Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the United Kingdom

Tag: #networkingevent

Roadmap to Successful Smart Building

On 28^th June, we had the pleasure of holding the seminar “Roadmap to Successful Smart Building”, at the premises of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce. It was organised in collaboration with Zennio Avance y Tecnología, member of the Chamber.

On this occasion, our Secretary General, Mr. Igor Urra, gave a warm welcome to all attendees on behalf of our institution and introduced the speaker, Mr. Jerónimo Hinojosa, representative of Zennio.

To kick off the session, Mr. Jerónimo Hinojosa provided attendees with a general framework on what Smart Building Automation means and how it can be useful in our daily lives. He talked about the key concepts of Smart Building, the new developments of this field, and how Smart Building Solutions holds great potential for designing properties with higher flexibility, economic efficiency, security and outstanding comfort.

Mr Jerónimo Hinojosa, Sales Manager of Zennio Avance y Tecnología.

After this brief introduction, the speaker focused on how smart buildings take into account the people who will be using them and are designed with their needs in mind. As he explained, buildings should evolve and adapt to accommodate their users in order to be actually responsive to their living conditions.

Another key aspect that was brought up during the seminar was energy efficiency. As Jerónimo Hinojosa explained, conscious use of energy ensures not only the future but also makes buildings more cost-effective. Smart building takes this at centre-stage and although initially investments to create energy efficient buildings may seem steep, in the long term it has been proven to reduce by 30% the energy consumption compared to traditional buildings.

During the second part of the seminar, Mr. Hinojosa went on to describe in further detail the technology that makes smart building possible: KNX, the world’s leading smart home and intelligent building control system. Nowadays Zennio is the Spanish leading manufacturer of home, building and hotel automation solutions under KNX standards

The speaker introduced the key concepts of Smart Building and the KNX standard to the attendes during the seminar.

Towards the end of the seminar, the speaker provided the attendees with two examples of successful smart building automation processes: the Lexington Tower and ME London hotel, both of them in London. To conclude, the representative of Zennio showed attendees a scale model of a hotel room where attendees could interact and control the different elements and areas controlled by smart building automation through a range of panels.

The event then moved on to the Q&A session, where Jerónimo Hinojosa responded to all the questions from the attendees. Once the session finished, participants could enjoy an interactive networking breakfast while sharing thoughts and discussing further all the ideas covered in the talk.

Last but not least, we encourage you to keep updated on all the activities of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce by visiting our UPCOMING EVENTS section. You can also subscribe to our weekly electronic newsletter in order to receive updates on the latest activities of the Chamber!

07/07/2016
2015 IN REVIEW

The intense year of 2015 is coming to an end and so it is time to wish you all the very best for the coming 2016.

But before that, we could not think of a better way to say goodbye to 2015 than inviting you to our Informal Christmas Party on 8th December at the Dry Martini Bar, at Meliá White House, member of the Chamber. It will be the perfect location to wrap up this year in a good holiday mood. If you have not registered yet, please click here to access the registration form. Hurry up as places are going fast!

It’s worth remembering some of the events that have marked this exciting 2015, so let’s do a short recap;

As always, our first corporate event was the New Year’s Drinks Reception, which was hosted at the Four Seasons Hotel at Park Lane, member of the Chamber. This was the perfect setting to start a year full of networking activities for our members.

Later on, in April, we hosted our Annual Golden Award, one of the highlights of our diary, which acknowledges the significant commercial activity of a Spanish company in the United Kingdom. On this occasion, the awarded company was Codorníu, a Spanish family wine and cava producer.

Mrs. María del Mar Raventós, President of Codorníu, receiving the Annual Golden Award at the Spanish Embassy in London.

Not long after, we held our 128th Annual General Meeting, one of the most important events of our institution which is devoted to providing our members with an open account of the Chamber’s activities and events in order to promote the bilateral relationship between Spain and the United Kingdom. The Guest of Honour, Mr. Luis Gallego, President and CEO of Iberia, shared with the 200 attendees his insights on the airline sector as well as the achievements of the Spanish company over the past 5 years.

Our Guest of Honour, Mr. Luis Gallego, President and CEO of Iberia, during his speech at The Royal Automobile Club.

Aside from our big corporate events, we have organised a wide range of seminars, talks, and informal events, such as the International Wine & Spirits Tasting, which is organised every year by different Chambers of Commerce in London, several editions of the ever successful Elevator Pitch, and an Afternoon Tea to discuss etiquette and protocol, a few events that proved very popular among our members.

