Gala Dinner & Awards Ceremony 2017

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organized, last 27th November at the Hotel Le Plaza, their yearly Gala Dinner. The Embassy of Spain in Belgium, the Leading Brands of Spain Forum, Marca España and the Spanish Office for Patents and Brands (OEPM), collaborated specially on the event organization. During the dinner, the awards “Friends of Marca España” and “Friends of the Spanish Brands” were given. These awards aim to publicly acknowledge certain Belgian people, companies and institutions for their outstanding support and collaboration with Spain and/or Spanish brands within each of their respective professional spheres. This is the ninth edition of the awards and the first in Belgium, with previous ceremonies having taken place in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Moscow, London, Miami, Tokyo, Dubai, and Mexico.

After a welcome cocktail where the participants were delighted with cava offered by Freixenet, Institutional Wines D.O. Ca Rioja, Estrella Galicia beer, ibérico de bellota ham offered by the Regional Government of Extremadura and an appetizer elaborated by Marcos Morán, Gastronomic Director of the Restaurant Hispania Brussels, the Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony started.

First, Juan Rodríguez-Villa, President of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg took the stand. During his speech, he welcomed all the attendees to the Gala Dinner, went over all the activities that took place at the Chamber on 2017 and congratulated all the awardees of the night.

Afterwards, the masters of ceremonies, Sergi Ferré and Laura Martínez, Cultural and Political Counselors respectively, at the Spanish Embassy in Belgium, gave the word to José Luis Bonet, president of the Leading Brands of Spain Forum. During his speech, Bonet highlighted the important role of the Chambers of Commerce abroad, as well as the Friends of the Marca España and Friends of the Spanish Brands’, to make them stronger and more competitive internationally.

After the projection of a video-presentation about the Spanish Brands, the masters of ceremonies introduced the awards ceremony “Friends of the Spanish Brands in Belgium”. Several Spanish Brands, aim to recognize the hard work of Belgian citizens to internationalize and expand these brands in Belgium, through this award. The awardees were:

  • JEAN PIERRE PIRET as Friend of the Brand FERMAX in Belgium
  • LOUIS CULOT KEUKENWERKBLADEN as Friend of the Brand COSENTINO in Belgium.
  • ERIC LE PAIGE as Friend of the Brand ANDREU WORLD in Belgium.
  • JEAN-LUC MURI as Friend of the Brand LLADRÓ in Belgium.
  • KEEP IT QUIET as Friend of the Brand FREIXENET in Belgium.

After the awards ceremony, the attendees enjoyed a gourmet Spanish menu elaborated by Marcos Morán, who owns a Michelin Star and has been recognized with the National Gastronomy Award.

After the dinner, the Ambassador of Spain in Belgium, Cecilia Yuste Rojas, took the stand to congratulate the initiative of awarding the people who help to create closer ties between Spain and Belgium. Then, after the video presentation of Marca España, the masters of ceremonies presented the second awards ceremony “Friends of the Marca España” in Belgium. The awardees were:

  • Award to JAN DE CLERCK as Friend of the Marca España in Belgium, for being a pioneer of foreign tourism for the entire coast of Cádiz. He is currently Chairman of the hotel group Hoteles Andaluces Con Encanto (HACE) in the province of Cádiz.
  • Award to NICHETTE GHYOOT as Friend of the Marca España in Belgium. General Director of the tour operator Transeurope she collaborates with Spain’s Department of Tourism in the organization of activities with travel agencies, showcasing different destinations in Spain, such as Andalusia, Galicia, the Basque Country, and the Canary Islands.
  • Collective award to HISPANISTAS EN BÉLGICA as Friend of the Marca España in Belgium. The acknowledge of all Spanish language and literature professors from seven Belgian universities that have academic chairs dedicated to these subjects is recognized.
  • Award to ROLAND CRACCO as Friend of the Marca España in Belgium. CEO of the Belgian company INTERPARKING, one of the leading European groups with over 350,000 parking spaces. He loves Spain, its culture and its geography. Spain is one of the countries where INTERPARKING has invested the most, and the goal is to continue expanding throughout the country.
  • Award to CARMEN VAN DEN BOSSCHE as Friend of the Marca España in Belgium. She manages Caractère, a tour operator specializing in charming hotels and experiences that is looking to Spain for the launch of new products targeted at segments and destinations that play a part in achieving the objectives set by Spain’s tourism policy.
  • Award to OMMEGANG as Friend of the Marca España in Belgium.
  • Award to BERT DEHANDSCHUTTER as Friend of the Marca España in Belgium. He is a partner at Belgian law firm Racine. He is currently considered one of the most sought after lawyers for Spanish companies trading in Belgium.

