During the last few months, the Foreign Trade department of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce has been very active. Our Foreign Trade manager, Jesús Agra, has travelled on different occasions to Gerona, Cantabria and Asturias in order to develop partnerships with new companies, present our services and offer support to Spanish companies on their mission to enter the UK market.
The Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain aims to foster relationships with regional Chambers of Commerce and institutions in Spain in order to reach Spanish companies in their local area. To help achieve this, we have developed different commercial activities throughout this first semester of the year.
To begin with, during the month of March and in collaboration with the Cámara Oficial de Comercio e Industria de Girona, Jesús Agra travelled to Girona to meet 8 companies from various sectors, particularly Food and Agriculture . They organised meetings of a 30-minute duration with the objective of understanding the plans and projects these companies had towards the British market and evaluating the alternatives the Spanish Chamber could offer to support them.
The Cámara de Comercio e Industria de Cantabria organised an information day about doing business in Great Britain
Later, on the 23rd April, he attended the “Jornada-País” event organised by the Cámara Oficial de Comercio e Industria de Cantabria in collaboration with SODERCAN (Society for the Regional Development of Cantabria).
This event was conceived as an information day to explain companies from Cantabria, the existing possibilities and opportunities to develop commercial relationships with the United Kingdom. It was presided by Mr. Eduardo Arasti, Counsellor of Innovation, Industry, Tourism and Commerce of the Government of Cantabria and Mr. Antonio Mazarrasa, Secretary General of the Cámara Oficial de Comercio de Cantabria.
Jesús Agra made a presentation explaining the specifics of the British market as well as the attraction and difficulties to get a foothold in this market. This was followed by two business-case presentations from two Cantabrian companies, Leading Enterprises and Talleres Cobo, which brought a practical note to the session and opened a discussion round afterwards.
This successful event was closed with one-to-one meetings with Jesús Agra. 11 companies decided to participate so they could get personalised advice and recommendations for their projects in the UK from our expert.
From left to right: Antonio Mazarrasa (Cámara Oficial de Comercio e Industria de Cantabria), J. Ignacio Granel (Leading Enterprises), Eduardo Arasti (Government of Cantabria), Jesús Agra (Cámara de Comercio de España en Gran Bretaña) and Fernando Gomís (Talleres Cobo)
Moreover, and following the tour of the north of Spain, on the 13th May our Foreign Trade Manager travelled to Asturias, where ASTUREX (the Society for External Promotion of the Principality of Asturias) organised in collaboration with CAC-ASPROCON (Asturias Construction Confederation) a presentation to advise Asturian companies from the Industry and Construction sector on how to do business in Great Britain.
The Director of the international department of ASTUREX, Mrs. Mª Ángeles Álvarez and Jesús Agra made their presentations and provided some tips to the audience, 7 companies had the opportunity to meet Jesús in individual meetings to discuss their plans with him.
To sum up, we would like to thank all the institutions and organisations that invited the Spanish Chamber of Commerce to participate in their activities and encourage them to keep counting on us to develop commercial relationships between the Anglo-Spanish business communities.