la gaceta. august 2012
DESCRIPTION
La Gaceta is the quarterly newsletter of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce. This publication brings you information about many different aspects about Spain and Hong Kong and contains the following sections: What's On - news about HK and the Pearl River Delta Chamber News - news about chamber activities Focus On - interviews with important or influential people Table Talk - articles about Spanish food & wine AMIG@ of the Month - profile of one of our members and list of membership benefits Cultura con Ñ - cultural page with reviews of books, films, etc. One shot - photo of Spain Voices - letters page We hope you find the newsletter interesting and informative and welcome your feedback.TRANSCRIPT
La GacetaNewsletter from the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong
Aug 12
AMIG@S >New Discount Member Benefit Program
Sara Mallo, from Net Craman, our AMIG@ of the month
REVIEW >Chamber News
Table Talk: Typical Spanish Summer foods and drinks
Cultura con Ñ: “Chiringuito”, “Festival de Cine de Málaga”
One Shot: “San Fermín”
FOCUS ON >UEFA Eurocup 2012
Results of the stress test of the Spanish financial sector
Treasury Statement on Financial Assistance to recapitalise the Spanish Banking Sector
UEFA Eurocup 2012
LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
Spanish October celebration will take place between 24th of September and 16th November in order to commemorate the Spanish National Day on 12th October. All the events contained are organized by different organizations such as the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, Span-ish Commission Trade, Spanish Consulate, Spanish Speaking Women’s Association, Flamenco Schools and Hong Kong Trade Fair. The programe of events includes different activities, such Tapas Tour 2012, the VII Spanish Film Festival, painting exhibition, flamenco shows and oth-ers.
An specific message containing the events´ details will be sent to you by new week.
LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
Contents> 2> AMIG@S Sara Mallo, our AMIG@ of the month. Meet the new members and find out about the new Disount Member Benefit Program
5> WHAT’S ON? The 15th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Hong Kong SAR
6> CHAMBER NEWS Agenda of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce
10> FOCUS ON Eurocup Results of the stress test of the Spanish financial sector Treasury Statement on Financial Assistance to recapitalise the Spanish Banking Sector
14> TABLE TALK Typical Spanish foods and drinks at Summer
18> CULTURA CON Ñ Palabra del mes: “Chiringuito” Festival de Cine de Málaga: “Els nens salvatges” Premio Nadal: “El temblor del héroe”
19> ONE SHOT We celebrate “San Fermín”
19> VOICES Send your letters
Message from the Secretary GeneralDear Members and Friends,
The Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong is delighted to in-troduce the latest version of “La Gaceta”, our e-newsletter, which in-cludes the highlights of the last quarter in Hong Kong and Spain as well as the Chamber’s remarkable activities.
La Gaceta is an increasingly important channel of communication be-tween the Chamber and its members where information summarizing the main topics of interest related with Spain is provided.
The principal aim of this publication, apart from informing, is to en-courage everybody to join the SCC events and to be closely related with Spain combining Business and Leisure.
Particularly, this edition of “La Gaceta” is focused on the Celebration of The UEFA Eurocup 2012 on the social scale.On the other side, we publish the results of the stress test of the Spanish financial sector and the Treasury Statement on Financial As-sistance to recapitalize the Spanish Banking Sector.
We are also happy to advance the celebration of the Spanish Octo-ber 2012 that will include the celebration of Tapas Tour 2012, The VII Spanish Film Festival, Dancing performance “Ibérica de danza” on Friday 12th October, commercial fair, cultural exhibitions, the per-formance “Sombras, Sol y Flamenco” on 15th September and many other activities, organized in coordination with The Spanish Consulate and The Spanish Trade Commission in Hong Kong.
In our section “Table Talk”, we have included a review of Spanish sum-mer treats. The section “Cultura con Ñ” brings you also more culture in Spanish. In conclusion, together with the review of other topics of interest, the August 2012 edition of “La Gaceta” tries to provide with useful and valuable information about the news and events concerning Spain and Hong Kong.
We are glad to take this opportunity to wish you a great time while reading our articles. Please, note that your questions or feedback are much appreciated.
Borja SánchezSecretary General of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
Credits * Thanks> With special thanks to Sara Mallo.
Disclaimer: The Spanish Chamber does not guarantee the accuracy of the information printed in this document.
Sponsors>
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LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
Amig@ of the month >
Company nameNet Craman Abogados y Asesores Fiscales
In Hong Kong sinceMarch 2012.
