Expats Golf Trophy

Last 24th April the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg collaborated in the 4th edition of “Expat Golf Trophy”, which was celebrated at the Golf Club d´Hulencourt.

The event had more than forty participants, including ten members of the Chamber as well as representatives of the diplomatic body and international companies and members of other Chambers. The participants, divided in beginner and advanced level, enjoyed a nice evening of golf followed by a networking cocktail and the awards ceremony.

This event was organized in collaboration with:

 

INTERVIEW | Know our members

Read more

Meeting of the Board of Directors

On April 16, a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Chamber took place in Brussels.

During the meeting, the appointment of Sophie Leconte as member of the Board of Directors on behalf Everis Belgium was confirmed, replacing Óscar Abril.

Hereafter, the President informed about the recent meetings of the Official Spanish Chambers of Commerce Abroad held in Madrid, and the change on FEDECOM´s presidency.

To conclude, the Secretary General presented the upcoming activities of the Chamber program, highlighting the Spain Means Innovation program and the events organized in the framework of the “Business Circle” Tribune.

The Chamber launches a new newsletter focused on the Luxembourg market

The Chamber has decided to launch a new newsletter focused exclusively on the Luxembourg market.

Until now, the Chamber has prepared a joint newsletter for Belgium and Luxembourg twice monthly.

The objectives that we pursue with this new publication are:

  • Transferring news and more detailed information on business opportunities and economic relations between Spain and Luxembourg to our members and contacts in Luxembourg.
  • Positioning the newsletter of the Delegation of Luxembourg as a business networking tool better oriented to our subscribers in the Grand Duchy.

The newsletter will be sent twice a month in two versions (Spanish and English), and will include the following sections:

  • News & Events:
    • of the Chamber in Luxembourg.
    • of our members in Luxembourg.
    • of Luxembourgish collaborators and institutions.
  • Spain in Luxembourg
  • Get to know our members. A space dedicated to make the activity of our members in Luxembourg known through interviews.
  • Programs: Emprendebelux, Empleobelux, etc
  • Cultural collaborations in Luxembourg.

If you wish to start receiving the newsletter of the Delegation of Luxembourg, send an email to luxemburgo@e-camara.com

 

Ten Belgian political representatives present their proposals for the country in the #Yes2Belgium Election Debate

Last April 3 took place the debate about the Belgian elections “#Yes2Belgium Election Debate” at the ING´s Manix Auditorium in Brussels. This debate was supported by 12 foreign chambers of commerce in Belgium and is part of their objective to involve their member companies in the upcoming federal, regional and European elections that will take place on May 26.

The event featured the participation of prominent personalities from 10 different parties that shared their vision and solutions to the problems that foreign companies identify as a priority; mobility, tax system and competitiveness, labour market and governance.

 

Mobility

The main topic for discussion was about the possibility to involve the private sector in the management of the Belgian public transports.

Even though there was not a consensus on this issue, they agreed that climate change, efficiency in transport and deficient infrastructure are still some of the key problems to tackle. The digitalization and the new transport models such as the autonomous cars were presented as new opportunities to these problems.

 

Labour market

The imbalance between the increasing demand of qualified workers and the rise of unemployment among less qualified candidates concentrated an important part of the political proposals that presented the training adapted to the market’s needs as main solution.

The labour costs remain still a key problem for the companies based in the country. Some of the candidates suggested to adapt the labour costs to the productivity and to move towards an adequate balance between labour flexibility and a solid social security system.

 

Tax system

The tax system assumed by the companies its perceived as a disadvantage when it comes to positioning Belgium as an attractive country from a tax perspective.

Different candidates agreed that the answer can not be national but European, to avoid the fiscal dumping among member states. They also presented different measures to attract investment in different sectors such as renewable energy and new technologies.

 

Governance

The participants agreed that the inefficiency as regards to governance is not linked to the system itself but rather on the necessity to improve the collaboration between the different political parties to reach agreements on key national political issues.

Different candidates presented the possibility to refederalize certain competences on key topics that require a national answer to avoid inefficiencies.

 

The different political representatives converged on the importance of the foreign investment in the country and the need to generate an attractive framework to foreign companies. The different subjects discussed were considered as crucial to improve the competitiveness of the country and to continue positioning Belgium as a lead country to attract capital and talent.

Presentation of the EYE programme at the Student Projects Week in Mons

On March 26, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg took part in the Student Projects Week organized in Mons by Yump (a program set up by La Maison de  l´Entreprise for student-entrepreneurs).

The event was directed at students, professionals and entrepreneurs living in Belgium and was attended by many students interested in entrepreneurship as well as by teachers and entrepreneurs eager to advise those students and to share their different experiences with all the attendees.