As usual, a new Edition of our Graduate European Programme kicked off once more in September. This time, the XVII Edition of the programme welcomed 12 participants who will carry- out work experience at London-based companies over a 6 month period.

Attendees enjoying a traditional afternoon tea at The Bentley London Hotel.

Apart from our regular activities and some new formats, there has been a number of interesting collaborations with different organisations throughout the year.

One of them was the evening talk organised by the Council of Ibero American Chambers in the UK (CIAC), which was attended by Mr. Adolfo Suárez Illana, International President of ONTIER. The event provided an overview on risks and opportunities for foreign investors when entering the Latin American market.

Mr. Adolfo Suárez Illana (third from the left) among the speakers of the CIAC event in March.

We also had the pleasure to support the British Chamber of Commerce in Spain in the organisation of their first London event: the presentation of the Barometer on Climate and Outlook for British Investment in Spain, which counted on the attendance of high-profile speakers.

Our Foreign Trade department has also been bustling with activity throughout the year as we helped companies to enter the British or Spanish market and took part in initiatives to promote bilateral trade relations. To begin with, we were present at the Going Global Live 2015 exhibition to introduce current trade and investment opportunities in Spain and meet with like-minded professionals.

Jesús Agra (R), our Foreign Trade Manager, with Mr. Pablo López (L) from the International Department of A Coruña Chamber of Commerce during one of the trade missions that took place in September.

We have also visited Spain several times to develop and strengthen partnerships with local Chambers of Commerce and regional institutions in order to support companies on their mission to enter the UK market. Among these actions, we would like to highlight the agreements signed with the Girona Chamber of Commerce, Cantabria Chamber of Commerce and ASTUREX, the Regional Development Agency for Asturias.

It is also worth mentioning that our President, Javier Fernández Hidalgo, was in attendance at the ceremony organised by FEDECOM -the association that represents our Chamber of Commerce- and where NH Hotel Group received the 2015 Company of the Year award.

Mr. Javier Fernández Hidalgo, President of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain (second from the left) attending FEDECOM awards.

And that’s not all. To round off a great year, we would like to make the most of this occasion to highlight the initiatives we have developed to continue connecting people & businesses with the launch of a Private Area for Members. We would also like to thank all the companies that have joined our institution as members and especially Codorníu Raventós, Ernst & Young, Grange Hotels, Konecta UK, Lloyds Bank and Telefonica Digital, new Patrons of the Chamber in this 2015.

As a final remark, we would like to thank all of our members which have made the events over the last year such a success. We are already working on the activities for 2016 and we hope to see you very soon in one of them.

In the meantime, we look forward to seeing you at our Informal Christmas Party on Tuesday 8^th December. Don’t miss the opportunity to join us and end 2015 surrounded by fellow members!

16/11/2015
NETWORKING FOR PEOPLE WHO DON’T LIKE NETWORKING

Thursday 22nd October, 2015

On Tuesday, 13^th October, the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain organised a special networking event in collaboration with Avocets Consulting, a consultancy company that specialises in corporate communication training for international audiences, and whom are members of the Chamber. The gathering was held at The Kensington Hotel, a stunning hotel part of The Doyle Collection, also members of the Chamber.

John Waterman from Avocets Consulting

This event was especially interesting because John Waterman, from Avocets Consulting, who is a networking specialist, created an enjoyable and dynamic atmosphere where all the participants were encouraged to interact with each other while learning some tips about networking.

During the evening, our Secretary General, Igor Urra, gave a short speech to thank guests for their support and to highlight the importance of creating a solid professional network. Afterwards, he gave the floor to Mr. Waterman who started the networking masterclass.

Networking while enjoying a glass of wine.

While attendees enjoyed a glass of wine John Waterman shared some tips on how to improve your social and networking skills. First, Mr. Waterman explained us some guidelines and inter-cultural differences to consider while networking. Secondly, all the participants performed some exercises like How to join a group conversation or Phrases for exiting a conversation, with the main objective to improve our social skills, abilities, pitching, etc.

We would like to thank our guests for joining us on the evening and we are very grateful to The Kensington Hotel for kindly holding this event and especially the support of Esther Lapole, Director of Sales of the hotel, with this activity. We are also grateful to our eloquent trainer, John Waterman, for such a productive and amusing evening!