After the awards ceremony, Bert Dehandschutter, in the name of all the awarded of the night, showed his appreciation for the awards given by Marca España and by the by the Spanish Brands for their relationship with Spain, both in the cultural and economic aspects.

Finally, Carlos Espinosa de los Monteros, High Commissioner for the Marca España closed the event by thanking  the Friends of the Marca España and Friends of the Spanish Brands their hard work for internationalize the Spanish Brands.

The Chamber thanks all the attendees their presence, and the Embassy of Spain in Belgium, the Leading Brands of Spain Forum, Marca España and the Spanish Office of Brands and Patents their collaboration in the organization of the event. Furthermore, we appreciate the collaboration of the sponsor companies and institutions: Freixenet, D.O.Ca Rioja, Estrella Galicia, Hispania Brussels, Quality Media Producciones, Junta de Extremadura, Indra and Santander Consumer Bank.   

   We invite you to watch the video of the event

Companies and institutions from Navarra present in Brussels their activity in the biomedicine sector

The past 21st November 2017, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organized in Brussels, in collaboration with the Delegation of the Government of Navarra and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Navarra, a conference at the Hotel Sofitel Brussels about the business opportunities for collaboration in the biomedicine sector between Navarra and Belgium. During the conference numerous presentations from different representatives of universities, companies and institutions, both from Navarra and Belgium, took place.

Bert Dehandschutter, member of the Board of Directors at the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, and Manuel Ayerdi, Vice-president for Economic Development of the Government of Navarra, both said a welcome word.

Afterwards, Kathleen D’Hont, policy officer at the Government of Flanders, presented the biomedical sector in this region, highlighting the universities and active companies on this field, and the specialization of different Flemish organizations on this area.

On the other hand, Izaskun Goñi, Director General of Economy Policy at the Government of Navarra, explained the currently existing development areas in Navarra, focusing on health sector. She also presented the “International Plan of Navarra” which aims to increase, by 2020, the exports and the internationalization, as well as the companies from Navarra that usually export, specially to Belgium, but also to France, United Kingdom and Germany.

After that, Henk Joos, Managing Director at Flanders Bio, presented the organization, which is composed by life sciences clusters, and has its headquarters in Flanders. It counts on more than 355 members from 3 different regions in Belgium, and also from adjacent countries, such as the Netherlands. During his presentation, he underlined that Belgium manages the 18% of the European capital in biotechnology, highlighting that the reasons for this success are related to its excellency, the strong funding, the experience and its geographic location in Europe. It is convenient to point out the big concentration of biopharmaceutical institutions and companies existing in Belgium (Janssen Pharmaceutica, Pfizer, GSK vaccines, UCB, Roche Diagnostics, Novartis, Sanofi, Baxter, among others).

Elke Smits, Professor at the Antwerp University Hospital, attended as representative both from this University and from Flanders Bio. She explained the approach of biomedicine in Flanders, showing how the Research Center at the Antwerp Clinic operates, and emphasizing the importance of the correct use of data in order to achieve significant progresses.

She also mentioned the Biobanking and BioMolecular Resources Research Infrastructure, BBMRI, an organization which aims to create and maintain an infrastructure of Belgian biobank.

