First afterwork with members

The past 21st September, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organized the first afterwork with members of the Chamber at the restaurant Hispania Brussels. The afterwork is an initiative of the Chamber which aims to encourage networking among members and the generation of new business opportunities.

Members from different companies associated to the Chamber participated on the afterwork. Once all the attendees arrived to the venue, the Secretary General of the Chamber, María Catalán, said a welcome word, thanking the attendees participation. Afterwards, she introduced the translation company Lextrad.

After that, Marina Lanckmans, Founder – Director of Lextrad, introduced the company and its services. During her intervention, she explained the responsibilities every translation company has and she highlighted the importance of owning an exhaustive knowledge of the working languages, their cultural, sociological, economic and political contexts with the aim of providing an excellent translation service.

Finally, the Chamber offered the attendees an appetizer, allowing them to interact a bit longer and enjoy an ideal environment to generate new business opportunities. The afterwork was a complete success and the Chamber wishes to continue this initiative regularly.

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Board of Directors of the Chamber meeting

The Board of Directors of the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg held a meeting last 7th September in the headquarters of the Chamber in Brussels.

During the meeting, the Board named Mr. Miguel Ángel Arrimadas García as Treasurer of the Chamber for a period of three years and Mr. Rafael Chamorro Marín, Director of the Spanish Tourism Office was officially introduced as the new Institutional Vocal of the Board.

The Secretary General informed about the Chamber’s upcoming events, highlighting the organization of the DS Brussels Fashion Days- Spanish Edition and the annual Gala Dinner, which this year will be organized in collaboration with Leading Brands of Spain Forum.

Breakfast-debate with Félix Fernández-Shaw: Global strategy of the EU. Europe in the world

The past September 14th, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg hosted in its Brussels’ headquarters a breakfast-debate with Félix Fernández-Shaw, Expert Member of the Federica Mogherini’s Cabinet, about “Global strategy of the EU. Europe in the world”. Among the participants, there were members of the Chamber, ambassadors of Latin-American countries, business executives and representatives of Spanish autonomous delegations in Brussels.

María Catalán, Secretary General of the Chamber, and moderator of the event, started by saying a welcome word and introduced the speaker, highlighting his broad professional career related to the European Union. Member of the Spanish Diplomatic Career since 1993, he is currently working as an Expert Member of the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of European Commission Federica Mogherini, in charge of Africa, Sustainable Development, Multiannual Financial Framework and climate change.

Félix Férnandez-Shaw then took the floor and started a small debate to encourage the attendees’ participation. The main goal of this short discussion was to clarify some concepts related to the different organisms of the European Union and its roles.   

Afterwards, Félix explained the mission of Federica Mogherini’s Cabinet as a part of the European Commission and described the decision-making process and its final implementation. He highlighted this Cabinet constitutes the “voice” of the European Union around the world. Its main responsibilities are the management of foreign policy instruments, foreign affairs and foreign defense and security of all country members.

The speaker underlined the importance of the inclusion of all the country members of the European Union as a part of a common Foreign Policy, since every decision is made at global level. He stressed the importance of an internal cohesion among all its members to strengthen the EU’s presence at international level. In order to achieve a correct global management is necessary to use two principles: strength and order.

On the other hand, Félix talked about how our world has changed at global level since 1989. During this period of time, three different revolutions have occurred: democratic, ideological and technological, which have allowed that the world is a better place than two decades ago.

Félix has also showed his concern about the environmental situation of our planet and he has remarked the importance of working towards a sustainable development and the need of a strong alliance among countries. The European Union has a very important role within the global situation, and that is why it is necessary to work towards a more united Europe, which transmits a “unique voice”. 

Finally, he has made a call to raise awareness about this problem and he has encouraged all the attendees to promote the cooperation and development in their own companies. He also suggested them to work in sustainable development goals, and promote help towards the African continent.

After Fernández-Shaw’s intervention, the secretary general of the Chamber opened the debate, which was marked by a high participation of the attendees. Among the main issues, the most remarkable topic was the cooperation to public-private development in the African continent.

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Business centre in the heart of Brussels

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg presents its business centre located in the European quarter of Brussels. Through this service, the Chamber seeks to support the process of expansion and internationalization of companies.

