The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2019.
We would like to inform you that the Chamber will be closed from Monday December 23rd until Friday January 3rd. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
On December 11th, Netflix, in collaboration with the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, organized a networking dinner with Diego Ávalos, Vice President of Original Content in Spanish of Netflix to celebrate the opening of the company’s new offices at the European quarter of Brussels.
The event, which was aimed at a select group of guests among the Spanish community in Belgium, included, among others, the participation of the Ambassador of Spain in Belgium, Hon. Mrs. Beatriz Larrotcha Palma, business executives, representatives of European institutions and Spanish public entities.
The President of the Chamber, Juan Rodríguez-Villa Matons, welcomed the attendees and reviewed Netflix’s career and the evolution of the creative industries sector in Spain during the last few years. Subsequently, a trailer was screened with a preview of the upcoming Netflix productions in Spanish.
Then, Esperanza Ibáñez, Director of Public Policies for Spain and Portugal of Netflix, moderated an interview with Diego Ávalos.
Ávalos began by briefly reviewing his professional career to explain how he had joined the Netflix team. After its introduction, the Vice President of Netflix explained what is the company’s position regarding Spain. Indeed, the country is positioned as the main production hub of Spanish contents for the company, due to the fact that, since its arrival in the country, Netflix has made 26 original productions and has participated in 40 Spanish co-productions, such as “Elite”, “Cable Girls”or “Money Heist”. This is largely thanks to the great wealth found in Spain, not only in an artistic sense, but also in the diversity of cultures and landscapes.
The presentation continued with the introduction of the new European Production Hub in Madrid, which opened last April in the city of Tres Cantos. Ávalos highlighted the importance of the investment of the opening of this new center in Spain, as it translates into economic and social benefits for the country: only in 2018, 13,000 actors, technicians and extras participated in original Netflix projects and, in 2019, this number will increase by more than 50%, reaching the figure of 25,000.
To end his speech, Digo Ávalos spoke about the future challenges of the audio-visual sector. On the one hand, the need to boost female talent in Spain, a challenge that they want to face by developing specific programs for directors and screenwriters, as well as projects that aim to promote a greater diversity of stories and people who work in front and behind the camera. On the other hand, the focus on the challenge of promoting quality work opportunities. Ávalos emphasized the shortage of professionals in certain fields (eg post-production) and showed Netflix’s goal to boost the audio-visual content production sector in Spain to generate new job opportunities.
After the presentation, a round of questions began in which attendees asked about the film industry, the commercial opportunities that Netflix could offer to other companies or the magnitude of the impact of the company at a local level.
The event closed with a walking dinner in which participants had the opportunity to taste Spanish products and network.
The Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg has signed an agreement with leading start-up Taplingua to promote the learning of foreign languages in Spanish companies with a special focus in the tourism sector.
Taplingua is the first industry‑focused language learning App that serves business customers. Through this agreement, Taplingua will offer Spanish Chamber members a free two-week language training module and a 30% discount. Additionally, the Spanish Chamber staff will also receive free ongoing language training through the App.
Juan Rodriguez Villa-Matons, President of the Spanish Chamber, welcomed the agreement: “An important part of our role is to help Spanish companies to improve their competitiveness. Language skills are critical in the global marketplace hence partnerships like this offer significant benefits to our members”. “At an initial stage our joint focus will be on the tourism industry, which represents 14% of the Spanish GDP, and if the agreement is successful, we expect to roll it out to other sectors”, he added.
“We are delighted to partner with the Spanish Chamber to help Spanish companies acquire and serve international customers more effectively. Taplingua already has successful partnerships with major Spanish players such as Accor Hotels, Autogrill and various global hotel chains, and we expect that this agreement will allow us to expand and further contribute to the competitiveness of the Spanish tourism industry as a whole, including SMEs”, said Taplingua CEO Santanu Dasgupta. “As in any sector, market needs and solutions evolve. It is no secret that traditional language courses are too academic and not aligned with work or job requirements. At Taplingua, we aim to solve the significant barriers that employees face while using a second language and thus help them do their jobs better.
Taplingua uses advances in language learning frameworks to teach relevant course content packaged in an intuitive easy to use App. The App is powered by the most cutting edge technology e.g. Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Voice Recognition to optimize the learning experience”, he added.