Begoña Vicente, Head of Business Development at Research Institutes, attended as a representative of the Public university of Navarra (UPNA), presenting the bachelor and masters degrees existing there, highlighting the ones taught in English in their totality, as well as the research activity that makes them outstand as an education center.

Elías Rodriguez-Toral, Director of the Research Management Department at CIMA (Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada), presented how CIMA works and orientates its activities to the research of new diagnosis and therapeutic products, working together with pharmaceutical companies and other institutions.

Isabel Gil, Scientific Coordinator of NavarraBiomed Biobank and Clara Gahigiro, European Funding Project Manager at the same company, spoke about the Biomedical Research Centre of the Government of Navarra, highlighting the support and collaboration projects at the Spanish biobank network. It takes part of the Spanish Biobank network, an initiative from the Health Center Carlos III, which counts on 52 biobanks.

For her part, Ana Cañada, International Trade Manager at the Navarre Chamber of Commerce and Industry, explained briefly which are the main biomedicine companies in Navarra and the main objectives of each one of them (Cinfa, Palobiofarma, Albyn medical, 3pbiopharmaceuticals, geiser pharma, Lozy’s, Ojer Pharma, Tedcas, Pharmamodelling, making genetics, Innoup farma, eversens, movalsys).

Gert Verreth, Communication Advisor at Essenscia (Belgian Federation of Chemical Industries and for the Life Sciences), emphasized the fact that Belgium is on the world top 10 for pharmaceutical innovation, and the fact that 5 of the 100 essential medicines existing in the world, have been developed in Belgian labs. Thus, after presenting the key Belgian companies for this achievement, he explained the reasons why Belgium is a key country related to bio pharmacy: it is a unique academic and industrial network, it has a strong focus on the innovative research, a highly qualified and productive work power, and it is very well located and provided with excellent logistics infrastructure.

Afterwards, the companies from Navarra attending to the event were introduced. Javier Arnáez, representative of Idifarma, Francisco Fernández representative of Adacen, María Llorente Business Development Manager at Bionanoplus, and lastly, Iranzu Lamberto as Chief Operating Officer at IKan Biotech, did different presentations on behalf of their companies.

Finally, with the aim of turning this event into a productive meeting for both companies and organizations, and in order to create new business relationships, a matchmaking, consisting of B2B meetings between the companies and institutions took place after the presentations

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Conference: “Castilla y León: a region to invest in”

Last Tuesday 7th November, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organized in collaboration with Junta de Castilla y León and Instituto para la Competitividad Empresarial (ICE) a conference under the topic “Castilla y León: a region to invest in”.

Juan Rodríguez-Villa Matons, President of the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg said a welcome word and thanked the participation of all the attendees.

Afterwards, David Martínez Hornillos, the Economic and Commercial Counselor at the Embassy of Spain in Belgium, provided an overview for foreign investment in Spain, highlighting the most relevant sectors in the economy of the country. He also underlined some examples of foreign companies with active investment projects in Spain.

Later on, Carlos Martín Tobalina, General Director of industry and competitiveness and Vice- President of Economy at the Government of Castilla y León, presented the region and the infrastructures that facilitate its accessibility and its potential investing. He highlighted the most important sectors of the region which are agri-food and viticulture, automotive and aeronautics, pharmaceutical, energy, ICTs, security, logistics and endogenous resources. In addition, he pointed out that the human capital is another strength in this region since there are highly qualified professionals who are specialized in those sectors.

On the other hand, another of the advantages that Castilla y León offers to potential investors is a very favorable work environment. Its main characteristics are: low staff rotation, high stability, low labor conflicts and high labor productivity index. In addition, he pointed out the high quality of life in the autonomous community, highlighting the wide cultural and gastronomic offer. Finally, the speaker wanted to remark all the support that Castilla y León provides to the international investors.

After the speeches, the attendees were able to ask their questions during a space dedicated to networking.

You can check David Martínez Hornillos’ presentation through the following link.
You can check Carlos Martín Tobalina’s presentation through the following link.

