism in Belgium, the Day of Spain (Dag van Spanje) in the central Groenplaats of Antwerp.

Through this unprecedented day in Antwerp, Spain was presented as a tourist destination (it is the third most visited country by Belgians on holidays), and the gastronomic and leisure offer that surrounds it. On the other hand, it highlighted the leading companies and the innovation that exists in our country and employment and training opportunities.

The regions of Murcia, Aragón, Ibiza, Mallorca, Galicia, Castilla y León, Navarra y Tenerife
were present during the day in a space dedicated to the tourism promotion of Spain. Representatives of the eight destinations made their cultural and tourist offer known to the Belgian public, providing detailed information on the different travel options. Also, the participants were able to discover the hotel offer of the Iberostar company and the airports of Antwerp and Ostend-Bruges, who informed about the possibilities of traveling to Spain from Belgium.

The main sponsor of the event, TUI tour operator, presented a wide range of activities in its space, including a virtual reality proposal, a cycling competition and informative positions of the airline.

Spanish sport was also represented thanks to the participation of LaLiga and the Circuit de Catalunya. At their stands, the attendees could experience, respectively, becoming one day professional soccer players and Formula 1 drivers, in addition to following the live broadcast of LaLiga matches that day. Both adults and children enjoyed both experiences.

Interested in working or studying in Spain? They also had their space in the Eures area, portal for professional mobility, the Ministry of Education and the agency for language immersions in Spain Olespañol.

In the gastronomic area, Freixenet participated, the Vista la Tienda import store and Las Mañas restaurant. The participants could enjoy a day in which they felt, tasted and explored the Spanish culinary richness through typical Spanish dishes such as paella, red peppers or patatas bravas.

 

The little ones also had their space in the Day of Spain. In the area dedicated to their entertainment, they enjoyed playing the Camino de Santiago, taking photos with Don Quixote or participating in a face painting workshop. With the game, energized by the Association of the Camino de Santiago de Flandes, they felt like pilgrims for a few hours, completing their credentials and answering questions about Spain.

Next to this area, the parents were able to discover how to make their trip easier thanks to Easybabytrip, a Spanish startup that offered the public equipment for traveling with children.

The day was completed with a permanent cultural program.

The artist Carolina Tafalla made reflect on the perception of friendship through the situational happening “Amigo”. At the same time, the well-known muralist Miguel Ángel Belinchón, Belin, hypnotized by painting live a post-neo-contemporary canvas that he ended at the end of the day.

They were joined by musical performances. La Peña Al Ándalus, started strongly at noon with a flamenco show. Then La Negra Albina and her performance not only made for a good time, but also impressed the audience with her Cumbia Psychotropic-Funk style. In the afternoon, Pepa Niebla delighted the audience with her international jazz. The day culminated with the performance of Alex Torres, DJ who managed to create a more relaxed atmosphere with his electro style.

More than 15,000 attendees visited The Day of Spain (Dag van Spanje) throughout the day valued it very positively, and the participants were very satisfied with the results of the event. The Chamber and the Spanish Tourism Office thank the Embassy of Spain in Belgium and all the participating companies for their contribution to make the event a success.

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Meeting of the Board of Directors

On October 23, a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Chamber took place. During the meeting, the new Economic and Commercial Counselor and Vice President of Honor of the Chamber, Ms. Maria Palanca Reh, had the opportunity to appear among the members of the Board of Directors.

Then the Secretary General, María Catalán, presented the Strategic Plan of the Chamber for the period 2019 – 2022, and reported on upcoming events and activities scheduled by the Chamber.

It is planned to organize an Extraordinary General Meeting at the end of the year, in which the budget for the financial year 2019 will be presented.

Success of the ninth edition of the “Workshop on social media management for business and european projects”

The past 25 and 26 October, the Official Chamber of Commerce of Spain in Belgium and Luxembourg, organized the ninth edition of the “Workshop on social media management for business and European projects”. The course given by the community manager and coach Philippe Schiffler aims to increase the presence of companies in social networks.

During the first day, Schiffler explained the role played by the community manager in the company and the importance it has acquired in recent years. After that, he explained some very useful strategies to get more benefit of different social networks such as Twitter, Linkedin or Pinterest, among many others.

During the second day, he presented some digital tools that currently help companies to have greater visibility and followers in the network, many of which were unknown to attendees. Evenbrite, Pushbullet or Fiverr were some of the exposed.

He also explained different utilities of social networks and well-known websites such as Facebook, YouTube or Google+. Webs that are known by the majority, but that hide some characteristics unknown by most of us.

Schiffler also wanted to highlight the importance that has been acquired in recent months by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), created last May by the European Parliament and that gives greater transparency to companies on security issues. He also mentioned the fines that may be paid by companies if they do not comply with the regulation, which ranges about 20 million euros.

As in the previous editions, there were many attendees. During these two days all of them had the opportunity to learn about different tools, such as the ones mentioned above, which will undoubtedly help companies to have a better image on the net.

Schiffler was receptive when responding to the questions of the attendees, many of whom carry the social networks of European companies. Some of them even encouraged to express their doubts. In this way, the attendees received advice on how to improve and increase the participation of the public in the social networks of their companies.

 

Breakfast between members in Luxembourg

On October 25th the Chamber organized a breakfast between members in Luxembourg. The event took place in the offices of the MEBS company. The breakfast counted with the participation of a dozen associated companies.

The Vice President of the Chamber, José Luis Rodríguez Álvarez, thanked the MEBS for the organization of breakfast and introduced the interventions of the participing companies.