Your “Best” and “Worst” ofHong KongBest: The business oppor-tunities that HK can bring to new foreign companies
and the spirit of business that you can feel. Worst: Yes, not always mean “yes”, very often it means “I understood”.
Your spanish SideI was born in France from Spanish parents. I grew up in an international environ-ment near Geneva and af-terwards I decided to study
law in Madrid and to start my professional career in Barcelona.
My message to the Span-ish Chamber of CommerceThank you for promoting Spanish companies in Hong Kong and give them the op-portunity to meet their goals and develop their network-ing.
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Sara Mallo
LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
New Members Corporate
Young Professional
New Discount Member Benefit ProgramNew Membership Cards are launched in order to provide better and appropriate services to our members. Three different designs are allocated to our members according to the type of membership :
Amkal HK Ltd BCN BarCeloNa Falkon GlobusTrading LimitedHENDERSON CPA LIMITEDKorman Internacional (China) Limited Mesa 15Net Craman Ormazabal Asia-MEast PCCW Global PCS Graphic Arts HK LTDThe SWAH CommunicationsTOWNGAS Avenue Fandango Spanish RestaurantLa Tasca
Didier BensadounJason Boyer Philip SanchezVince LungLi Ka Yi, Carrie Gema Xu Wu Lo Wai Kit RickySergio Gómez Vela
Overseas
OCYR
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New Discount Member Benefit Program
Golden Card: For CORPORATE (6200 HKD) and OVERSEAS (390 EUR). Companies registered in Hong Kong and companies regis-tered outside Hong Kong S.A.R. or Macau. We offer the inclusion Members’ profiles into the Chamber’s Annual Directory.
Silver Card: For INDIVIDUALS (1550 HKD) who are currently living in Hong Kong. They can mention their company and publish their photograph and background in our Annual Directory.
Friend of Spain: For YOUNG PROFESSIONALS (490 HKD). To en-joy the exclusive benefits and special price to attend our events. They can publish their contact details in our Directory.
Individual
Claudia Valencia de StandaloftGary WanPhilip SanchezGonzalo PortellanoDanny Tsang Chi Chung
Selling point: Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong Contact number: +852 2763 6236 For more information: [email protected]
LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
10% Year round discount on all food and beverage at the following venues at WOO Bar.
4theTravel Discount on Air-port Express Tickets
10% discount in all prod-ucts at iJamon.
10% Discount on Amaranto Asia Ltd Services
15% Discount in all regular priced treatments or prod-ucts at AINHOA (Exheehee Cosmetic HK Ltd)
Special Offers from Fiesta Ltd - Spanish Fine Food & Wines
15% exclusive Finessa dis-count on the full FinessaDi-rect range
10% Discount on EgurenU-garte wines
10% Discount on Hong Kong Institute of Languages Private Classes
New Discount Member Benefit Program
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Offers and discounts with Membership Cards
Special Promotion in Plaza Mayor “Cañas y Tapas”
10% discount on purchase of a class card at Clara Ra-mona Danza Flamenca LTD.
20% discount in all Los Ibé-ricos products.
50% off on Hong Kong Com-pany Set Up at WEC
Meeting room and Confer-ence Facilities at THE FO-CAL POINT - 10% off
10% Discount at all Concept Creations outlets
10% discount on food and beverage at Flame at Town-gas Avenue
10% Discount on Modern Construction & Engineering
10% discount of all items at htmgsa.com e-shop
10% Discount on any treat-ment valued at minimum HK$ 1000 at Grand Hyatt Plateau Spa, from Monday to Thurs-day (except PHs)
LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
What’s on?>
The 1st July of 1997 Hong Kong’s sovereignty was trans-ferred from the British to the Chinese government and its singular political and economic system ‘One Country, Two Sys-tems’ began to rule.
In order to celebrate the 15th anniversary of this important fact, many events and celebra-tions are being held in the en-tire region apart from other ter-ritories all over the world.
The flag-raising ceremony that took place the 1st of July was set by the Guard of Honor of the Disciplined Services and Escort Parties and presided by Leung Chun-Ying and the presi-dent of China, Hu Jintao.
The most important message transmitted by the Chief Execu-tive of the HKSAR was that the city must keep its top position as an international and financial center at the same time that it works to refloat its shipping in-dustry while making Hong Kong a more livable city.
The celebration got together 3.000 people and took place at Hong Kong’s Golden Bauhinia Square, the same place where the HKSAR establishment was celebrated 15 years ago.
Besides, many other celebrations and festivities were held the same day in different regions of the city.