We offer different types of services, depending on the specific needs of each company: domiciliation, spaces for rent and co-working spaces.

Domiciliation

The Chamber offers different possibilities to domicile your business in Brussels: headquarters (with sending and receiving mail/parcel), virtual office and meeting rooms (with the option of combining both).

Spaces for rent

The Chamber offers the possibility of renting different types of spaces according to your needs: meeting rooms, offices and garages.

The meeting room can accommodate up to 40 people. It has a front desk assistant, air conditioning, LCD 47” screen, photocopying service and receipt of documents and Wi-Fi Internet.

The offices are totally furnished and allow you to settle in Brussels in a permanent or occasional way.

Co-working spaces

The Chamber offers Spanish companies a co-working space in the European quarter of Brussels.

This modality allows you to access the following services:

  • Registered office/ headquarters in the center of Brussels
  • Access 24/24. You own your own workspace
  • Phone line and Internet connection
  • Locked cabinet
  • Access to meeting rooms 5h / month
  • Use of public areas

We also offer formulas adapted to the specific needs of each company.

All these facilities are situated in the famous Rue Belliard, in the European quarter of Brussels. The proximity to the train station Brussels-Luxembourg, metro (Arts- Loi / Kunst Wet and Trône / Troon) and buses (MIVB), provide easy access.

Check all the rates here.

For any questions or queries please do not hesitate to send an e-mail to info@e-camara.com.

Satisfaction survey for members of the Chamber

One of the main objectives of the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg is to always offer the best quality in the services we provide to our members, permanently seeking to adapt ourselves to their specific needs.

Our main source of information on the degree of satisfaction and opinions of our members is our staff, who always provides a personalized service regarding any suggestion, comment or eventuality coming from our members.

However, said information is incomplete; we would therefore like to obtain direct and anonymous feedback from our members.

As a result of this willingness to improve, we have designed a brief survey regarding different aspects of our institution so that members may rate them and, in case they would wish to do so, make any personal comments. The data resulting from this questionnaire is completely anonymous and will help us to keep improving every day and provide the members with the best service possible. Your opinion is very important for us.

We would certainly appreciate it if you could complete the survey in the following link.

In case you encounter any problem when logging in the Intranet, please do not hesitate to contact the Chamber: info@e-camara.com

Minute of silence for the terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils

After the terrible terrorist attacks on August 17th in Barcelona and Cambrils, the Embassy of Spain in Luxembourg and the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg joined the minute of silence celebrated last Friday to honor the victims of such a tragedy and their families.

Both institutions thank the people and authorities of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for all their support and solidarity after the recent terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils.

The president of Fedecom takes part in the Plenary Session of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce

Juan Rodríguez-Villa Matons, president of the Federation of Official Spanish Chambers of Commerce in Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania, took part on July 18th in the Extraordinary Plenary Session of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, which took place at BBVA headquarters in Madrid, concurring with the celebration of the “Big Data, Big Day” event and the presentation of the BBVA Research’s “Impacto de la Digitalización de las Empresas Españolas” report.

During the meeting, José Luis Bonet, president of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, performed a first balance of the “Plan de Impulso a la Digitalización de las Pymes Españolas”, a project jointly launched with BBVA whose object is to explain and foster Spanish SMEs’ transition to a a digital environment. This program agrees with BBVA Research’s report when stating that, even if Spain is better equipped than other Southern European countries like Italy or Portugal, there is still a great margin of improvement when it comes to SMEs’ adaptation to new technologies.

To conclude, the forum stressed the importance of said adaptation not only to improve SMEs’ competitiveness in mature market niches, but also as an engine for exports to new markets. These tools, along with new data-engineering techniques, are, according to the experts, the future of Spanish small and medium enterprises.

The Chamber’s Trade Missions

Among the different services the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg offers, a series of trade missions are proposed , both direct and inverse and of different magnitude. This service is available to any interested company, either member of the Chamber or not, although our members do benefit of preferential rates.

The first stage of a trade mission consists on the prospection of potential future clients, as well as their characteristics, always under the parameters set before hand by the contracting company.

