Celebration of the Spanish National Day at the Embassy of Spain in Luxembourg

On 12 October, the Embassy of Spain in Luxembourg celebrated the Spanish National Day. The event, which took place at the Cercle Cité in Luxembourg, was sponsored by the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg and was attended by local authorities, businessmen and Spanish representatives of the European institutions, as well as numerous members of the Chamber.

The Ambassador of Spain in Luxembourg, H.E. Carlos Maria de Lojendio and Pardo Manuel de Villena, thanked the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Juan Rodríguez-Villa, for his presence and thanked the Chamber for its collaboration in organizing the event in his speech.

Diabolix Business Club Euro 2016

It’s official, Verhulst Events & Partners offers you the opportunity to invite their business partners and professional contacts to encourage the Red Devils in the match to be held on November 17 against the Spanish National Team. Thanks to Diabolix Business Club you can enjoy the exclusivity of the game in great detail thanks to their VIPs tickets in which a delicious snack and dinner is included.

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“The EU funds for SMEs”

Jorge Cisneros, Member of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, presents his book “The EU funds for SMEs “.

This is a guide to understand the European Union and its funds for companies, as well as to provide access to application submission and participation in the European Development Funds and External Aid.

Prepared by an expert in the field, it is a practical tool to dispel doubts of a company concerning the European Union as a facet of aid to SMEs and to understand the objectives set and to improve economic competitiveness.

It provides an overview of the main aid programs for companies, essential knowledge for all professionals who would like to get into this unknown world.

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Conference support cultural entrepreneurship of young Spaniards abroad – CULTUP

The Minister of Employment and Social Security, Vicente Perez Menayo, and the Minister of Culture, Joaquín Durán Garach, chaired the event, along with the Director of the Latin American Foundation for the Cultural and Creative Industries (Fibicc) Santiago Arroyo. They coordinated the presentations and interventions concerning the issue of entrepreneurship and cultural management.

8The General Secretary of the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, María Catalán, participated in the panel discussion on funding and supporting cultural entrepreneurship in Belgium. At the debate we talked about the services provided through the BeLux Youth program managed by the Chamber of Commerce and supported by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security. More than 150 young people in Belgium have already benefited from the free services of this project.

During the second day of the event, organizations such as Guichet des Arts or Arteconomy spoke about the importance of funding for cultural projects and the role of cultural management companies as mediator between the business sector and the ICC. During the talks, issues such as authorship of the creators, the instrumentalization of art or the legal issues surrounding the world of cultural enterprise were also discussed.

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The day ended with the presentation of some projects promoted by young people in the cultural sector in Belgium. Cultural entrepreneurship projects like the magazine Acentos or Art Viewer were some of the initiatives presented.

The event was held under the framework of the Youth program strategy of the Directorate General of Immigration, Ministry of Employment and Social Security of the Government of Spain, promoted by the Ibero-American Foundation for Cultural and Creative Industries (FIBICC).

The President of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, José Luis Bonet, held in Paris his first official ceremony abroad

bonet3The conference, entitled “The internationalization of the Spanish company: Freixenet, Fira de Barcelona and Spanish Chamber”, was the first official ceremony as President of the Chamber of Commerce, in one of the Spanish chambers of commerce abroad since he became president on November 19, 2014.
The Lunch Conference, attended by the Ambassador of Spain in France, Don Ramón de Miguel, as well as representatives of the Spanish Chambers of Commerce in Benelux, Hong Kong and the president of FEDECOM (Federación de Cámaras de Comercio Españolas en el extranjero), had a large influx of attendees, most business representatives foster international relations, in particular between Spain and France.Bonet, in his speech, made a great emphasis on the current recovery Spain, the importance of international relations and export as well as the leading role in Europe. Specifically, he closed  with a summary: Talent, Labour and Determination and in one word; “optimism”.

“I think we can be optimistic about the possibility that Spain took again another quantitative and qualitative leap, to the surprise of many over the past 50 years. With this perspective we will work in the Spanish cameral system that has always been at the service of the country. ”

bonet2The new President of the Spanish Chamber, who represents 88 Chambers of Commerce in Spain and 38 Spanish Chambers abroad, summarized in three main objectives, points to be addressed by the Chamber; “1- The representation, promotion and protection of the general interests of commerce; the industry, the services and the navigation, in other words the general interests of the company, 2- The internationalization of companies and 3- the competitiveness of companies.”

Joseph Michel Garcia, President of the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in France, opened the event with a speech in which he emphasized the strength of the Chambers abroad as interlocutors of the exporting companies and invited to strengthen ties between the Spanish chambers of commerce abroad and in particular to reinforce relations between the Spanish chambers of commerce abroad.

 

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Meeting about the Asturian emigration: challenges for the future

Last Thursday, 26 March, a meeting in Gijón took place with regard to Asturian citizens living abroad in the face of the future challenges of the Asturian society. The meeting focused on two important aspects of emigration: young people and the role of diaspora in the internationalisation of the companies.

foto ramon newsletter 22The event was organized by the association ‘Compromiso Asturias XXI‘, where lectures were presented by Pablo López-Álvarez, vice-president of the Chamber, and Ramón López-Peláez, manager of Programa Jóvenes.