Keep an eye on our UPCOMING EVENTS section in our website to learn more about future activities. Remember that you can also subscribe to our weekly electronic newsletter in order to receive updates on the Chamber and our upcoming events!

28/10/2015
INTERNATIONAL WINE & SPIRITS TASTING 2015

On Wednesday 23rd September the Spanish Chamber was proud to take part in the 7th edition of the International Wine & Spirits Tasting. This annual event is organised by several Chambers of Commerce in London. The event’s main goal is to broaden attendees’ network by providing members from the different chambers and related organisations with the opportunity to access an international audience. For this edition, the Wine Tasting counted on one new addition: the Belgium Chamber of Commerce whom joined participants from the previous edition: Argentina, Austria, Canada, France, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland.

As the name of the event states, the evening was driven around the wide variety of wines & spirits from diverse regions of the 13 countries that were represented in the event. This time we had a record number of attendees, over 300 guests gathered at the magnificent Church House Conference Centre, located steps away from Westminster Abbey, to taste a selection of wine, beer and spirit varieties from around the world. Delegates from all the companies walked their way around the different country stations and dispersed themselves throughout the Assembly Hall where the event was held.

This year the event counted with almost 300 attendees.

On this occasion, the Spanish Chamber had two sponsors, one for the wine and one that provided the attendees with the best “Manchego cheese” in the world. Representatives from Codorníu Raventós had the opportunity to showcase their products to a great and varied audience. During the event there were many curious individuals and lovers of the Spanish gastronomy that stopped by the Spanish stand to taste the wines presented, Viña Pomal Centenario Reserva 2009 and Ánima de Raimat 2014 and the fabulous Anna Blanc de Blancs cava while getting some guidance through the tasting. Codorníu Raventós has 450 years of history behind it and eight wineries in the most important appellations within Spain, as well as two outside Spain – in California and Argentina. This expansion has made Codorníu Group one of the most prestigious winemaking companies in the world.

Cristina Oyarzun from Codorniu at the Spanish Chamber stand

Moreover, akey aspect of the event is the importance of the UK wine & spirits market. Great Britain is one of the main worldwide wine markets, in numbers; it is the sixth biggest market in the world regarding the buying and selling volume.

This fact was reflected on the wide variety of products that were presented during the event. We could taste a great selection of white, red, and sparkling wines, aside from the Tongerlo Blond beer imported from Belgium to a Mexican spirit called “Sotol”, without forgetting the sweet ice Canadian wine that was surprising once again.

Attendees were able to travel around the world with their senses: one minute they were in Austria, trying raspberry wine, next they jumped to Japan where they were indulged with sake, only to cross to the other side of the hemisphere to enjoy the popular Canadian iced wine.

The attendees had the chance to enjoy more than 40 different kinds of wines & spirits from around the world

We would like to express our gratitude to members and colleagues from the other Chambers for their hard work and effort to produce such a magnificent event. Big thanks to Church House for hosting the event, as well for all the support and immaculate work to make such a delightful evening possible!

Please click here to access the complete gallery of pictures for this event.

If you missed this event or just want to find out about other activities that the Spanish Chamber is organising in the coming weeks, we encourage you to keep an eye on our UPCOMING EVENTS section within our website or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

15/10/2015
SUMMER HAS ENDED, BUT OUR EVENTS HAVE JUST STARTED!

Although the gloomy weather has taken over nothing can stop our busy calendar of events. The first activity will be the XVII edition of the Graduate European Programme, which offers university graduates the opportunity to undertake work experience in London during 6 months. The programme officially starts on 14^th September with the Induction Week, when participants will attend different talks and visit various companies and institutions.

The participants of the XVII Graduate European Programme visiting the Spanish Embassy.

On Wednesday 23^rdSeptember, it is time for a new edition of the popular International Wine and Spirits Tasting networking event. In this case, CODORNIU RAVENTÓS, Patron of the Chamber, will be providing the Spanish wines. The event will be organised in collaboration with another 12 chambers of commerce in London so don’t miss this chance to enjoy a truly international evening and register right now! If you are interested in further details, please click here.

The last International Wine Tasting was a success. Do not miss it this year!

Also, on 7th October another edition of our successful Elevator Pitch will be hosted at LA TASCA, one of our members. For those of you that have never attended, this event provides participants the opportunity to explore synergies among one another, but they only have 2 minutes each to introduce their companies. This is a way of exploring new avenues of collaboration and meet like-minded professionals. Click here for further information.

