Friday, May 20, 2011

Appreciation for Catalan pork meat in China

From http://www.expansion.com/2011/05/18/catalunya/1305741502.html (in Spanish)

Catalan food products based on pork meat have received a great appreciation in the Sial 2011 fair, in Shanghai, as reported by the General Director of Food, Quality and Food Industries of the Catalan government, Domènec Vila. Catalonia exported 14,000 plus tons of pork meat to China in 2010, which amounted 11 million euros in sales, and the present goal is to reinforce exports in the forthcoming years thanks to an increased collaboration with ICEX (Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade).

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Construmat China will open on July 11, 2012

From http://www.globalasia.com/destacados-portada/construmat-sera-exportado-a-china-en-2012 (in Spanish)


As already explained on the post Construmat trade show exported to China in 2012 here at Sinalunya, Fira Barcelona together with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) have agreed to organize Construmat China in Beijing between July 11th and 13th, 2012. This construction trade show will be held at the Beijing Convention Center, which offers to exhibitors an area of 24,000 squared meters. At least 200 exhibitors are expected to take place in this event.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Catalan government promotes food products in China

From http://www.expansion.com/2011/05/17/catalunya/1305653455.html (in Spanish)

Top officers from the Department of Agriculture of the Catalan government are visiting China with the intention to promote Catalan food products there, specially in the Shanghai area. This delegation is led by Domènec Vila, General Director of Food, Quality and Food Industries, who travels together with twelve representatives from Catalan food companies. They all will also attend the Sial 2011 fair that is held in Shanghai from May 18th to 20th. Sial 2011 is the largest and fastest growing food and beverage show in China, with more than 1,500 exhibitors from more than 80 countries and regions, and with more than 35,000 visitors expected.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Ranking of economies in the Asia-Pacific area

From http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aALL&ID=201105160011 (in English)

According to a report recently released by the United States think tank Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal citing statistics from the World Bank in October 2010, Japan was the largest Asia-Pacific economy in 2009, with a GDP of US$5.689 trillion. China was second in the ranking, with a GDP of US$4.9847 trillion, but more recent data from the third quarter of 2010 reported that China has already overtaken Japan as the top Asia-Pacific economy. India was third on the list, with a GDP of US$1.2369 trillion in 2009, Australia was fourth with US$994.2 billion, South Korea was fifth with US$832.5 billion and Indonesia was sixth with US$539.4 billion. Taiwan ranked seventh on the list of the main economies of the Asia-Pacific area.

China new world's leader on wind energy production

From http://www.avui.cat/noticia/article/1-territori/11-mediambient/411689-la-xina-encapcala-el-ranquing-mundial-de-lenergia-eolica.html (in Catalan)

According to a recent report released by the World Wind Energy Association, in 2010 China surpassed United States as the world's leading country on the production of wind energy with a cumulative installed capacity of 44,733 MW of the former in front of the 40,180 MW of the latter. The third position is for Germany, with 27,215 MW, followed by Spain and India. The list includes other 83 countries (one more than in 2009, Cyprus), but nearly 75% of the overall production happens in the first five countries in the list. Catalonia has recently increased the cumulative installed capacity over 1,000 MW produced in 38 wind farms.

This report was presented at the International Wind Energy Exhibition and Conference CWEE2011 held in Shanghai (China) and it can be downloaded in different languages:

Another downloadable item from the World Wind Energy Association website is the Interactive World Wind Energy Map.

Report on the Second Spanish-Chinese Water Forum

From http://iagua.es/2011/05/cronica-del-ii-foro-hispano-chino-del-agua/ (in Spanish), with special thanks to Alejandro Maceira Rozados, owner and webmaster at iAgua.es

In April 19th, the Second Spanish-Chinese Water Forum was held in Nanjing, China, as one of the activities of the ongoing collaboration agreement between Spain and China on water resources management since 1999, when the Memorandum of Understanding was signed.  The First Spanish-Chinese Water Forum was held in Dongying, as part of the Yellow River Forum.

The Second Spanish-Chinese Water Forum was opened by the Spanish Secretary of State for the Rural Environment and Water, Mr. Josep Puxeu, together with Vice Minister of Ministry of Water Resources, Mr. Hu Siyi. Among the participants there were 20 representatives of Chinese public organizations (from the Ministry of Water Resources, from several research centers and from the Water Resources Comissions of rivers Yangtze, Yellow, Huai, Hai and Taihu Lake), plus 12 Spanish representatives (the General Director of Water Resources, Mrs. Marta Morén, staff from the Spanish Ministry of Environment, from the Ebro River Agency and from Spanish water companies).