Once such potential clients have been targeted, a second stage is put in motion when the Chamber proceeds to reach to these clients in order to present the contracting company, reinforcing its corporate brand thanks to the Chamber’s.

During the third stage, a series of meetings are set with those potential clients who proved to be interested in the company’s activities during the previous stage.

This kind of trade missions allow companies to improve its knowledge regarding the market of their interest, a vital asset when it comes to defining marketing, prospection, promotion and sales strategies.

Our last trade mission was developed for Begoña Pascual Hormías, CEO of our member company Ipsa Ratio S.L, a language consultancy firm based in Malaga which proposes an exclusive learning model for an adult and professional public looking for results due to differentiation and exclusivity.

All their learning schemes are concentrated in a short period of time of one or two weeks thanks to a complete language immersion and themed workshops, during which the learning experience is paired with different sport, cultural, gastronomical and social activities.

In Ipsa Ratio’s trade mission, our member sought potential final clients for its services or possible agents to represent its company, both in Belgium and Luxembourg; the Chamber therefore prepared a meeting agenda which included firms fulfilling their parameters as well as some proposals from our own Commercial department. Moreover, a trade advisor accompanied her to the meetings, and the Chamber’s Headquarters were made completely available to have any desired corporate meetings.

In Begoña Pascual’s own words, the trade mission’s result and its final success can be summed up as follows: “the representatives and employees at the Chamber immediately identified which could be the greatest potential for my company’s services in Belgium and Luxembourg. I was regularly updated regarding the meeting agenda and its final version was closed a week prior to my visit. What is most remarkable is the fact that the Chamber’s team kept looking for business opportunities for my firm to include in the agenda until the last second. The Chamber helped me understand the tools which help promote direct contact with the local market and its operators. The Chamber’s both human and organizational support throughout the three stages has been excellent”.

If you were interested in arranging a trade mission, do not hesitate on contacting our Commercial department: info@e-camara.com

The Board of the Chamber names José Gracia Barba as new Vicepresident in Luxembourg

The Board of Directors of the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg gathered last April 6th in the Spanish Embassy in Luxembourg.

The Ambassador of Spain in Luxembourg, Mr. Carlos de Lojendio y Pardo Manuel de Villena took part in the meeting as the President of Honor of the institution.

During the meeting, the Board named Mr. José Gracia Barba as new Vicepresident of the Chamber for a three-year period.

José Gracia Barba is an industrial superior engineer. After his experience in different companies such as Empresa Nacional del Aluminio (INESPAL), he started working on his own in different initiatives converging in Sociedad EUROSIGMA.

Since 1995 he has developed different outsanding projects in the financial sector, and he has held different positions in companies such as the Compañía de Transportes e Inversiones (CTI), Metrovacesa, Gecina and Banco Pastor.

He currently presides the Board of Directors of EBN Banco de Negocios S.A, among others.

The President of the Chamber, Mr. Juan Rodríguez-Villa Matons, thanked the previous Vicepresident, Mr. Sergio de Miguel-Jessel, for the relevant role he played during the opening process of the delegation in Luxembourg in 2012 and for his dedication to the Chamber during the past years.

Another point on the agenda was the aproval of the annual accounts for the 2016 fiscal year, for its presentation in the Ordinary General Assembly, which will take place next June 21st in Brussels.

The new fashion website Spanish Fashion BeLux is already available

In the last years, Spanish fashion is experiencing a progressive internationalization process. It is known in the whole world through its designers and its prestigious brands. The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg would like to help Spanish fashion companies to establish their own brand in BeLux and that is why we have created the website Spanish Fashion BeLux, where you can find information of interest, events related to the fashion industry as well as relevant information for companies which want to stablish en BeLux.

Besides news related to the area, the website will also contain interviews with representatives of Spanish brands already stablished in BeLux and information about upcoming events, fairs or showrooms related to fashion. In the section “training“, we will publish the most interesting offers due to increase your knowledge in the fashion field around Belgium and Luxembourg.

Do not hesitate to visit us on Spanish Fashion BeLux and follow us on Instagram. If you are thinking about stablishing your firm in BeLux, do not doubt it and contact us any time.

Do not forget to participate in our contest and win tickets for concerts!