Catalan rumba band La Pegatina tours China successfully

From http://www.ara.cat/cultura/Pegatina-popularitza-Xina-gracies-socials_0_590341074.html (in Catalan)

[caption id="attachment_1085" align="alignleft" width="159"] La Pegatina[/caption]

Catalan rumba band La Pegatina is back from a successful musical tour in China, where they played at the Hangzhou Festival for 15,000 people and at several smaller venues. The band originally hails from Montcada i Reixac (Barcelona) and after 7 years they have already played in 13 countries and had millions of downloads of their records, which can be obtained for free as digital files in their website at http://www.lapegatina.com/en/multimedia/downloads, together with other material such as lyrics and chords, clips, wallpapers and even an iPhone/Android app.

La Pegatina was invited to play in China by the organizers by the Hangzhou Festival, which encouraged the band to find other gigs in cities like Beijing and Shanghai. A chronicle of the concert in Beijing can be read at the Beijing Daze blog, under the title of "Catalonia and Mongolia collide when La Pegatina meets Hanggai for a fun show". They are the third Spanish band to play in China, after Berri Txarrak and Fito.

According to one of the members of the band, Rubén Sierra, "Chinese audiences are very interested by everything that comes from the West, due to the recent opening of the society to foreign influences". He also pointed out that they have received a proposal to perform again in China, at the 2012 Midi Festival.

Publications in Chinese of Barcelona City Council

From http://w42.bcn.cat/web/en/media-room/chinesepublications/index.jsp (in English / Chinese)

Because of its position as one of the leading European cities for business matters (see our previous post of Barcelona being voted the 6th best city in 2011), Barcelona City Council has a complete set of information about these issues on its website. Foreign visitors can find an impressive amount of information in English at the Barcelona/Business portal, in which there is a useful Media Room that also features a section of publications in Chinese in order to attract investments from China. The four documents available in Chinese so far are:

Barcelona Datasheet 2011 (Chinese) 数据 巴塞罗那 2011

Barcelona Economic Triangle (Chinese) 巴塞罗那经济三角区

Setting up in Barcelona (Chinese)

10 reasons to invest in barcelona (Chinese) 我巴塞罗那投资的十大理由
Other presentations in English can be viewed and downloaded from Barcelona BusinessSlideshare account. 

Catalan commercial missions to China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam

From http://agenda.acc10.cat/agenda/default.php?id=6575 and http://agenda.acc10.cat/agenda/default.php?id=6490 (in Catalan)

Two new Catalan commercial missions to East Asia have been arranged for November 2011. Both are departing from Barcelona on November 19th and one is addressed to Shanghai, in China, whereas the other one, organized by the Terrassa Chamber of Commerce, is addressed to the markets in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

The goals of the mission to China are: i) to improve the knowledge of Chinese market; ii) to increase the networking with local companies and organizations; and iii) to seek business opportunities.

The proposed schedule is:

Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 November: Flight Barcelona - Shanghai
Monday 21 November: Presentation of Amec-China and information workshop
Tuesday 22 November: Visit to technological parks and to Spanish companies working in China
Wednesday 23 November: Individualized meetings (optional)/Networking dinner with experts
Thursday 24 November: Workshop – Individual advisory interviews to understand the Chinese market
Divendres 25 November: Flight Shanghai - Barcelona

Venue: 1201 Westgate Mall, 1038 Nanjing (w) Road, Shanghai


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The goals of the mission to in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam are to analyze the economic opportunities and the competitive factors that these countries can offer and to establish business relationships with local companies.

An individualized schedule of business contacts will provided in collaboration with the ACC1Ó office in Singapore and with the Spanish Economic & Commercial Office in Vietnam, according with the requirements of each company. For further information, please contact Mrs. Natàlia Bertran at nbertran@cambraterrassa.es, phone +34 93 7339837.