Conference with Intertrust Luxembourg

Last October 18th, Intertrust Luxembourg organized the conference “Luxembourg vehicules: structures to invest in Spain; structures to invest from Spain” in collaboration with the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg. The event counted on the presence of a wide audience representing the financial and complementary services’ sector.

José Luis Rodríguez Álvarez, vicepresident of the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, welcomed the attendees, presented the conference’s program and introduced the speakers. Additionally, thanked Intertrust for their collaboration with the Chamber regarding the event’s organization.

Carlos Ferrer, Cuatrecasas’ member, explained the following financial tools to invest in and from Spain: FCPs, SIF, SICAR, RAIF, SOPARFI and SPF, detailing their characteristics as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each one of them. After that, he showed how the foreign investors invest their money in our country through the structures to invest in property and NPLs (Non Performing Loans).

Afterwards, Joel Cárdenas, Director General at Intertrust Luxembourg, presented the wide variety of services that his company offers and he highlighted the help that they provide to companies in order to solve administrative problems that show up when they decide to set up to another country,

Subsequently, there was a Q&A session where the attendees asked their questions to the two speakers.

Finally, Bram Eijsbouts, Commercial Director at Intertrust Luxembourg, started his speech by highlighting the professional career of Intertrust in the Grand Duchy since 1955 and underlined that it is the second local office with more professionals, in particular 450. He also explained the current situation of the company in Spain and pointed out its adaptability regarding the current challenges they are facing, guaranteeing a personalized service and adapted to each client.

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Industry leaders from the whole of Europe advocate in favor of the Mediterranean Corridor

The past October 3rd, the biggest Meeting for the Mediterranean Corridor (Corredor Mediterráneo), took place in Madrid (IFEMA). The Secretary General of the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, María Catalán, attended this event which counted on the support of more than 1,500 entrepreneurs and civil society from the whole Spanish territory.

The meeting started with an exhibition displaying by means of information panels the present situation of the development of the related public works, segment by segment, as well as the foreseen benefits stemming from the Mediterranean Corridor (Corredor Mediterráneo);job creation and a higher level of employment, an infrastructure connecting over 20 million people, with an increase of the affluence of tourism, as well as the overall boosting of the Spanish economy and an improved mobility.

Thereupon, took place two panels in which leading members of industrial organizations & business groups, Chambers of Commerce as well as renown sportsmen explained why undertaking the necessary works for the development of such infrastructure is an urgent need. In the first panel, José Mª Albarracín, President of CROEM (Confederation of Business Organizations of the Region of Murcia), Alejandro Blanco, President of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), Javier González de Lara, President of the CEA (Confederation of Business Organizations of Andalousia), Salvador Navarro, President of the CEV (Confederation of Business Organizations of the Valencian Community) and Alejandro Valverde, Professional cyclist, highlighted the positive impact of the Mediterranean Corridor on tourism as well as on the improved mobility of both passengers and goods.

During the second panel, Federico Félix, President of the Pro-AVE (Spanish High Speed Train) Foundation, Joaquim Gay de Montellà, President of Fomento del Trabajo Nacional (Advancement of National Employment), J. Pablo Lázaro, President of the CEIM (Business Confederation of Madrid), Diego Martínez Cano, President of Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Almeria and Agnès Noguera, CEO of Libertas 7, explained their point of view on Transport infrastructures and their impact as the backbone of the National Territory and the competitiveness of the industry and the economy.

Following those speeches, Vicente Boluda, President of the Valencian Association of Business (Asociación Valenciana de Empresarios – AVE), the driving force promoting the communication channel www.elcorredormediterraneo.com, aiming to inform on the state of the works of the different segments conforming the Mediterranean Corridor, opened the closing ceremony of the event, which was conducted by Macarena Berlín (Ser radio station) and Diego Lorente (AVE – Valencian Association of Business). During his speech, Vicente Boluda presented the project and announced that during next November will take place in La Encina the 2nd sixmonthly monitoring meeting, in which will be studied from a technical point of view, the progress made in all the segments of the Corridor.