But if you do not really like to network, a few days after, on the 13^th October, in collaboration with AVOCETS CONSULTING, members of the chamber, we have the right event for you: Networking for people who don’t like networking. This activity will improve your abilities to communicate with confidence when meeting someone new, create a presence, and most importantly it will give you useful tips to convert contacts into referrals. The event will be at THE KENSINGTON HOTEL, part of THE DOYLE COLLECTION also member of the chamber. You can book your places here.

Learn how to be a professional networker on Tuesday 13th October.

If networking gets too tiring and you need a relaxing, but also interesting afternoon, we have the perfect combination. Our Afternoon Tea in the luxurious BENTLEY HOTEL, member of the Spanish Chamber, will be on Monday 19^th October. The event will be led by the expert in protocol Richard Birtchnell, Toastmaster and Past President of the prestigious Society of London Toastmasters, who will talk about the traditions and etiquette of the Afternoon Tea. If you would like to join us, click here.

Richard Birtchnell, Toastmaster and Past President of the Society of London Toastmasters, will be leading our Afternoon Tea event.

Finally, on 22^nd October we will have a seminar led by BLICK ROTHENBERG, member of the chamber. This activity will focus on different aspects of taxes and exemptions for expats living in the UK. Save the date for this event, more information will be soon available on our website.

And it does not finish here. There is still much more to come so if you want to be up to date, do not hesitate to check out our website or sign up for our weekly newsletter totally free of charge.

16/09/2015
128th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

On Tuesday 16th June we held the 128^th Annual General Meeting, one of the most important annual events of our institution. On this occasion, the members’ meeting took place at the Spanish Chamber of Commerce premises at Wigmore Street while the drinks reception and dinner were held at the Royal Automobile Club.

The 128th members’ meeting was held at the Spanish Chamber premises.

During the members’ general meeting the Executive Committee of the Chamber presented the financial statements of 2014, as well as the Memo of the activities and events organised by the Chamber during the mentioned year. Afterwards, H.E. the Ambassador of Spain presented a macroeconomic analysis of the Spanish economic situation and provided data regarding the bilateral relationship between Spain and the United Kingdom.

After the meeting, attendees made their way to the drinks reception and dinner at the Royal Automobile Club, one of London’s most distinguished private clubs. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Román Zurutuza, who was our host for the night and made it possible to enjoy the delights of such an iconic venue.

Everything was ready to enjoy the 128th Annual General Meeting

At the Royal Automobile Club, the near 200 attendees were welcomed by the Spanish Chamber’s team. All our guests were led to the cocktail room, where they had the opportunity to begin conversation, interact and network while enjoying some light snacks. Once all guests had arrived, the toastmaster announced the dinner, which was served at the Mountbatten Room.

Attendees networking at the drinks reception of the 128th Annual General Meeting

The proceedings of the dinner started with H.E. the Ambassador of Spain leading the traditional loyal toasts in honour of the Queen of Great Britain and the King of Spain. After the main course, the President of the Chamber, Mr. Javier Fernández began the round of speeches. He took the opportunity to emphasise the great results of the Spanish Chamber in 2014 and to proudly present Konecta and Codorníu as the newest Patrons of our organisation.

From left to right Mr. Javier Fernández, President of the Spanish Chamber; Mr. Luis Gallego, President and CEO of Iberia and H.E. Mr. Federico Trillo-Figueroa, the Ambassador of Spain

The President of the Spanish Chamber then gave the floor to H.E. the Ambassador of Spain, who expressed his gratitude for being part of such event. Mr. Federico Trillo-Figueroa highlighted the thriving recovery of the Spanish economy and kindly introduced our Guest of Honour, Luis Gallego, President and CEO of Iberia. During his speech Mr. Gallego provided the audience with an interesting insight of the company he leads, and explained the challenges they have faced over the last few years. Additionally, he underlined the importance of having the support of a group like IAG in order to be competitive in a challenging global market.

Attendees enjoying dinner at the Royal Automobile Club

We would like to thank all attendees for their participation in both the meeting at the Spanish Chamber and the dinner at the Royal Automobile Club. We are thankful for your notes of appreciation and support.

To view the full picture gallery for this event, please click here.

If you missed this event and want to be up-to-date on future activities, please visit our Upcoming Events section or sign up to our newsletter.