The forum was arranged as a seminar that included 4 theme areas and each of them had a presentation by a representative of each country. These theme areas were:

Irrigation: The Chinese representatives explained the challenges posed by the need to produce enough food for the huge population of the country and to increase the revenues of farmers. Priorities on this field will be the construction of high-efficiency systems and the development of water-saving projects. Despite the fact that most of the irrigation is still done by canals and pipelines, microirrigation is steadily increasing in the recent years. The Spanish representatives presented what had been done for the modernization of irrigation schemes in Spain.

Dam safety: The representative of the Chinese Dam Safety Control Center explained the long history of dams in China, showing the big number of dams in the country (544 big ones, 3,259 medium-sized ones and 83,348 small ones) and how its management is done. Despite the fact that in recent years the management of dam safety has improved, Chinese representatives still acknowleged that there is still a lot to do in fields such as automatic monitoring, inspection, emergency management and technology implementation. The representative of the Ebro River Agency explained how these issues are tackled in the Ebro river basin and the software tool GEISER was presented.

Flooding risks and drought management: The Chinese representatives explained which were the main areas prone to flooding and drought and disclosed their own flood control projects. In turn, the Spanish representatives presented the SAIH (Automatic System for Hydrological Information) and the SAD (Decision Support System) tools.

Technologies for water treatment, water reuse and desalination in Spain: This area was covered only by the Spanish representatives, which presented information related to drinking water treatment, desalination, wastewater treatment and water recycling in Spain.

In the subsequent debate, Chinese representatives stated their interest for desalination projects in Spain, what is treated wastewater used for and what are the quality requirements, the management of biosolids from wastewater treatment plants, the management of dams and the policy of costs and prices of water. Both delegations expressed their interest in having a more intense cooperation in water management issues in the future.

The Second Spanish-Chinese Water Forum was held as part of the Fourth Yangtze River Forum, which had 400 attendants and in which the main challenges of the Yangtze river basin were analyzed, as the third longest river in the world and the fourth largest basin. The Spanish Secretary of State for the Rural Environment and Water, Mr. Josep Puxeu, explained the similarities between China and Spain concerning water resources management. He also explained the basic principles of Spanish water public administration and the experience on water resources management at basin level.

The Forum also had 5 workshops that dealt with the following subjects: integrated water resources management at basin level; control of river flows and use of riparian areas; climate change; ecological protection and restoration; and entrepreneurial compromise.

The Europe-China Water Platform conference was also held within the Yangtze River Forum. Since 2007, China and the European Union have a River Basin Management programme whose goal is to help the Ministry of Water Resources to implement water management at basin level, specially in the Yangtze and Yellow river basins, sharing the European Union's experience of the last 25 years. Due to the fact that the end of this programme is scheduled for 2012, both parts are already working on how this cooperation between China and the European Union can be continued in the future.

In this conference, Chinese delegates explained the challenges of their recently approved 12th Five-Year Plan, among which the main ones where those related to irrigation and to flooding, which can be worsened by climate change. The goal of the Chinese government is to double the investment in the water sector during the netx five years and the reconstruction of 40,000 small dams.

In the recent months, this programme has coordinated two visits of Chinese experts to Europe and two visits of European experts to the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, which included a Spanish representative, Mr. Javier Fernández Pereira. Through these visits European experts could better understand water-related problems in China and identify the potential areas for further cooperation between the European Union and China.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Workshop "Opportunities in China in the forthcoming years" in Barcelona

From http://www.eic.cat/wps/PA_Jornades/fitxa.jsp?codi=1082820 (in Catalan)

The Comission of Industrial Policy and Technological Innovation of the Col·legi d'Enginyers Industrials de Catalunya (College of Industrial Engineers of Catalonia) is organizing on May 16th, 2011, a workshop entitled "Oportunitats a la Xina els propers anys" (Opportunities in China in the forthcoming years). The workshop will be introduced and presented by Mr. Jordi Guix, president of the Comission of Industrial Policy and Technological Innovation and coordinator of the China Working Group. Invited speakers will be Mr. Albert Ferrari, industrial director at Sedal, S.L.; Mrs. Yolanda González, lawyer and partner at Hispano-Asian Business Consulting, S.L.; and Mr. Sergi Escorihuela, corporate director of Telstar Group, S.A., whereas Mr. Alfonso Carlos Auguet, owner of Technical Consulting Office, S.L. will act as moderator of the debate. The workshop will be held at 7 pm on the offices of the Col·legi d'Enginyers Industrials de Catalunya, Via Laietana, 39, 5th floor, Barcelona.