During the Closing Ceremony of the event, both Civil Society and the world of Business & Industry joined forces to advocate for the need of a key infrastructure for the whole of Spain. Susanne Czech, Director General of the European Retail Round Table, emphasized the European vision on the importance of infrastructures for the Economy. Javier Vega de Seoane, President of Círculo de Empresarios (Business & Industry Round Table), highlighted the role of the Corridor as a backbone of the territory.


Moreover the President of the Spanish Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Cámaras de Comercio de España), José Luis Bonet, stressed on the fact that exports represent 33% of the Spanish GDP, therefore, the Mediterranean Corridor would not only boost the export sector, but it would also have a positive impact on employment and job creation.

Juan Rosell, President of the CEOE (Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations) also put forward his opinion, emphasizing the huge potential of the Corridor on one of Spain’s main sectors and a driving force of its economy – Tourism. A link connecting the whole of the Mediterranean region would improve and multiply the movement of people. The Leader of Círculo de Economía (Economy Circle), Juan José Brugera, added that the completion of this infrastructure should be an urgent priority, and a key factor as a backbone for the organization of the Territory to the profit of the whole of Spain.

The last speech of the event was that of the Minister of Development (Ministro de Fomento), Íñigo De la Serna, stating the commitment and the political will to complete this strategic infrastructure.

#QuieroCorredor (#IWantCorridor)

The campaign to collect signatures which started about a year ago to promote the awareness on the infrastructure among Civil Society, has already obtained 26.000 signatures of people supporting #QuieroCorredor (#IWantCorridor) .

Luncheon-debate with Věra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality

The past September 28th, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, organized in collaboration with the General Board of Abogacía Española, a luncheon-debate with Věra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality. Among the attendees there were several members of the Chamber, business executives, and representatives of Spanish and European companies and institutions.

Juan Rodríguez-Villa Matons, President of the Chamber, said a welcome word, introduced the Commissioner, highlighting her professional career and thanked her for her collaboration with the luncheon-debate.

Afterwards, the Commissioner took the stand and introduced briefly the main challenges her Commission is currently dealing with such as promoting entrepreneurship in Europe, the digital markets, the insolvency, data protection, consumer rights, digital content, gender equality and justice against crime.

Jourová emphasized the importance of creating a digital single market, explaining that currently there are only a few small companies which are selling products online cross borders. In Spain, only a 19% of companies do so. The main barrier to increase online commerce at international level is that there are different legal systems for online and offline worlds.

Afterwards, she showed her concerning about the lack of a regulatory law related to online sales of digital content (except from United Kingdom and The Netherlands) and mentioned that from theCommission they are working on a proposal for all European countries.

About data protection, she expressed the need of investing more money on new measures and tools that allow institutions to know what companies actually do with consumer’s personal data. On the other hand, she stressed the need of making a bigger effort on explaining the EU citizens about their new rights concerning data protection and privacy and how to use those rights.

During her speech, Jourová also talked about individual consumers’ rights, very numerous in the European Union, but about which there exists a very poor public information. In a time frame where big companies are becoming bigger, and small companies are tend to be smaller, from March 2018, the Commission for Justice is working on a plan which will provide individuals and small companies with the right tools to defend their rights related to trade and consumption.

The main topics discussed during the question time were related to gender equality at work environment and cybersecurity.

Finally, Marta Cerro, President of the Council of Bars of Castilla la Mancha, presented the Bar, and highlighted the role of lawyers in the European Union environment and how they contribute directly to citizens defense. She pointed out the need of respecting the citizens and providing them with a high quality service. In addition, she thanked the commissioner for her hard work and commitment with gender equality, and showed her her support in terms of promoting values related with the recognition of women in work environment.

Juan Rodriguez-Villa and Marga Cerro awarded Commissioner Jourová with a symbolic present to thank her for her participation in the luncheon-debate and her hard work in charge of for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality in the European Commission.

The president also wanted to thank Bodegas Yuntero, wine sponsor for this event.

