Book about Hong Kong to be presented at the Ulyssus travel bookstore in Girona

Xavier Moret, author of the book "Días de Hong Kong" (Hong Kong days), will be presenting it on November 29th, 2013, at the renowned travel bookstore Llibreria Ulyssus in Girona. This book compiles the impressions of the author during a 2-month stay in the former British colony.

Right after the presentation of the book, Llibreria Ulyssus and the travel agency Viatges Viñolas are going to introduce their new partnership, through which they plan to organize further book presentations, talks, workshops and exhibitions for all the travelling fans. Llibreria Ulyssus and Viatges Viñolas can be found at the Cort Reial street, 3, in the old quarter of Girona.

[caption id="attachment_2779" align="aligncenter" width="231"] Inauguration of the partnership between Llibreria Ulyssus and Viatges Viñolas[/caption]

 

Hong Kong communications company Cronos sets in Barcelona

From http://www.lavanguardia.com/economia/20131124/54394458225/hong-kong-cronos-group-abre-oficina-en-barcelona.html (in Spanish)

Before the end of 2013 and backed by Invest in Catalonia, the office of the Catalan government to promote foreign investments in the regions, the Hong Kong communications company Cronos Group will open an office in the city of Barcelona. Cronos Group is a telecommunications provider that is already in 80 countries and that has chosen Barcelona as the see of their Spanish headquarters because of the business atmosphere brought by the annual Mobile World Congress organized in the Catalan capital. These new offices are expected to created around 25 new jobs.

Barcelona based Galeria Mayoral at the Hong Kong's edition of Art Basel

From http://www.galeriamayoral.com/en/Fires/Basel%20Hong%20Kong/21/ (in English)

Barcelona-based Galeria Mayoral is attending the Hong Kong's edition of Art Basel, where there will be on display the highest quality of paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, photographs, video and artworks from the 20th and 21st centuries, by more than 2,000 artists from Asia and around the globe. Galeria Mayoral is going to display a Solo Show Miró, based on the works of renowned Catalan painter Joan Miró.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="414"] Personnages et oiseaux, by Joan Miró (Image from Art Basel website)[/caption]

Catalan mission to the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair

From http://agenda.acc10.cat/agenda/default.php?id=6566 (in Catalan)

For companies interested on the East Asian lighting markets, CICAT (Lighting Cluster of Catalonia) is organizing a mission to the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair, the most important fair of this kind in Asia that will take place between 27-30 October 2011. The goals of the mission are: i) to promote the Catalan lighting sector as a separate brand; ii) to establish commercial links between the attending companies and open new markets in Asian countries; and iii) to find potential suppliers in the area.

Agreement for the commercialization of pharmaceutical products in Taiwan

From http://www.luqaventures.com/news.php (in English)

Hong Kong based company LUQA and Catalan company Laboratorios SALVAT, S.A. have reached an agreement for the commercialization of pharmaceutical product Cetraxal Plus in Taiwan. LUQA is a specialty company devoted to the commercialization of pharmaceutical products in the East Asia emerging markets, whereas Laboratorios SALVAT, S.A. is a renowned company that has been commercializing their products, like Cetraxal Plus, for more than 20 years on international markets.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="331" caption="Cetraxal Plus (Image from LUQA website)"][/caption]

Video summary of Casa Asia Film Week in Barcelona

From http://www.casaasia.es/internet_y_tecnologia/multimedia?video_id=14660 (in Spanish)

Casa Asia has posted an 8-minute video that summarizes the highlights of the first edition of the Casa Asia Film Week that was held in Barcelona between June 6 and 12th, 2011. The video starts with the opening ceremony, is followed by the tribute to Ann Hui and the award ceremony to Buddha Mountain, directed by Li Yu, and ends up with the closing ceremony. Main languages in the video are Spanish and Catalan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1rKns1w9Mw

Cafe Networking in Barcelona: Exploring East Asian markets for textile industry

From http://agenda.acc10.cat/agenda/default.php?id=6317 (in Catalan)

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Cafè Networking (image from L'Anella website)"][/caption]

On Tuesday July 5th, 2011, ACC1Ó-Competitiveness for Catalonia is organizing a 2-hour meeting in Barcelona in order to facilitate productive networking between businessmen and entrepreneurs in the textile and fashion industries that are either interested in internationalizing their products and/or services, or that are already established and doing business in China and India. The goals of this session are: i) to detect opportunities for collaboration, i.e., for joint export;  ii) to exchange information and experiences about the strategies to enter these markets; iii) to identify synergies with competitors for project cooperation; iv) to meet potential partners, suppliers and clients; and v) to discover business opportunities in these sectors and markets.

The session will start with the presentation of a list of good business practices by a representative of the Catalan textile company Punto Blanco, by David Garcia, head of the Platform for Production and Sale promoted by ACC1Ó in Hong Kong, and an expert on East Asian markets from ACC1Ó. Right after these presentations, there will be the speed meeting session, which consists of 5-minute meetings between professionals, to finish with an open networking session during the coffee break.

