Last Tuesday, 2^nd of June, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organized a luncheon-debate with Román Escolano, Vice president of the European Investment Bank. The event was attended by the Ambassador of Spain in Luxembourg, Carlos Lojendio y Pardo Manuel de Villena, as well as European Institutions’ representatives, members of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce and corporate executives, among other participants. The luncheon-debate was sponsored by the technology consultant INDRA.
The President of the Chamber of Commerce, Juan Rodríguez-Villa Matons, welcomed the attendees and the Vice president, Sergio de Miguel-Jessel, presented the speaker to the audience, going over his trajectory and highlighting his relevant professional experience.

The Vice president of the European Investment Bank started his intervention presenting the particularities of the EIB functioning and its principal figures. Román Escolano highlighted the financial strength of the EIB, based on a strong capitalization, liquidity, stable deposits (2,6 billion in the last year and benefits weren’t disrupted not even during the crisis) and improved leverage, followed by a capital increase. Then, he noted that Spain is the main loan beneficiary, particularly transports, as the principal sector. “The BEI is the first funder of Spain”, he indicated.

In the second part of his speech, the Vice President focused on the eligibility and the objectives that should be accomplished by the various projects presented every year by the EIB and, finally, the high standards applied by the courts of the EIB in the selection it.

Following the presentation, attendees had the opportunity to ask questions to the Vice President, who provided detailed replies to all of them.

The event ended with the delivery of a gift to Román Escolano by the Chamber and by INDRA, as an expression of gratitude for his collaboration with the institution. The Ambassador of Spain in Luxembourg, Carlos Pardo Manuel Lojendio y Villena, thanked the Chamber for organizing the event and highlighted the importance of Spaniards in many important positions of the European Institutions in Luxembourg, such as Román Escolano. The director of INDRA in Brussels, David Luengo also thanked the Vice President for the splendid intervention carried out.

On April, 24, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organised a breakfast-debate in presence of Miguel Gil Tertre, member of the Jyrki Katainen Gabinet, Commission Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness.

Miguel Gil Tertre presented to the attendants a talk on “The investment initiative of the Juncker Commission”. The Juncker Commission identified inversion as one of the strategic bases to relaunch the economic growth and employment in Europe. The plan seeks to mobilise private investments, generate growth and create more than one million of employments in the next three years.

The Investment Plan for Europe focuses on the elimination of the obstacles for investment, visibility and technical assistance to the investment projects and an intelligent use of the financial resources. To reach these objectives, the plan acts in three different aspects: mobilising 315.000 millions of euros in private investment in three years (equal to the 0,8% of the annual european GDP), supporting the investment of real economy and creating a favorable environment for investment.

More than 20 member companies of the Chamber attended the breakfast-debate to listen to the most important points of the ambitious investment plan drove by BEI, who will provide it with 60.000 million euros to strengthen the investment opportunities.

The Chamber praises the success of the breakfast-debate and would like to thank the collaboration of the attendees.

On July 16th the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organized a luncheon-debate with the Commissioner of Development, Andris Piebalgs, who talked about the new EU approaches to support SME development and the role of intermediary organizations.

The Vicepresident, Pablo López Álvarez wanted to thank the representatives of the institutions and international professionals and commend the figure of the Commissioner who has focused on boosting the role of the private sector in developing countries.

In his exposition, the Commissioner underlined that the activity of the European Commission has concentrated on transmitting the necessity of implementing policies that push through the growth of the private sector with the aim of faciliting the access to the finance for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises towards the governments of developing countries.

The lack of access to capital and appropriate financial services is a major constraint in particular on the development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. In this sense, the Commissioner has emphasized the implementation of programs that focus on the use of information and communication technologies, specifically in Africa and Central America, and private and institutional support where we can cite the example of the Inter-American Development Bank. Besides, these initiatives come together with the creation of financial structures which are subject to regulations to ensure customer protection and the stability of the financial system.

One of the main barriers of development is reflected in the access to energy where the costs are unmanagable and where it becomes necessary to provide the States with technical experts and financial grants, as well as a transformation of the system, particularly in the rural zones which demand a boost for increasing its capacity to maintain sustainable growth in the agribusiness.

