On 8 and 9 July, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg participated in the meeting of the 44 Official Spanish Chambers of Commerce abroad in Madrid, in the framework of the CAMACOES Assembly. During these working days, the Chambers had the opportunity to share the best practices of the network, to explore new ways of collaboration with the Spanish territorial chambers and to identify new projects together with the Spanish Chamber of Commerce.

Three round tables were held at the Spanish Chamber of Commerce. In the first one, on “Presentation of Network Projects and Services (Barometers)”, the speakers were Yolanda Jimeno, Secretary General of the Italian Chamber; Xavier Urios, General Manager of the Peruvian Chamber; Óscar Esteban, President of the Indian Chamber; and Alejandro Gómez, Executive Director of the Brazilian Chamber.

The second, on “How to reinforce synergies and interaction in the Cameral Network”; Álvaro Alonso, Secretary General of the Gijón Chamber; Nieves Agreda, Deputy Director General of the Zaragoza Chamber; Mónica Vázquez, President of the US Chamber (Miami); and Igor Urra, Secretary General of the UK Chamber, exchanged their experiences and vision.

Finally, a round table on the associations and organisations of the Chambers of Commerce was organised, with the participation of Eduardo Flores, director of the Chamber of Commerce of Seville (AICO); Guillermo Cobelo, vice-president of FEDECOM; Antonio Basagoiti, president of FECECA; and Luis Padrón, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Gran Canaria.

Fundamental instruments for internationalisation

In addition, the attendees of the two working days have also enjoyed the presentations of Judith Arnal, Senior Researcher at the Real Instituto Elcano, on “Competitiveness factors of the European Union”; Ignacio Torreblanca, head of Madrid Office, European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), on the future of the European Union; and Elena Gil, Director of AI & Big Data, Telefónica TECH, on the evolution of Artificial Intelligence.

The Secretary of State for Trade, Amparo López Senovilla, highlighted the role of the Official Spanish Chambers of Commerce abroad (CAMACOES) as a support network for internationalisation and their work as a “fundamental instrument” for accompanying companies and boosting their growth.