Sponsored by:

 

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Circular Economy: European and local aid for the development of sustainable projects

Last 27th of September, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce organized, in collaboration with BECI (Chambre de Commerce et Union des Enterprises de Bruxelles) and Enterprise Europe Network, a conference under the topic “Circular economy: European and local assistance for the development of durable projects”. Among the participants, there were executives from companies related to circular economy, start-ups, representatives from European Institutions, members of the Chamber and representatives of Spanish autonomous delegations in Brussels.

The event, which took place at GreenBizz Brussels (an incubator for sustainable projects), started with a welcome word from Juan Rodríguez-Villa Matons, President of the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce and from Jean-Philippe Mergen, Export Director in BECI.

Amandine Sellier, Coordinator of the Circular Economy program in Brussels Environment, explained the PREC (Programme Régional en Economie Circulaire). The main goal of this program is to revitalize the economy in Brussels during the next ten years by using 111 different measures. Their aim is to transform the environmental goals into economic opportunities, to produce in a local level, to reduce the movements, to optimize the territory utilization and to create employment. This program is focused in five different action sectors: commerce, logistics, resources and waste, construction and nutrition.

Afterwards, María Rincón Lievana, Policy Officer at the Directorate-General for Environment at the European Commission, highlighted that economy and environment are two concepts that are related to each other and that is the reason why the circular economy is a priority for their institution. This is not only because of the benefits that the circular economy reports to the companies, but also because they are concerned about the damage that all waste causes to our ecosystem. The European Commission is carrying out several actions such as: offering help to consumers and institutions when making the decision of choosing sustainable products and services, legislative proposals, the promotion of water recycling and the inspection of fertilizer regulation.

Finally, the Director of Zabala Innovation Consulting, Marie Latour, detailed the existing European helps in the circular economy sphere. She highlighted the Horizon 2020 and the current programs: Life, EFSI, Innovfin, ESIF, COSME, among others.

Afterwards, three companies presented their successful cases. The first one was Pierre Romain, founder and CEO in Greensolution.pro. He showed how to renovate and clean the urban furniture and real state patrimony through biotechnological products. Subsequently, Antoine Dubois from Brussels Beer Project explained how their new beer is elaborated by reusing the leftovers of non-sold bread at the supermarkets. In the last case, Karapet Chatchatrian from Tridea explained how their company reuses waste in order to create new products through 3D printing.

As a closing, Jean-Marc Bryskere director of GreenBizz, presented briefly the services that the incubator offers in terms of developing sustainable projects in Brussels Region.

Compromiso Asturias XXI presents its delegation in Brussels

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg hosted the past June 30th a presentation of the delegation of “Compromiso Asturias XXI” in Brussels. The event had the presence of the President of the Association, Mr. Carlos García-Mauriño as President of Honor, Mr. Diego Canga Fano and Mrs. Pilar Roza Manzano (bot founding members of the Association), as well as many members of Compromiso Asturias XXI, residents in the European capital and members of the Yearbook of Asturian Professionals Abroad.

Carlos Coronas Balsera will be the person in charge of the delegation of Compromiso Asturias XXI in Brussels, which will try to gather all Asturian settled in the Belgian capital and work as a link towards the activities of the Association.

The meeting was a singular time to get together many Asturian professionals working in the Belgian capita and at the same time, keeping a tight connection of ideas, support and collaboration with the region of Asturias.

 

Conference about international markets: “Brussels: gateway for the European Western market” in Madrid

Last June 20th, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, represented by it Secretary-General María Catalán, participated in a conference organized by Brussels Invest & Export and the Chamber of Commerce of Madrid on ““Brussels: gateway for the European Western market”. The conference took place in the Chamber of Madrid’s headquarters and had the presence of more than twenty Spanish companies.

After a welcoming introduction by a representative of the Chamber of Madrid, Ariane Léonard, economic and commercial counselor of the region of Brussels-Capital, introduced the reasons why Brussels is considered as a city for stablishing foreign companies and investment projects.