Casa Asia Film Week starts in Barcelona

From http://www.casaasiafilmweek.es/ (in Spanish)

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Reign of Assassins (courtesy of Casa Asia Film Week)"][/caption]

Between June 6 and 12th, 2011, the Casa Asia Film Week (CAFW) will take place in Barcelona, as a new festival devoted to the highlight the best cinematographic activity in Asia. Casa Asia Film Week replaces the previous Barcelona Asian Film Festival (BAFF) that disappeared in 2010. The 30 films will be displayed at the Cinemes Girona and they will cover different subjects, from science-fiction to martial arts or Bollywood. Two renowned chinese female directors, Ann Hui and Hu Mei, will have their movies on display and will also visit the festival. The best film in the Official Section will receive the Honorific Award of the Casa Asia Film Week. The complete official dossier of the festival, with detailed information about it and about the movies on display can be downloaded as a pdf file from Casa Asia website. You can also watch the Official Trailer Casa Asia Film Week 2011.

6,000 Chinese travel agents will learn about tourism in Catalonia

From http://comunicatur.info/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1665&Itemid=1 (in Catalan)

The Guangzhou University and the Catalan Toursim Agency (ACT, Agència Catalana de Turisme) have prepared an online course aimed at teaching Chinese travel agents about Catalonia and its touristic resources. This course will be followed by 6,000 professional travel agents of Hong Kong and of the Guangdong province in July and October 2011 and it will consist of 21 units prepared by both Catalan and Chinese professors at the Guangzhou University. According to the Catalan government, this is a pioneer initiative in the Chinese market and if it turns to be successful it could be later applied to other Chinese provinces or to other Asian countries. China has become one of the most important touristic sources in the world and in Catalonia alone it has grown by a 40% in the last 5 years. The city of Barcelona was the main destination of the 65,000 Chinese tourists that came to Catalonia in 2010.

Barcelona design company Lagranja opens office in Hong Kong

From http://www.expansion.com/2011/04/07/catalunya/1302160530.html (in Spanish)

Seeking for new challenges that would keep their creativity at a high level, the Barcelona-based design company Lagranja has recently opened an office in Hong-Kong. Founding partners Gabriele Schiavon and Gerard Sanmartí have chosen the former British colony as a new market for the company, after a failed experience in Brazil. In Hong-Kong, Lagranja will soon start to do the interior design of ten suites for the Madera Hotel, commissioned by the Hip Shing Hong Group. Company's sales rose from 230,000 euros in 2009 to near 500,000 euros in 2010, with customers such as Médicos sin Fronteras, Pans & Company and Banc de Sabadell, among others.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="412" caption="Lagranja new offices at Poble Nou, Barcelona (image from http://www.lagranjadesign.com)"][/caption]

Catalan chef Mercè Brunés invited to cook in Hong Kong

From http://www.catalannewsagency.com/news/life-style/tagamanent-hong-kong-explain-catalan-cuisine (in English)

Catalan chef Mercè Brunés, from restaurant El Folló (Tagamanent, Barcelona), has been invited to cook in Hong Kong to promote Catalan cuisine. Mercè Brunés's cooking was discovered by Chinese gastronomy and travel journalist Annie Leong, who convinced her to travel to Hong Kong. Mercè Brunés will record five recipes for Sing Tao News and she hopes that after their broadcast Catalan cuisine will be less unknown by Chinese people. The selected dishes that will be cooked are duck with pears, vegetable omelette, paella with seafood and meat, cod with spinach and chickpeas, Catalan tomato bread, Romesco sauce and Catalan custard.

 

 

 

 

Comparing Spain with East Asian countries

The website www.ifitweremyhome.com allows interesting comparisons between all the countries in the world. Here there are the links of the comparison of Spain with several east asian countries:

• China: http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/CN/ES


• Taiwan: http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/TW/ES


• Hong-Kong: http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/HK/ES


• Singapore: http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/SG/ES


• Malaysia: http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/MY/ES


• Japan: http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/JP/ES

E-commerce Catalan company Trilogi sets office in Beijing

From http://www.expansion.com/2011/01/11/catalunya/1294782696.html (in Spanish)

E-commerce Catalan company Trilogi has decided to open an office in Beijing during 2011, as a first step towards establishing itself in the Chinese market. Trilogi already has an office in Hong Kong and from both the company is aiming at Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia markets on the mid-term. The prospects for chinese e-commerce are extremely favourable, since there are estimations that say that by 2015 it will already be the main sales channel in China.

Catalonia, strategic destination for Hong Kong and Singapore companies

From http://www.acc10.cat/ACC1O/cat/empresa-ACC1O/premsa/noticies-notes-premsa/101201x.jsp (in Catalan)

Some 40 local companies have recently attended the conference "Barcelona-Catalonia, Gateway to Europe", which was organized in Hong Kong and was aimed at promoting Catalonia as a strategic area for company investments. Another conference, "Barcelona-Catalonia, the Logistics Hub in Europe", was organized in Singapore the following day and was aimed at highlighting Catalonia as a main logistic center in southern Europe. The Catalan delegation included top staff from Invest in Catalonia and the municipality of Barcelona.  The conference in Singapore was organized in collaboration with Singapore Logistics Association and Singapore Airlines Cargo, who explained the reasons of their investments in Catalonia, and had the participation of representatives of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, currently the most important logistic center in the world.