22/06/2015
IMPROVE YOUR PERFORMANCE IN SOCIAL NETWORKS

On Tuesday 12th May representatives of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce attended an event about the Best Practices in Social Media Promotion. It was wisely organised by Pickevent at the offices of WeWork in Soho, a modern and open co-working space.
The event organiser, Mr. José Bort, welcomed all the attendees and introduced the speaker’s panel: Mr. Ricardo Molina, Co-Founder and Director of BrightBull Marketing; Ms. Randy Nyssen, Head of Digital Marketing at i2i Events Group; Mr. Will Watts, Events and Marketing Manager and Ms. Elvira Asare-Hunted, Conference Director at UBM Live, who acted as the moderator of the event.

Improve your performance in the Social Media.

The speakers provided attendees with a general overview of social media and how to promote the activity of companies via social networks such as, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn among others. All three speakers emphasised that when it comes to Social Networks, the trick lies on the name: It is supposed to be social. By social they meant that companies must develop conversations and engage with their audience, in order to create a fluent and effective relationship.

Furthermore, the speakers highlighted that it is necessary to bear in mind that not all the social networks are the same nor work equally. In fact, each one of them has its own rules and audience; for instance, even if hashtags work in Twitter and Instagram, they do not work in Facebook.
In the second part of the seminar, all three speakers went through different recommendations that Community Managers can implement in order to improve their performance in the Social Networks:

1. Be attractive. Create valuable and interesting content for your audience. It is important to remember that it is not all about one’s event. Talking about the same topic or event constantly may be tiring and demotivating for the audience.

2. Be social. As previously mentioned, it is essential to be social. This means, having real conversations with people, interacting and commenting, not just with selling purposes.

3. Be careful. Once you click the publish button there is no going back! Make sure that all the comments and contents are appropriate and harmless.

4. Be diligent. It is better to manage two channels or social networks and do it well, than having ten and not dedicate the necessary time to them.

5. Be smart. Take advantage of the online tools that can help optimising time and resources. For instance, message scheduling apps, statistics controllers or content managers.

Don’t forget to write it down!

At the end of the seminar there was a Q&A where attendees had any doubts solved and afterwards the participants had some time to mingle and share knowledge while enjoying an informal dinner.

Finally, we would like to thank PickEvent for inviting us to this lovely evening and encourage them to keep on organising enriching events.

02/06/2015
ELEVATOR PITCH | XXIII EDITION

On Wednesday 20^th May, we held the XXIII edition of our Elevator Pitch networking event. This edition took place at Boqueria, in the heart of Battersea, member of the Spanish Chamber. Jerusalén Gunning, Public Relations of the restaurant, welcomed everyone on behalf of Boqueria and led the attendees to the bright and elegant room where the event took place.

The XXIII Edition of the Elevator Pitch was holded at Boqueria, a lovely restaurant in Battersea.

On this occasion the event was chaired by Cristina Carmona, Head of Corporate Relations and Communication, who started the event explaining the dynamics of this activity to the participants; María Prieto, Events and Communication Co-ordinator and Irati Díaz de Tuesta, from the Information and Promotion Department. After the brief presentation, each attendee had 2 minutes to give a concise and concrete introduction about their company’s main line of activity and services they provided. Having done so, there was a second opportunity for each participant to ask and be asked several questions.

For those of you that have never attended nor heard of the Elevator Pitch, the main purpose of this event is to provide participants with the possibility to expand their network and to explore synergies as well as further avenues of collaboration with the rest of participants.

Participants during the first presentation round.

Should you be interested in participating in such event, there are just a couple of things you need to know before signing up for it the next time. Firstly, there is a maximum of 14 places available and only one participant per company can attend. Besides, only two companies from the same sector are able to attend each edition, since we promote the diversity within our participants.

In this edition there was a wide variety of sectors represented such as Public Relations; Legal Services; Restaurant and Catering Services; Training and Learning; Digital Communications; Governmental Institutions; Events Organisers; Outsourcing Services; Property Marketing; Fintech; Hotels; Health; and Relocation Services.

Attendees had the chance to network and find synergies among them.

We would also like take this opportunity to thank all the professionals who have been part of the XXIII edition of the Elevator Pitch and our gratitude to Boqueria for kindly hosting the event and welcoming all of us. We are looking forward to seeing you at another event soon.

If you want to know what we are up to next, have a look at the UPCOMING EVENTS section on our website or alternatively, you could subscribe to our electronic newsletter for weekly updates.