Afterwards, Stefaan Lenaerts, Area Manager Invest Americas & S-Europe at BIE, explained the opportunities offered in the European capital for foreign investors and key sectors for Brussels economy. Thus, he introduced the Welcome Package, a free service that BIE offers to foreign companies interested in settling in Brussels.

Rafael Álvarez Campa, associate lawyer at WBCJ, informed the attendees about tax incentives in Brussels for FDI and innovative entrepreneurship. Bert Dehandschutter, associate lawyer at Racine, summarized the legal aspects that every company should know before stablishing a business in Belgium.

The General Director of Swan Consulting, Jorge Cisneros, explained the European funding opportunities for Spanish companies, underlining the added value for companies stablishing in the European capital.

María Catalán, Secretary-General of the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, numbered some recommendations for the companies which were present in the conference and their future establishment in Brussels. She also explained the services offered by the Chamber to recently established companies in Brussels.

To conclude, Ángel Rebollo, Director of Atrevia Brussels Office, talked about his experience as representative of a Spanish company settled in Belgium and beneficiary of Brussels Invest & Export’s Welcome Package.

Once the presentations were finished, the attendees had the opportunity of clarifying all their doubts during a networking breakfast-

Al terminar las presentaciones los participantes tuvieron la ocasión de trasladar todas sus cuestiones a los ponentes durante un desayuno-networking.

In collaboration with:

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Belgium is currently one of the most open and dynamic economies in the world, with an estimated GDP growth of the 1.7% for 2017, according to the IMF. The geographic location of the country, in the center of Europe, along with its infrastructure in transportation, logistics and communications, allows a very fast access to European providers and markets. Belgium is one of the main foreign-investment recipients.

At the same time, the Belgian Government is applying new tax measures that are very attractive for r+d and software development. The political relecante of Brussels as the EU Capital and many international bodies broadens opportunities for foreign companies. Furthermore, Brussels property market is one of the most competitive in Western Europe.

Panel-debate: “The effects of Brexit on business relations between Spain and the UK”

On June 15th, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, in collaboration with the British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium, organized a panel-debate regarding the “effects of Brexit on bilateral trade relations between Spain and the United Kingdom”. Among the attendees, the Trade and Investment Director General from the Economy, Industry and Competitivity Ministry joined representatives of the Spanish Government and the Spanish Embassy in Belgium, members of both chambers, representatives of companies and European institutions as well as members of regional delegations.

The event, which took place at the British Chamber’s headquarters in Brussels, was hosted and moderated by Thomas Spiller, President of the British Chamber, who also welcomed and introduced the participants to the debate.

The first lecturer, Ignasi Guardans, partner at K&L Gates and member of the Executive Board at the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce, explained the Spanish Chamber’s activities related to European affairs. Moreover, Mr. Guardans presented the main data on the Spain-United Kingdom trade forecast from the corporate perspective, emphasizing the role of the Anglo-Saxon country as one of Spain’s most important trade partners.

Next, Ignacio Molina, senior analyst at the Elcano Royal Institute, presented Brexit’s institutional approach, performing a synthesis from the think tank perspective, from the territorial conflicts in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Gibraltar, to the importance of bilateral freedom of movement, not only regarding tourism, but also long-term residents and workers.

After Mr. Molina’s intervention, Javier Arias, Head of European Affairs at BBVA, stressed the great uncertainty present in the agenda, especially in the financial sector. Moreover, he underlined the deadly effects of higher costs and an investments downfall.

To conclude, Dirk Van Ham, Corporate Relations Director at Diageo, highlighted the significance of an understanding related to a future international trade agreement which includes in its regulatory benchmark movement of goods, capital and people, as well as the need for effective cooperation at the international level.

Following Mr. Van Ham’s comments the debate began, characterized by a high participation. Topics like consumer protection, SME’s role in the trade agreement’s negotiations, the territorial conflict in Catalonia and, specially, Spain’s position on the creation of an effective regulatory agreement were discussed.

In collaboration with:

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