The Chamber presented the programme Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs to the participants students as an opportunity to launch their business idea while doing an exchange in one European country with an experienced entrepreneur. They were also informed about the EYE Global initiative that enables new entrepreneurs to do en exchange in three different countries outside Europe; Singapore, the United States and Israel.

The Chamber, new member of the Paperjam Club

The Chamber has formalized its subscription to Paperjam Club, Luxembourg’s largest business club. With more than 1,000 corporate members, Paperjam Club organizes annually more than 250 events and activities focused on the promotion of networking and on business creation among its members.

With this subscription, the Chamber aims to expand its network of contacts in the Grand Duchy and facilitate the access and visibility of the Chamber’s members before a wider professional audience through the activities organized by the Club.

The Chamber collaborates with the Cercle Antonio Machado to organize the 20th Spanish Film Festival in Luxembourg

This year, the Chamber is part of the entities and companies collaborating with the Spanish Film Festival in Luxembourg. In the twentieth edition of this initiative led by the Spanish Cultural Circle Antonio Machado, ten cinema sessions will be organized between March 20 and April 11 at Cine Utopia, Cinemateca and Kulturfabrik (Esch-sur-Alzette).

The Spanish Embassy in Luxembourg and the following companies: Transportes Fernandez, Hotel Meliá, Senda Consulting, Leiw Investments, El Rubio, BIT Valley and Dlinea, are also collaborating to organize this festival, which enables to bring the best of the Spanish seventh art to the Luxembourg public.

The Spanish Ambassador in Luxembourg, Bernardo de Sicart, inaugurated the Spanish Film Festival during the session of March 20, in which the short films “17 años juntos” and “Campeones”, both directed by Javier Fesser, were screened.

More information about the program here.

 

With the sponsorship of the Spanish Embassy

And the collaboration of:

The Secretary of State for Trade thanks the Official Spanish Chambers of Commerce Abroad for their work

The Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez, has offered all the support of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism to the Official Spanish Chambers of Commerce Abroad. At the closing of the meeting that the CAMACOES have held for two days in Madrid, Xiana Méndez highlighted the work of these Chambers: “You are private institutions, you respond to your members and you design your services to offer them exactly what they need. I would like to thank you for your dedication and work, which is common to the objectives of the Secretary of State for Trade: the defence of Spain’s interests and the improvement of bilateral relations”.

The President of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, José Luis Bonet, has also taken part, underlining the links between the 41 Official Spanish Chambers of Commerce Abroad and the 85 territorial Chambers of Commerce, and encouraged to continue strengthening this collaboration. “Spain has the opportunity to run a lot and is doing so, and meetings like this one are vital to achieve it. Bonet congratulated the presidents of FECECA, the Federation that groups the Chambers of Commerce in the American continent, Brian Dunning, and Eduardo Barrachina, the new head of FEDECOM, which groups the European, Asian and African Chambers, showing his support to the request of holding the Assemblies of CAMACOES once a year instead of biennially as it has been done until now.

Source: Spanish Chamber of Commerce

The Official Spanish Chambers of Commerce Abroad meet in Madrid

On March 26, the biennial meeting of the network of Official Spanish Chambers of Commerce Abroad (network CAMACOES) took place.

The Spanish Chamber of Commerce hosted this meeting, where its Director General, Inmaculada Riera, highlighted the importance of the role played by the Chambers Abroad to strengthen links, economic connections and bilateral relations between Spain and the countries where they operate.

At the opening day, the Secretary General of the Chamber of Spain, Adolfo Diaz-Ambrona, declared that the aim of this meeting was “to strengthen the coordination of the network of Chambers, and to share the advantages of their respective systems of membership and of their good practices”.

Enrique Fanjul, Deputy General Director for the Internationalisation Strategy of the Ministry of Industry, also responsible for the coordination of the Official Spanish Chambers of Commerce Abroad, also took part in the conference. He underlined the “clear interest of Spanish companies in promoting the Chambers of Commerce Abroad and in belonging to them”. Fanjul also highlighted the dynamism of the network of Chambers Abroad “as demonstrated by the creation of the Chambers of Tunisia, Japan, Malta, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and South Korea: six new Chambers in 2 years”, he said. The Deputy Director General of the Internationalisation Strategy also emphasised that “the Chambers Abroad have been created and continue working by the initiative of companies and have been very important in the process of internationalisation of Spanish companies.”

The meeting was followed by a working day where representatives of the territorial Chambers and the 42 Official Spanish Chambers of Commerce abroad took part.

Source: Spanish Chamber of Commerce