The development strategy has resulted in the identification of improvements such as the creation of jobs with better working conditions, the implementation of the Decent Work Agenda, the employment of women and youth and the communication between the private sector and the governments, which is one of the pillars in the process of the democratization of societies.

Finally, the Commissioner insisted on the necessity of using political dialogue with the partner states to encourage the governments and the local authorities to contact representatives of the private sector.

After a short question and answer period, the Vicepresident took the floor to thank Andris Piebalgs for his exposition and collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce.

The Ambassador Permanent Representative of Spain to the EU, Alfonso Dastis, has given a presentation on the topic: “The European Union in 2014 from a Spanish perspective”, during a luncheon-debate organized by the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg and sponsored by the Spanish company Indra. Members of the Spanish and international diplomatic corps, managers of companies, as well as personalities and representatives of European institutions participated in the luncheon-debate.

The event started with a speech from Pablo López Álvarez, Vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce. In the first place, he wanted to thank Mr. Alfonso Dastis for his collaboration and his continual support for the Chamber. The Vice-president predicted that in 2014, a turning point for the community because of the renovation of the European institutions and the beginning of new European programs, Spain will begin a new period of growth and the bases for a definitive end of the economic crisis will be built.

Thereafter, Alfonso Dastis took the floor, focusing in his speech on four axes: On the one hand, from the economic point of view, he presented the importance for Spain to continue its efforts in overcoming the crisis. He emphasized the improvement of the economic situation in Europe and Spain and highlighted the fundamental role of the institutions and in particular of the European Central Bank in it, but he wanted to insist especially on the good management of the crisis of the current government that has, among other things, allowed us to be able to count on a healthy financial system. Furthermore, Spain is facing the next review of the European Central Bank as one of the best prepared countries.

Concerning the second, institutional, axe, he referred to the changes that will take place this year at the institutions after the elections at the European Parliament and the appointment of a new Commission. In this regard, the Permanent Representative of Spain to the European Union has highlighted the importance of ensuring the greatest and the best representation of our country at the European institutions.

The third axe of his lecture dealt with the future of the European Union, where he stressed the fact that Europe needs a common vision shared by everyone that is the result of a sincere and deep commitment of the Member States. This is something that, in his opinion, is difficult to obtain in a Union that currently counts on 28 members and that will continue to grow in a near future. However, it is not impossible.

Finally, he talked about the fundamental role Spain can play in all of these challenges, the importance of our contribution to the Union in every respect and the implication of all of the parties related with the European Union, government, administration and Spanish companies in order to communicate the positive elements of our role in Europe to the citizens.

Once the speech of the Ambassador ended, a lively debate between the assistants was generated. Issues such as the role of renewable energy in Europe, the lack of a common vision between the member states and the uncertainty concerning job creation and sustainability especially in the construction industry, were discussed. Mr. Dastis showed his optimism and his positive view on these issues and his expectations of improvement of all of them. The luncheon-debate ended with the appreciation of the Ambassador of Peru, Mrs. Cristina Ronquillo, who emphasized the role of Spain as leader in South America and the support Spain has always offered on this continent.

On 1 April 2014, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organized a luncheon-debate at the ‘Circle of Entrepreneurs’ Forum in Brussels with Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea. In addition to the members of the Equatorial Guinean government and other authorities of this country, Antonio Tajani, Vice-president of the European Commission, participated as well as ambassadors and members of the international diplomatic corps and a large group of European entrepreneurs.

The event began with the intervention of the President of the Chamber, Juan Rodriguez-Villa, who highlighted the fact that President Obiang is nowadays head of the ACP Group of States, head of the African-South-American Summit and head of the Gulf of Guinea Commission Summit. Juan Rodríguez-Villa Matons indicated that the trade balance between Equatorial Guinea and the European Union is slightly favourable for the African country, Europe being the first commercial partner of Equatorial Guinea in the world.

He also underlined the importance of a favourable atmosphere for the development of the economy and expressed that the coupling economic development – social welfare, will lead to exchanges and improvements in the investments of Europe in Equatorial Guinea.

Subsequently and under the title ‘Investing in Equatorial Guinea: the Pearl of Africa’, the President of Equatorial Guinea has spoken about the business relationship between Europe and Equatorial Guinea, highlighting that there could be a mutually beneficial cooperation due to the fact that Africa can offer resources and Europe can offer technology.