The 15th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Hong Kong SAR
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Hong Kong Fair CalendarThe Hong Kong Fair Calendar shows you the upcoming Fairs in Aug, Sept, Oct and Nov.
5-9 Sept HKTDC Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair13-16 Oct HKTDC Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Autumn Edition)13-16 Oct ElectronicAsia27-29 Oct HKTDC Hong Kong International Building and Decoration Materials & Hardware Fair27-30 Oct Eco Expo Asia - International Trade Fair on Environmental Protection27-30 Oct Hong Kong International Lighting Fair (Autumn Edition)28-30 Oct Sports Source Asia7-9 Nov HKTDC Hong Kong Optical Fair8-10 Nov HKTDC Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair
For more information please click here
LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
Chamber News>
17th-19th Aug
Food Expo in Hong Kong
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25th May
Wine & Art Evening. Art Talk by Mr. Michael Leung
The State-of-the-Arts Foundation hosted an Art Talk by Mr. Michael Le-ung, the founder and creative director of HK Honey and product de-signer to talk to us about beekeeping urban as a means of commerce, its marvellous crossover with art and his social-cultural concern sustain-sability.
29th May
InterCham Connecting
People CocktailThe 9th InterCham Connecting People Cocktail took place on 29 May at The Excelsior. Many profes-sionals from different background had the oportunitty to know the managers of the 27 international Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong. It was a fabulous evening of networking. All benefits were donated to the InterChamb Scolarship Fund.
HKTDC Food Expo (Food Expo) is the city’s signature event for the food industry that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors. Food compa-nies from around the world also flock to the event to explore business opportunities.
Due to the success of the Gourmet Zone at Food Expo 2011, that at-tracted over 25,000 high spending power visitors, this year there was a Spanish fine food promotion in the Gourmet Zone at Food Expo 2012.
Gourmet Zone was a huge success likewise the activities about cooking demonstrations by gourmet chefs, most of them, Spanish chefs.
LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
wines to over one thousand peo-ple.
Visitors had the opportunity to try a big variety of Spanish cui-sine such as: different wines from diverse regions of Spain, Spanish ham, cheese, olive oil, vinegar, sangria, fruit juice, diverse canned food and mineral water, among others.
17th May
Open day. Spanish foods
and wines Festival
The “Open Day. Spanish Foods and Wines Festival”, hosted by the
Spanish Trade Commision, took place at second floor in Happy Val-ley Racecourse.
The event is organized each year in order to promote and enjoy Span-ish Gastronomy in Hong Kong.
This year´s festival involved eight-een suppliers which provided the higest quality of Spanish foods and
Chamber News>Chamber News>
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20th July
New Member´s Directory 2012/2013
The Directory include basic Information about the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, such as the Chamber’s mission and its exten-sive services, and the profiles of both Spain and Hong Kong.
Therefore, this publication provides everybody the profiles and con-tacts of all five categories of our partners, namely corporate, overseas, individual, young professional and non-profit partners.
Each year, we distribute 750 copies with the price of 900 HKD (90 EUR + Shipping Costs), Young Professional/ Friend of Spain members, 75% off, and free copies to Corporate, Overseas and Individual members. For details of membership, please click here.
Besides, new Membership Cards are launched in order to provide bet-ter and appropriate services to our members. Three different designs are allocated to our members according to the type of membership.
The New Member´s Directory was published in July. The Directory is an annual publication of The Spanish Chamber of Commerce, which has demonstrated to be an outstanding instrument of promotion and an excellent letter of introduction for every one of the Chamber’s partners.
LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
24th May
Happy Hour at W-Hotel
W-Hotel, with the Spanish Chamber of Commerce organized a Happy Hour at W-Hotel roof. Over one hundred people enjoyed with this Spanish party full of Spanish wine, Spanish “tapas” and music at the 76-floor- Wet Bar in W-Hotel.
W-Hotel provided the wonderful venue and two prizes for the lucky draw: two double tickets for the W-Hotel Get Wet Summer Series.
28th June
Happy Hour hosted by CWCC
at La BodegaThe last Spanish Chamber´s Happy Hour took place at La Bodega, a Spanish Bar which is located at Central.
The afterwork was a great opportunity to do networking. All, Spanish Chamber members and non-members had a good time
The Happy Hour hosted by CWCC was a huge success.
Chamber News>
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LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
7th June
Seminario:Apuntes sobre la
Actualidad Fiscal 2012
El pasado 7 de junio el despacho de abogados y asesores fiscales, Net Craman, ofreció una conferencia a todos los expatriados españoles en Hong Kong.