22/05/2015
Coming soon: Our 128th Annual General Meeting

We are pleased to announce that our 128^th Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday 16^th June at the exclusive Royal Automobile Club, located in Central London.

This corporate event is one of the most important activities that the Spanish Chamber organises during the year and it is attended by leading representatives from a wide range of British and Spanish companies. Following tradition, the event will be presided by H.E. the Ambassador of Spain, Mr. Federico Trillo – Figueroa.

On this truly special occasion we are pleased to count on Mr. Luis Gallego, President of Iberia, Patron of our Chamber, as our Guest of Honour, and we would like to take this opportunity to introduce him as well as the company he represents.

Mr. Luis Gallego, President of Iberia.

After studying aeronautical engineering and an Executive Development Programme, Mr. Luis Gallego began his career in the Spanish Air Force. Later on he worked in Aviaco, INDRA and Air Nostrum, where he became technical manager of workshop maintenance until his transfer to Clickair, prior to its merger with Vueling.

At Vueling, Mr. Luis Gallego worked as the production manager being responsible for flight operations, training, quality, safety, maintenance, and ground operations.

Finally, on March 27^th 2013 he was appointed as Iberia’s CEO, as well as a Board Member of International Airlines Group (IAG), holding made up of Iberia and British Airways. Nowadays, he is both Chairman and CEO of Iberia.

As for Iberia, one of our Patrons, the company is a member of IAG, world’s sixth-largest airline group and it is the leading airline in Spain connecting Europe with Latin America. At the moment, Iberia is Spain’s leading provider of airport handling services, with 7,000 members of staff and a fleet of some 8,000 vehicles.

The event is an excellent opportunity to network with representatives from British and Spanish companies.

With such a remarkable Guest of Honour, we are positive that attendees will be delighted to listen to Mr. Luis Gallego’s insights and exchange impressions with him during the evening.

Please remember that places for this event are limited, so do not forget to book yours in advance to avoid disappointment. For further information on this event and how to submit your booking, please click here.

19/05/2015
FINANCIAL FORUM – “THE RECOVERY OF THE SPANISH ECONOMY AND THE FOREIGN TRADE SECTOR”.

On 23rd April, the Financial Forum of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce celebrated a new edition which was held for the second time this year at the offices of White & Case, member of the Spanish Chamber.

Founded over a year ago, the Financial Forum already counts on 25 permanent members from banks and investment funds such as Banco Santander, BBVA, Lloyds Bank, Bank of America / Merrill Lynch, HSBC, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan among others, as well as top companies from different sectors like Telefónica, Ferrovial or Mapfre.

All the participants at the Financial Forum gathering at the White & Case offices.

This edition’s topic was “The Recovery of the Spanish Economy and the Foreign Trade Sector”. The host of the event, Eduardo Barrachina, introduced the guest of honour Jaime García-Legaz, the Secretary of State for Trade, who highlighted the strategic importance of the Financial Forum and its commitment in taking advantage of the potential of all the professionals gathered in these meetings.

Mr. García-Legaz started his analysis of the current situation of the Spanish economy, mentioning that Spanish companies are not only giving signs of a better performance but they are also recovering investor’s confidence. In this sense, he focused on the foreign trade sector where Spanish companies are managing to regain some competitiveness, and this fact has been translated into a surplus on the balance of payments for the last three years.

The Secretary of State for Trade, Jaime García-Legaz, during his speech.

Additionally, in the Secretary of State’s words, the mentality – or way of thinking – of business owners is deeply changing which allows them to understand that the whole world is their market; therefore, the necessity of exporting and taking one’s business abroad is essential nowadays.

Nevertheless, Mr. García-Legaz also called for caution due to the fact that the Spanish economy has yet to face several challenges and difficulties such as: the small size of Spanish companies and how to tackle developing countries’ markets.

Once the Questions & Answers round was opened, interactions focused on sharing different points of view as well as questioning the Secretary of State about different affairs, such as: the commercial relationship between Spain and the UK, the problems that Spanish companies face when establishing abroad and the nature of the most important exporting companies.

All the attendees networking and enjoying breakfast after the presentation.

Before the event’s closure, the participants of the Financial Forum had time to mingle andcontinue with the discussion while enjoying a delicious breakfast, courtesy of White & Case.

We would like to extend our gratitude to White & Case for kindly hosting this event as well as to Mr. García-Legaz, all our members and special guests for their participation. We hope to see you all in the next edition of the Financial Forum.

30/04/2015

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