Representatives of MEBS, Renta4, Intertrust, Igmasa, Banco Sabadell, CaixaBank, Caldia, The Information Lab, as wll as other partners in their personal capacity had the opportunity to present the activity of their respective companies in Luxembourg and to do networking in a relaxed environment.

Primer encuentro entre emprendedores españoles en Bélgica

El pasado 23 de octubre la Cámara organizó el primer encuentro entre emprendedores españoles en Bélgica.

Más de 15 emprendedores presentaron ante los asistentes sus negocios o proyectos en Bélgica. La Cámara aprovechó para presentar EmprendeBelux , un nuevo programa orientado a apoyar emprendedores españoles en el país y destinado a acompañarlos en el lanzamiento de su proyecto y/o consolidación de su negocio.

Este nuevo programa de la Cámara pretende consolidar las líneas de apoyo a emprendedores españoles en Bélgica asesorándoles en los aspectos claves a la hora de iniciar una actividad comercial y al mismo tiempo ofrecer a los nuevos empresarios y a los ya consolidados una mayor visibilidad que los ayude a ampliar su red de contactos.

Los asistentes tuvieron la oportunidad de transmitir sus opiniones y visiones del programa e intercambiar puntos de vistas sobre los retos a la hora de emprender en el país.

First meeting with Spanish entrepreneurs in Belgium

More than 15 entrepreneurs showcased their projects and business in Belgium. The Chamber took the opportunity to present EmprendeBelux, a new programme oriented to support Spanish entrepreneurs in the country and to guide them when launching their company and /or in the consolidation of their businesses.

This new programme of the Chamber aims at consolidating the lines of support to Spanish entrepreneurs in Belgium providing them with advice on how to start their business and at the same time offer a better visibility to help them broaden their network.

The attendees had the opportunity to share their visions about the programme and exchange their experience about starting a business in Belgium.

The Chamber and StepStone company sign a collaboration agreement

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg has signed a collaboration agreement with StepStone, a leading digital employment platform with more than 20 years of experience in the search of online workers, with the aim of benefiting all members of the Chamber as well as the users of the Empleobelux.com portal.

On the one hand, this collaboration will facilitate the search for employment to all users of the web managed by the Chamber as the number of daily published offers in which Spanish is demanded will be expanded.

Also, thanks to this collaboration, the members of the Chamber will be able to benefit from a 15% discount on the first publication of job offers through StepStone. The information corresponding to the application of the discount is published on the Intranet of the Chamber and it is addressed exclusively to members. StepStone has a large pool of candidates with Spanish proficiency that complements the ones of the EmpleoBelux portal, which is an added value for companies that need to incorporate employees with this profile in Belux.

With this recent collaboration, the Chamber seeks to provide a wider and more beneficial service for its members and users of EmpleoBelux, facilitating the processes of personnel selection in Belgium and/or Luxembourg thanks to a recognized company such as StepStone.

The Embassy of Spain in Belgium celebrates the National Holiday

On October 12, the Embassy of Spain in Belgium organized a reception at the Royal Museums of Art and History of Brussels on the occasion of the celebration of the National Holiday.

The reception was attended by local authorities, diplomats, businessmen, European officials and representatives of Spanish public institutions, among other personalities.

The Ambassador of Spain in Belgium, Hon. Ms. Beatriz Larrotcha Palma, thanked the attendees for their participation in the National Holiday and highlighted bilateral relations in tourism, business and institutional between Belgium and Spain.

He also thanked the companies and sponsoring institutions for their collaboration in organizing the event.

The event, in collaboration with the Official Chamber of Commerce of Spain in Belgium and Luxembourg, was sponsored by Food of Spain, Airbus, ElPozo, Everis, Iberdrola, Indra, LaLiga, Santander Bank, Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, Interparking , Freixenet, Atrevia, Quality Media Production, Mediterranean, Chamber of Commerce of Spain and Bodegas Verum. Also, the offices of the Autonomous Communities in Brussels contributed to the success of the act thanks to the contribution of products and typical wines of each region.

The Embassy of Spain in Luxembourg celebrates the National Holiday

 

On October 9th, the Embassy of Spain in Luxembourg celebrated the National Holiday. The reception, which took place in the Cercle Cité of Luxembourg, was sponsored by the Official Chamber of Commerce of Spain in Belgium and Luxembourg, Bankinter, Banca March, Renta4, CAF, LaLiga, Adepa and PwC.

The event counted, among others, with the presence of representatives of the Luxembourg Government, members of the international diplomatic corps, officials of the European institutions and Spanish residents of the Grand Duchy.

The Ambassador of Spain in Luxembourg, Hon. Mr. D. Bernardo de Sicart Escoda,thanked the attendees for their participation in the National Holiday, and the Chamber and the sponsoring companies for their collaboration in organizing the event.

José Luis Rodriguez Álvarez, Vice President of the Chamber, attended the reception in the company of other members of the Board of Directors.

Hispania Brussels delighted the attendees with a Spanish haute cuisine catering.

The Embassy of Spain in Luxembourg and the Chamber are grateful for the collaboration of the sponsoring companies:

                                                     

 

Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Network Meeting

The past 2nd and 3rd of October the Chamber participated in the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Network Meeting, where the different contact points of the programme, the support office and the European Commission had the opportunity to meet for two days to discuss the progress and the future of the programme.

During the meeting, the representatives from the European Commission confirmed the continuity of the programme for the next programming period 2021 – 2027 and their ambition to continue consolidating the programme by increasing the budged.

They also reaffirmed their commitment to continue expanding the programme to other countries. Kosovo has been the last country to join and this year was also launched a pilot project to extend it to Israel, USA and Singapore.

On the second day, a consortium meeting was organized to define the priority lines of actions for the coming year.