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.

ICEX promotes 14 Spanish companies in Singapore's BroadcastAsia

From http://www.icex.es/icex/cda/controller/pageICEX/0,6558,5518394_5519005_6366453_4496959,00.html (in Spanish)

From June 21st to 24th, 2011, Singapore will simultaneously host BroadcastAsia and CommunicAsia, two of the world leading trade fairs devoted to the broadcasting and communication sectors. The Multisectoral Association of Companies of Electronics and Information and Communication Technologies (AMETIC) , together with the Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade (ICEX) are jointly promoting a 200 m2 pavillion for the 14 Spanish companies attending the event. BroadcastAsia will showcase a wide variety of broadcasting products, including satellite and cable, as well as high definition and multimedia products, whereas CommunicAsia, will offer a global platform for the display of the latest digital technology related to telecommunications and information technologies. A summary of these events, including contact information, can be downloaded at a specific ICEX page.

China's consumer price index grows by 5.5 per cent in May 2011

From http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-06/14/c_13928164.htm (in English)

China's consumer price index (CPI) rose to its highest level in the last 34 months, reaching a 5.5% growth year-on-year. In the first five months of 2011, the CPI has grown by 5.2% year-on-year. These already high inflation rates are expected to even rise a little bit above 6% in June, according to experts. Food prices, which account for almost one third of the basket of goods for the calculation of CPI, increased by 11.7% in May from a year earlier, whereas the growth of non-food prices also increased by 2.9% in the same period.

Bizbarcelona, new trade fair for entrepreneurs

From http://www.catalannewsagency.com/news/business/bizbarcelona-opens-its-doors-international-entrepreneurs (in English)

On June 15th and 16th, 2011, Fira de Barcelona has held the first Bizbarcelona trade fair, devoted to entrepreneurs and to what they need in order to create businesses and/or make them grow. Some 12,000 attendants are expected, which are likely to find innovative solutions, inspiration, support, advice and financing. Bizbarcelona is promoted by the Barcelona City Council, the Catalan government, La Caixa, Diputació de Barcelona, Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and the State's Financial Agency of Spain, and is sponsored by the Zona Franca Consortium and Google.

6th edition of the Spain China Forum in Barcelona

From http://chinaclubspain.blogspot.com/2011/06/vi-edicion-de-foro-espana-china.html (in Spanish)

On July 5th and 6th, 2011, the Barcelona World Trade Center will host the 6th edition of the Spain China Forum. It will have three Plenary Sessions that will be aimed at promoting economic relationships between the two countries. The Forum will be presided by the two co-Presidents: Mr. Pedro Solbes (Spain) and Mrs. Uyunqing (China).

Buddha Mountain awarded as best film in Casa Asia Film Week 2011

From http://www.casaasia.es/noticia/detalle?id=20Barcelona2585 (in Spanish)

Buddha Mountain, directed by Li Yu, has been awarded as the best film of the official section of the Casa Asia Film Week that has been held in Barcelona between June 6th and 12th, 2011. Of the 30 movies on display, 11 competed in the official section and were evaluated by a jury composed by Isaac Monclús (cultural promoter), Rubén Lardín (film critic and writer), Eulàlia Iglesias (film critic and professor at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili), Ángela Martínez (Head of the Audiovisual and Multimedia Section at the Contemporary Culture Center of Barcelona) and Manel Ollé (professor of East Asian Cinema in the Degree of East Asian Studies jointly organized by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra). According to the official press release, the jury of the festival chose Buddha Mountain as the winner of the 2011 edition for the following reasons: for the capacity of the director Li to express the feelings of the contemporary Chinese youth; for being able to produce a lively piece of cinema without falling into lecturing excesses; and for being able to portrait a series of characters from different generations that are trying to find their own ways in a country in constant transformation. Buddha Mountain is a 135-minute drama filmed in Chengdu, capital of the Sichuan province, whose principal actors are Sylvia Chang, Fan Bingbing, Chen Po Lin, Fei Long, Jin Jing, Fang Li and Bao Zhenjiang.

The whole movie, divided in 8 parts, can be watched at http://www.dramastyle.com/movie/Buddha-Mountain-Film-2010/

Interview to Director of Confucius Institute of Barcelona Minkang Zhou

From http://www.segre.com/detall-de-la-noticia/article/el-xines-es-percep-com-a-sortida-professional/ (in Catalan)

Minkang Zhou, Director of the Foundation of the Confucius Institute of Barcelona, has been interviewed by the newspaper Segre after his conference at the Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs in Lleida on the Chinese studies around the world.

He explained that in the last few years Chinese government has realized that Chinese culture and language are largely unknown in the rest of the world and that's the reason why they are investing on the creation of institutes around the world where they can be learned. He also stated that China is a very ancient civilization and this could be of interest for many people. He also mentioned that the development of the last 30 years has created an increasing gap between rich and poor peoples and also has given more freedom to Chinese people. Because of this, they are migrating both from rural areas to the large cities, but aso migrating to other areas of the world, like Catalonia, which is also receiving an increasing number of Chinese tourists. And finally he mentioned that in Catalonia there is an increasing number of people who are studying Chinese language, which is seen by the growth of the number of people who take the examinations.