Water management in Taiwan

Because of my work as member of the technical staff in a public water utility and because I happen to know a little bit about water resources management in Taiwan, I have written a short piece about this issue for the Spanish website iAgua. The article is written in Spanish and the title is "La gestión del agua en Taiwán" (Water management in Taiwan) and you can access to it by clicking on the link. I shall attempt to translate it into English as soon as possible, but for the moment I wanted to share the text already published

[caption id="attachment_1876" align="aligncenter" width="300"] View of Taipei from the top of Taipei 101[/caption]

Barcelona Business Landing, attracting east Asian businesses to Catalonia

Not so long ago Western companies were moving to East Asia seeking for cheaper production costs, especially related to labour. But the fast growth of Asian economies, with China heading the list, is turning that trend and experts forecast that we are about to experience a colonization of Europe by Chinese brands and companies. Lluís Lluch, Co-founder and CEO at Barcelona Business Landing, detected this trend and together with Alejandra Yuste created a company in early 2011 aimed specifically at attracting Chinese and Taiwanese companies to Catalonia. With his privileged background as International Promotion Director at the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Lluís Lluch was at the right place and time in order to develop a company such as Barcelona Business Landing, addressed to those small and middle-size industrial and technological companies interested in establishing in Europe. The decrease of prices in western countries due to the economic and financial crisis, the availability of funding in Asian companies and the need to reduce the time to market are the main factors that will prompt Chinese companies to try to acquire local ones or merge with them. Barcelona Business Landing has identified this situation and is already working with organizations such as the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, the Barcelona city council and ACC1Ó – Invest in Catalonia or companies such as Almirall, Caixa Capital Risc, the Guangzhou CCM Information Science & Technology or the China at Barcelona Summit to take advantage from the opportunities that this colonization process may offer. For the moment, Barcelona Business Landing offices are only located in the Barcelona Activa business incubator, in the city of Barcelona, but opening a delegation in Shanghai is already under consideration.

Workshop on China as a land of opportunity for small and medium-size companies - PIMES

From http://www.casaasia.cat/actividad/detalle?id=208463 (in Catalan)

On November 22nd, 2012, Casa Àsia in Barcelona and PIMEC (organization of small and medium-size companies of Catalonia) are organizing a workshop to analyze the potential of China for Catalan companies.

Programme

9.15am – 9.30am Welcome speech by Josep González, President of PIMEC; Yan Banghua, General Consul of the People's Republic of China; and Ramón M. Moreno, General Director of Casa Àsia.

9.30am – 10.00am "Is there a market for my product? Analysis of the most dynamic sectors and the potential of Catalan products" by Lidan Qi, Partner Director of Qimeng Global

10.00am – 10.30am "How to identify the most suitable partners to sell in China? Search for distributors and participation in trade fairs, halls and congresses" by Joan Ros, Partner Director, Binomio China Consulting S.L.

10.30am – 11.00am "How to organise logistics? Exportation and importation, most frequent questions and transportation of products with guarantee" by Miguel Ángel Iranzo, Commercial Director of Transcoma.

11.00am – 11.30am Coffee Break

11.30am – 12.00am "What legal problems can a small / medium company come across in China? Legal and fiscal aspects" by Miquel Llimona, DS Advocats.

12.00am  – 12.30pm "Which is the best marketing strategy? Socio-economic aspects and potential Chinese clients" by Manuel Sánchez Monasterio, member of the Executive Committee of ESADE China Europe Club.

12.30pm – 1.30pm "Business experiences in food, industrial and consumer article sectors" by representatives of Catalan small and medium-size companies who will explain their business experiences.

1.30pm Closing speech by Joaquim Llimona, President of the International Commission of PIMEC and President of PIMEC Foundation.

The conference will be moderated by Joaquim Ferrer, Director of the International Department of PIMEC.

Venue: PIMEC, Viladomat, 174, Barcelona.

Free admission and limited capacity. Attendance confirmation required.

For further information, please contact mcastro@pimec.org.