37 Spanish companies on Cosmoprof Asia 2010

From http://www.icex.es/icex/cda/controller/pageICEX/0,6558,5518394_5519005_6366453_4412788,00.html (in Spain)

From Nov 10-12th, 2010, Hong Kong will host the 15th edition of the Cosmoprof Asia, the main beauty trade show in Asia. ICEX (Spanish Institute on Foreign Trade) is organizing a Spanish pavillion that will host the 37 Spanish companies that will participate on this event. 24 out of those 37 companies come from Catalonia (23 from Barcelona and 1 from Girona).

Spanish exports on beauty products reached 1,787.8 million euros in 2009, 83 of which came from the Asia-Pacific region and account for nearly 5% of total Spanish exports on this sector. Sales to Honk Kong alone accounted for 16 million euros due to its role of gateway to many of the countries of the area.

Showcase of Spanish wines in Hong Kong

From http://www.icex.es/icex/cda/controller/pageICEX/0,6558,5518394_5519005_6366453_4410246,00.html (in Spanish)

76 Spanish companies will be showcasing their products in the Spanish pavillion of the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair that will take place on Nov 4-6, 2010. Several events have also been arranged in order to have a greater divulgation of these products among potential customers and specialized media. In 2008 Hong Kong supressed all the taxes on wine, which allowed the area to become the gateway of wine to China and the rest of Asia in a very short period.

The revenue of Spanish exports to China in 2009 amounted 2.5 billion euros, of which 22 million euros originated from the sale of wines and other spirits. In 2010, sales until July already amounted 23 million euros, which shows an increasing trend for the acceptance of this kind of products on the Chinese market.

Showcase of Spanish wines in Hong Kong

From http://www.icex.es/icex/cda/controller/pageICEX/0,6558,5518394_5519005_6366453_4410246,00.html (in Spanish)

76 Spanish companies will be showcasing their products in the Spanish pavillion of the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair that will take place on Nov 4-6, 2010. Several events have also been arranged in order to have a greater divulgation of these products among potential customers and specialized media. In 2008 Hong Kong supressed all the taxes on wine, which allowed the area to become the gateway of wine to China and the rest of Asia in a very short period.

The revenue of Spanish exports to China in 2009 amounted 2.5 billion euros, of which 22 million euros originated from the sale of wines and other spirits. In 2010, sales until July already amounted 23 million euros, which shows an increasing trend for the acceptance of this kind of products on the Chinese market.

Favourable expectations for sales of Spanish wines in China and Hong Kong

From http://www.icex.es/icex/cda/controller/pageICEX/0,6558,5518394_5519005_6366453_4408680,00.html (in Spanish)

The Observatorio Español del Mercado del Vino (Spanish Observatory of the Wine Market, OeMv) has issued a report on the wine market on the world's leading emerging economies, such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and Hong Kong. Since 2002, exports to China are reflecting a steady growth due to the increase in wealth of the urban medium and high classes, which account for 70-90 million people in China alone. Red wine accounts for more than 90% of the sales but some local specificities, such as the appreciation of Chinese people for sweeter tastes, should also be taken into account in the wine sector.

The situation in Hong Kong is remarkably different. The 2008 abolition on taxes on wine imports was an important step on the announced strategy of becoming the gate to Asia for this product. Surprisingly, in 2009 Hong Kong already became the second world capital in wine sales through auctions, ahead of London and just behind New York City. The percentage of wine consumption related to the consumption of other alcoholic beverages is 13%, one of the highest in Asia.

Favourable expectations for sales of Spanish wines in China and Hong Kong

From http://www.icex.es/icex/cda/controller/pageICEX/0,6558,5518394_5519005_6366453_4408680,00.html (in Spanish)

The Observatorio Español del Mercado del Vino (Spanish Observatory of the Wine Market, OeMv) has issued a report on the wine market on the world's leading emerging economies, such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and Hong Kong. Since 2002, exports to China are reflecting a steady growth due to the increase in wealth of the urban medium and high classes, which account for 70-90 million people in China alone. Red wine accounts for more than 90% of the sales but some local specificities, such as the appreciation of Chinese people for sweeter tastes, should also be taken into account in the wine sector.

The situation in Hong Kong is remarkably different. The 2008 abolition on taxes on wine imports was an important step on the announced strategy of becoming the gate to Asia for this product. Surprisingly, in 2009 Hong Kong already became the second world capital in wine sales through auctions, ahead of London and just behind New York City. The percentage of wine consumption related to the consumption of other alcoholic beverages is 13%, one of the highest in Asia.