General Ordinary Assembly 2017
Last 21st of June, the Chamber celebrated its 2017 General Ordinary Assembly, which took place at the Instituto Cervantes’ new headquarters in Brussels. For such an event Ms. Cecilia Yuste, Ambassador of Spain in Belgium and Honorary President of the Chamber, joined several members and representatives of Spanish public institutions who were also attending.
Juan Rodríguez-Villa Matons, President of the Chamber, welcomed all the attendees. He also congratulated Mr. José Gracia Barba, who has been recently elected as the Chamber’s Vice President in Luxembourg, and his predecessor, Mr. Sergio de Miguel-Jessel, on the great efforts endured during the establishment of the Chamber in Luxembourg in 2012, as well as its dedication to the Chamber ever since.
Afterwards, the Ambassador and Honorary President of the Chamber Ms. Cecilia Yuste, thanked all the attendees and the Chamber for its activities promoting commercial and cultural Spanish activities in Belgium. Mrs. Yuste also offered its support to the Chamber’s mission and restated its will to cooperate with initiatives to promote the “Spain Brand” like the Fiesta Nacional next October 12th.
The Assembly proceeded with the reading and following approval of the last General Extraordinary Assembly’s minutes, which took place on November 24th, 2016, by the Secretary-General, María Catalán. Once the minutes were approved, Ms. Catalán presented last year’s activities report. Among them, she highlighted the increase in members enrolled, commercial activities and events organized under the Business Circle tribune.
Moreover, she detailed the new workshops, the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Program and the novelties in the communication department, which include new webpages and improvements in those already in place.
To finish with, the Secretary-General reviewed the activities developed by FEDECOM (Federation of Official Chambers of Commerce of Spain in Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania) and the upcoming activities for 2017.
After the approval of the list of members, Ms. Catalán exposed the annual account of 2016 to the Assembly. After a detailed explanation of the balance sheet and the outturn account, the annual account was approved unanimously by all the attendees.
Finally, the Secretary-General announced the candidatures received to replace the four committee members whose terms were over. Once they had all been presented to the audience, the Assembly proceeded to vote; resulting on the reelection for a new three-year term of:
Mr. Pablo López Álvarez (FTI Consulting)
Mr. Miguel Ángel Arrimadas García, in a personal capacity
Mr. David Luengo Riesco (Indra)
Mr. Carlos Rodríguez Cocina (Telefónica)
Furthermore, the Ambassador and the President thanked, in the name of all the attendees, Mr. Felipe Formariz, from the Spanish Tourism Office in Brussels as well as Institutional Board Member of the Chamber, for its support to the Chamber and its remarkable efforts during the past years.
Finally, the President of the Chamber and the Instituto Cervantes director, Mr. Felipe Santos, signed a collaboration agreement between both institutions to promote and strengthen the Spanish for business in Belgium and Luxembourg.
To close the Assembly, the attendees were greeted with a cocktail offered by Blasco Gourmet, a member company, at the Instituto Cervantes’ offices.
All the documentation relative to the 2017 General Ordinary Assembly will be at all the members’ disposal through the Chamber’s Intranet.
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