Conference in Barcelona about franchise as a growing business model in China

From http://www.casaasia.cat/media/asset_publics/resources/000/029/566/original/Invitaci_n_para_difusi_n_en_Casa_Asia.pdf (in Spanish)

Law firm Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira is organizing a free conference both in Madrid and in Barcelona about the franchise as a growing business opportunity in China. Both sessions will take place at the offices of Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira in Madrid (November 5th, 2012, from 9 am to 12 pm) and in Barcelona (November 8th, 2012, also from 9 am to 12 pm) . The goal of these two meetings is to provide useful information to companies about the present legal framework in China. The topics covered will be China's economic perspectives on the short to mid-term, the new regulations on franchise businesses and the main legal problems of Spanish companies in China, with the discussion of the potential solutions. The speaker will be Mr. Omar Puertas, director of Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira's office in Shanghai. At the end of the session there will be individual interviews with attendants if previously requested.

For further information please contact Mrs. Elisabeth Serra at +34932905590 or by email at elisabeth.serra@cuatrecasas.com.

China shows interest in Catalan pharmaceutical sector

From a press release by GlobalTaixue (全球太学)

For the first time a Catalan pharmaceutical company takes part in an international meeting sponsored by the Chinese government. As of today, China is already the world's second largest pharmaceutical market | GlobalTaixue (全球太学), the organizer of the meeting, has started a collaboration with Catalan R+D+i companies in China.

On September 25th, 2012, a delegation from Diater Laboratorios, a company from the Catalan pharmaceutical group Ferrer, met the representatives of the municipal government of the city of Suzhou (China), after the invitation of the city's Mayor. During the meeting both parts discussed potential future collaborations and the development of projects by Diater and the Ferrer group in the Biotechnological Park of Taicang, near Shanghai. The meeting took place during the international conference of pharmaceutical companies, the China Biopharmaceutical Summit, co-organized by the Chinese government and the Chinese-Catalan consulting company GlobalTaixue (全球太学), specialized in the development of R+D+i projects in China. Diater is the first Spanish pharmaceutical company to take place in such event, in which there were 15 companies directly invited by Chinese government coming from United States, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Austria, South Korea, Japan, India, Singapore and Taiwan.

For more information please contact Jack Wang at jack.wang@globaltaixue.com, tel (+86) 18616287131.

For further information on the Chinese-Catalan project of GlobalTaixue (全球太学) and its management team please visit http://www.globaltaixue.com/about-us/management-team/

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="487"] Diater delegates during the meeting with the Suzhou municipal government[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="461"] Attendants to the round table "New opportunities for the Pharmaceutical Industries in China", held during the China Biopharmaceutical Summit 2012 in Hangzhou[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="461"] Official reception in Taicang with delegates of the GlobalTaixue international meeting[/caption]

Antonio Miró's Groc Miró brand enters Asian markets through China's richest man

From http://www.expansion.com/2012/10/15/catalunya/1350326641.html (in Spanish)

Catalan designer Antonio Miró will enter Asian markets with the brand Groc Miró through Hangzhou Wahaha Group (杭州娃哈哈集团有限公司), owned by China's richest man Zong Qinghou (宗慶後). The agreement does not include the brand Antonio Miró.

Groc Miró is the brand with which Antonio Miró became well known in Barcelona when he was 20 years old. His first shop, Groc, located in Rambla Catalunya since 1967 has recently been reformed and opened again.

Second edition of China at Barcelona Summit

From http://chinaatbarcelonasummit.com/en/index.php (in English)

After a successful first edition of the China at Barcelona summit in October 2011, the Catalan capital city of Barcelona is again ready to host its second edition on November 8th and 9th, 2012. Again organized by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Mazars, and La Caixa, China at Barcelona Summit (CBS) is a first in its kind initiative around Chinese Outbound Foreign Direct Investments (OFDI) in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean and has also been labelled as China Meets the Mediterranean (中國符合地中海). CBS is a special “investment bridge” devoted to provide Chinese companies and China OFDI stakeholders (government, institutions, specialized media) with the opportunity to know about key markets and discover the advantages of Barcelona as operational base. CBS program has been designed to meet the needs of potential new investors, including site visits, informative sessions, one to one meetings with pre-selected local companies and private meetings with local institutions, plus a formal reception and conference around China OFDI in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean region.

Registration is currently open for both Chinese and European companies.

For Chinese readers, the website has also been translated into simplified Chinese and can be accessed through http://chinaatbarcelonasummit.com/zh/index.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFyZWwi-lCc&feature=colike