On December 11th and 12th , the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg hosted the fourth edition of the workshop on “EU Funding – Project Management”. The course was held in collaboration with our member Swan Consulting and it was run by the EU affairs consultant, Jorge Cisneros.
For two days, attendees were able to get to know the tools for the development of European projects and how to search for funding opportunities, as well as topics related to the identification of project calls and the management of approved projects. Mr. Cisneros also explained the different funding policies of the European Union, highlighting the priorities for the 2021-2027 programme.
Once again the capacity was complete and it counted with the attendance of people coming from different sectors, such as, cultural industries, the health sector or delegations of European regions.
Within the framework of the EmprendeBeLux, a program sponsored by ING Belgium, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, in collaboration with Bruxelles Economie et Emploi, organized an information session in Spanish last December 4 to present the different financial aids available for entrepreneurs in the Brussels-Capital Region.
Attendees had the opportunity to learn from Jonathan Fernández Valle, benefits officer at Bruxelles Economie et Emploi, the most recommended benefits for each of their profiles. Each entrepreneur presented their questions to the representative of Bruxelles Economie et Emploi. These focused mainly on how to present a dossier, the moment most convenient to present the dossier and the percentage of grant that could be awarded to them. Jonathan Fernández Valle also indicated to the participants how to access and complete a grant application through the online platform of the Brussels-Capital Region.
ABOUT EMPRENDEBELUX
Through the EmprendeBeLux Program the Chamber aims to support Spanish people in BeLux on their long way to becoming an entrepreneur and accompany them through the consolidation of their business.
Programme sponsored by:
PROEXCA, a public company whose main mission is the atracttion of strategic investments in the Canary Islands, organized a reverse mission from November 25th until the 28th in collaboration with the Chamber.
The objetive of teh mission was offering potential foreign investors advice about the opportunities, tax and competitive advantages and the necessary information about the Canary Islands as destination for their businesses. One French and four Belgian companies from the renewable energies and sector ICT attended the event.
During these three days, the companies were able to get to know the main organizations for aid to the foreign investment in Tenerife and Gran Canaria and they had personalized meetings with different local actors according to their profiles.
This mission is the result of the interest shown by the Belgian companies that participated in the conference “The Canary Islands: investment destination” organized by the Chamber in collaboration with PROEXCA last May.
On December 2nd, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, in collaboration with The Cortador Academy – the first school in Benelux to learn professionally how to cut ham -, organized the first workshop of professional ham cutting. The training was carried out under the direction of Maestro Cortador José Cristóbal Álvarez García, who obtained his renowned diploma in the Spanish school “Escuela Internacional de Cortadores de Jamón”.
The course was aimed at professionals in the HORECA sector who wish to deepen their interest in the art of cutting and Iberian ham. During the workshop attendees were able to study the existing different types of ham and their characteristics, the regulations concerning this sector and they learned in a theoretical and practical way the main techniques to professionally cut ham starting from the outside until reaching the bone.
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On November 27th, the Board of Directors of the Chamber held a meeting at the Cercle Munster in Luxembourg.
The meeting counted with the participation of the Ambassador of Spain in Luxembourg, Bernardo Sicart Escoda, and the Economic and Commercial Counselor, María Palanca Reh.
During the meeting, the programme for the upcoming 2020 activities in Luxembourg was discussed, as well as presenting the corresponding budget.
A total of 14 young interns from the province of Cáceres will enjoy a professional stay in Brussels thanks to the “Diputación Europa” program, a new iniciative of the provincial government of Cáceres that aims to facilitate labor integration of young people in companies and institutions related with European affairs.
On November 28th, coinciding with their first week in the European capital, the young recipients of the “Diputación Europa” grant took part in a welcoming day at the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg. The internships will last 6 months and will count with a permanent formative programme that will allow them to improve their knowledge in foreign languages and European affairs.
The provincial government signed a technical assitance contract with Sulayr, a company with wide experience in management of European programmes and international mobility. The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg acts as collaborating entity in the management of this programme in Brussels, offering constant support to the trainees during their professional stay and organizing formative sessions.
Precisely, the first session was taught by the Secretary General of the Chamber, María Catalán, and it dealt with the role that Spanish institutions in Brussels play with different organizations of the European Union.
