China at Barcelona Summit
The third edition of the CBS is jointly organized by the Chamber of Commerce in Barcelona, Invest in Catalonia and the professional services firm Mazars. It also has the institutional support of Barcelona’s City Hall, Casa Asia and IEMed.
This edition of the CBS continues to support Barcelona as an entry gate for Chinese companies that want to invest in Europe. Nevertheless it moves beyond this premise and also positions itself as a centre of reference for Chinese companies interested in the north of Africa and the Mediterranean region. China Africa Business Council -solid and influential economic institution located in Beijing and which represents more than 550 Chinese companies with interests in Africa- has received this proposal with interest. The China Africa Business Council takes part for the first time in an event of this magnitude in Europe. Their purpose is to establish a long term partnership with the China at Barcelona Summit which would facilitate their members to take part in future editions of the CBS.
The programme will start on Monday 4th of November with an institutional event in Casa Llotja de Mar with an opening session by the Business and Employment Officer of the Generalitat de Cataluña (Catalan Government), Felip Puig, the President of the Chamber of Commerce in Barcelona, Miquel Valls, the General Secretary of Casa Asia, Monserrat Riba and the Mazars partner in China, Chen Bing.
After these opening speeches there will be three information sessions addressed to the Chinese delegation. The first session will focused on the advantages offered by the city of Barcelona as main investment receiver of the south of Europe. This session will be carried out by representatives of Invest in Catalonia, the Chamber of Commerce in Barcelona and Barcelona’s City Hall. The second session will cover the new Spanish act on Entrepreneurs which ease the process for obtaining visas and residence permits for foreign investors acquiring real state for a value of or over 500,000 euros. Experts of Casa Asia and Mazars will lead this session. The third and last session will deal with the role of Barcelona as an entry gate for Chinese companies with interests in Africa. IEMed and Port of Barcelona’s representatives will be responsible for this session. The delegation will then head towards Barcelona’s city hall where they will be welcomed by the institution.
In the afternoon there will be a work session in the IEMed HQ where they will be welcomed by the president Senen Florensa. The session will include the presentation of the Secretary of the Unión por el Mediterráneo and some projects promoted by this institution with HQ offices in Barcelona.
This point of the programme fits into the context of the new CBS approach in promoting Barcelona as “hub” for Chinese companies with current or future investments in the countries of the north of Africa and the Mediterranean region.