 

Technological and innovation bridge to China organized in Barcelona

Barcelona NETactiva is organizing a promotional mission (“Pont Tecnològic”, Technological Bridge) to China from November 28th to December 2nd, 2011 specially addressed to information technology (IT) companies willing to work there. China is nowadays the first country in the world exporting IT products and offers great opportunities in the sectors of e-commerce, cell phone and mobile internet services, among others. This technological bridge will include a common program, with visits to Chinese companies and organizations, and attendance to workshops, networking events and showcases. There will also be a specific program of businesses contacts specially designed for each of the companies taking part on this mission. Companies may be eligible for receiving funding from ACC1Ó, provided the fulfillment of its requirements.

For further information contact Mrs. Laura Espiau with Barcelona NETactiva at laura.espiau@barcelonactiva.cat, phone +34 932917777, or Mrs. Judith Padrós, with the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce at jpadros@cambrabcn.org, phone +34934169356.

Casa Àsia Barcelona will hold the 8th East-West Dialogue 2011

From http://www.casaasia.es/dialogo/eng/index.html (in English)

The city of Barcelona will be holding the 8th East-West Dialogue on November 8th-9th, 2011, with the title of "For a New Global Governance Agenda", an event organized annually by Casa Àsia and the Barcelona City Council. This eighth Dialogue is devoted to analyzing the current world situation and the role played by international institutions, as well as by political leaders. The activities related to this event could be followed on Twitter using the hashtag #eastwest.

The program for the 8th East-West Dialogue is as follows:

8th of November 2011 / From 4.30pm to 7pm
Barcelona City Hall, Saló de Cent (Plaça Sant Jaume, 1 - Barcelona)

9th of November 2011 / From 10am to 7pm
Casa Asia, Tagore Auditorium (Avinguda Diagonal, 373 - Barcelona)

Free entry prior registration / Limited capacity

 

 

 

China acknowledges the leadership of Spanish water companies

From http://www.iagua.es/noticias/china/11/11/02/china-reconoce-el-liderazgo-de-las-empresas-espanolas-del-sector-del-agua-10854#.TrG9EOyLfew (in Spanish)

The Spanish Minister of Environment, and Rural and Marine Environments, Mrs. Rosa Aguilar, has held a meeting with the Chinese Vice Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Hu Siyi, with whom she has signed an agreement to reinforce cooperation between China and Spain on water-related issues. The agreement has been signed after the meeting and is supposed to serve for 5 years as a platform for Spanish companies of the water sector to work in the Chinese market, specially in areas such as planning strategies on water policies, water conservation on agricultural irrigation, reservoir management, desalination, wastewater treatment, water reuse and water quality control, as well as staff training. On the framework of this agreement, both countries have agreed to promote cooperation between river basin authorities, water research centers and companies, as well as to organize high-level visits for experts and joint workshops.

Mrs. Rosa Aguilar and Mr. Hu Siyi have stated that both China and Spain have irregular water distribution and the Chinese Vice Minister has acknowledged the work done by the Spanish government to secure water supply through desalination, which makes Spain as the 4th country in the world with the highest desalination capacity. Water reuse is another area in which Spain occupies a prominent position -second in the world, right after Israel. Because of all this, Mr. Hu Siyi has invited Spain to take part on the 5th International Forum on the the Yellow River (黄河), that will be held in China on October 2012.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="368"] Visit of environmental Chinese delegation to Costa Brava water reuse projects in October 2011[/caption]

Yellow RiverWikipedia: The Yellow River or Huang He is the second-longest river in Asia, following the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of. →

China and Spain will sign a cooperation agreement on water management

From http://www.iagua.es/noticias/china/11/10/30/espana-y-china-firmaran-un-%E2%80%9Cmemorando-de-entendimiento-en-materia-de-recursos-de-agua%E2%80%9D-10848 (in Spanish)

The Spanish Minister of Environment, and Rural and Marine Environments, Mrs. Rosa Aguilar, has started an official trip to China aimed at showcasing the potential for exports of the Spanish food sector and also to reinforce the Spanish-Chinese cooperation on water management. She is expected to have a meeting with the Chinese Vice Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Hu Siyi, with whom she will sign a cooperation agreement on water management. Mrs. Rosa Aguilar will also introduce the leadership potential of Spanish water companies in order to help them get into the promising Chinese market.