The first one participated in the panel discussion ‘Emigration and international markets‘, where he joined other Asturian professionals residing abroad and presented his professional experience and point of view about the role of expatriates as information sources for Asturian companies interested in expanding internationally.

Meanwhile, Ramón López-Peláez offered his vision in the panel ‘Youths and international career‘, commenting the situation of young expatriates in Belgium and Luxembourg, the jobs in demand, as well as some successful tips for job hunting.

 

Networking Dinner with the Delegation of the Extremaduran Association of the Family Enterprise

Next Monday 23rd of March, the Extremaduran Office in Brussels organizes a networking dinner with the Delegation of the Extremaduran Association of the Family Enterprise in collaboration with the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg. The event will be presided by Enrique Barrasa, delegate of Extremadura in Europe, and Juan Rodríguez-Villa, president of the Chamber of Commerce.

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The networking dinner will begin at 8 p.m. and will take place in Rue Auguste Orts 20-28, in Brussels. To confirm your assistance, please send an email to info@e-camara.com before Thursday 19th of March.

This exclusive event is only available for partners of the Chamber.

 

The Hotel introduces Spanish high cuisine in The Restaurant

Pierre Balthazar, culinary counselor and chef in THE HOTEL, has invited three world known chefs to elaborate a menu based on the same basic ingredients, created in three personal ways.

Almuerzo con Macarena

Almuerzo con Macarena

Macarena de Castro, from Restaurante Jardín, in Alcudia (Majorca), Michaël Fulci from the restaurant Les Terraillers in Biot-Cannes and Oth Sombath from the thailand restaurant Aux Trois Nagas, in the 16th district of Paris. The three well known cooks “start the competition” using the same nine seasonal products, testing their creativity.

The Restaurante Jardín (Port d’Alcudia), Macarena de Castro’s propiety, has a Michelin star.

Juan Rodríguez-Villa, our President, together with José Fernández Muñíz (from the Commercial Office in the Spanish Embassy), Jan Joris Kriele (General Director of The Hotel) and Nicolás Barsotti, the Sales Director, shared a table while tasting the culinary delights made by Macarena de Castro.

The Spanish Official Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg celebrates the presentation in Brussels of this excelent example of Spanish high cuisine.

Spanish-Belgian assets planning: get advised to optimize

On 29 October the conference about “Assets planning in a Spanish-Belgian inheritance context ” took place in Brussels, at the Spanish Chamber of commerce in Belgium and Luxemburg.

DSC_0049Rafaël Álvarez Campa, Partner in Brussels at law firm Wantiez, Bailleux, Causin & Janssen, and José María Moyano, Partner at the law firm Adarve Abogados in Madrid, both members of the International Network of tax experts Law and Numbers, were the speakers of what proved to be an interesting and interactive workshop, which gathered an important number of Spanish expatriated people who are tax residents in Belgium, and have financial interests in both countries.

During the seminar different questions about the Inheritance and Gift Tax – affecting tax residents in both countries – were examined. Undoubtedly the topics that generated more interest were Real Estate taxation and the recent Sanction to the Kingdom of Spain for unequal treatment between Spanish residents and non-residents on the Inheritance and Gift Tax.

“The need of being advised in advance is essential, because when the logic ends, then Belgium starts” Rafaël Álvarez Campa says, as an example of the complexity that can imply the correct planning of expatriated people’s assets planning. “Moreover if we take into account that there’s no existing agreement between Spain and Belgium to avoid double taxation in Inheritance and Gift matters”, José María Moyano emphasizes.

The conference was attended by numerous participants.

European Parliament of Enterprises

Last Thursday, 16 October, the third edition of the “European Parliament of Enterprises” organized by Eurochambres, was organized in the hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels.

The objective of this initiative is to bring the concerns from the companies to the European legislators. A total of 751 employers, from the 28 EU countries and companies of all sizes and sectors, participated in the event. The composition of the EPE reflects the number of representatives per Member State. Several members of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg had the opportunity to participate in the initiative.

The EPE also has the objective of providing the companies more information about the importance of the decisions of the institutions in their activities and results, and the role and functioning of the European Union as well. During that day a parliamentary session was recreated that gave a voice to the European business.

After having compared the policy priorities for 2014 set by the European Commission, the European Parliament, the EU Presidency and members of Eurochambres, four areas of interest for business were identified: Internationalization, skills, finance and energy. At the end of each debate the entrepreneurs had the opportunity to participate in the voting process. The judgement on the chosen topics were transferred to the European institutions.

The first edition of the “European Parliament of Enterprises” was held on 14 October 2008 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Eurochambres. It is organized every two years in cooperation with the Higher Council of Chambers of Commerce and other national associations of European Chambers of Commerce and third countries members of Eurochambres.