La reunión se organizó con el fin de aclarar las diferentes dudas con respecto al nuevo Convenio para evitar la doble imposición España - Hong Kong.
El nuevo convenio entre el Reino de España y la Región Administrativa de Hong Kong de la República Popular China pretender evitar
la doble imposición y prevenir la evasión fiscal en materia de Impuestos sobre la Renta.
Mediante este convenio Hong Kong queda excluido de la lista de paraisos fiscales, perdiendo por tanto su condición hasta la actualidad de paraiso fiscal y desapareciendo asimismo el secrteto bancario.
Tal y como se expresó en el seminario, el Convenio entre España y Hong Kong favorece a una mayor seguridad jurídica de los inversores, así como una mayor flexibilidad en el IRPF de expatriados. Por lo tanto, el Real Decreto 12/2012 abre una oportunidad de regularizar la situación en España.
2nd July
Eurocup 2012The Spanish Chamber of Commerece threw itself in the organization of the Eurocup competition.
Delaney´s Pub was the Spanish headquarters for the UEFA Eurocup 2012 where everybody enjoyed with the winner Spanish Team.
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LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
Focus on>Results of the stress test of the
Spanish financial sector
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On 21st June 2012, the Ministry of Economic Af-fairs and Competitiveness and the Banco de Es-paña received two individual reports by two in-dependent appraisers, Roland Berger and Oliver Wyman, on the Spanish financial sector.
The result of the exercise is recapitalisation needs of between €16 billion and €26 billion under the baseline scenario of the stress tests, and of be-tween €51 billion and €62 billion under the ad-verse scenario.
The analysis was performed on 14 banking groups, comprising 90% of the sector. And although the ex-ercise does not allow prior estimates to be made of the capital required for each bank, it is anticipated that the three largest banks will meet capital re-quirements even in the face of a hypothetical se-vere deterioration in the Spanish economy.
The biggest shortfalls are concentrated in the banks in which the FROB has a majority holding. The remaining banks could meet their capital re-quirements by themselves or with a modest level of public aid.
What is involved here is an initial and extensive transparency exercise, based on the entire credit portfolio of the banks, as a prior step to an item-ised analysis of balance sheets by four audit firms, to be concluded in the coming weeks.
The exercise is in response to the Government’s decision to generate confidence in the Spanish fi-nancial system’s soundness as part of its European commitments. The figure for recapitalisation needs is manageable, confined and is, in any event, be-low the amount of €100 billion agreed by the Euro-group on 9 June as a credit facility.
For more information please click the attached document provides by The Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and the document which shows the Results of the independent evaluation of Spanish banking sector.
El 21 de junio de 2012, el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad y el Banco de España recibió dos in-formes individuales de los dos evaluadores indepen-dientes, Roland Berger y Oliver Wyman, sobre el sec-tor financiero español.
Las pruebas dan como resultado unas necesidades de recapitalización de entre 16.000 y 26.000 millones de euros en el escenario base de los ejercicios de es-trés, y de entre 51.000 y 62.000 millones de euros en el escenario adverso.
El análisis ha sido realizado sobre 14 grupos bancari-os, el 90% del sector, y aunque el ejercicio no permite realizar estimaciones previas de las necesidades de capital de cada entidad, cabe anticipar que los tres grandes del sector cumplen los requisitos de capital incluso ante un hipotético empeoramiento severo de la economía española.
Las mayores deficiencias se centran en las entidades participadas mayoritariamente por el FROB. El resto de entidades podrían asumir sus necesidades de cap-ital por sí mismas o con un moderado nivel de ayuda pública.
Se trata de un primer y amplio ejercicio de trans-parencia, basado en la evaluación de toda la cartera crediticia de las entidades, como paso previo a un análisis individualizado de los balances por parte de cuatro empresas auditoras a concluir en las próximas semanas.
Responde a la decisión del Gobierno de dar confianza y seguridad en el sistema financiero español dentro de los compromisos europeos. La cifra de necesi-dades de recapitalización es manejable, está aco-tada y se encuentra, en todo caso, por debajo de los 100.000 millones de euros de la línea de crédito acordada con el Eurogrupo el pasado 9 de junio.
Para más información se recomienda ver el sigu-iente documento proporcionado por el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, y el documento que muestra los Resultados de la evaluación independi-ente del sector bancario español.
LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong 11
UEFA Eurocup 2012 at our private venue Delaney´s
“It’s an honor and a pleasure to be captain of this team”, Spain captain Iker Casillas said as hun-dreds of thousands came to welcome the UEFA EURO 2012 winners back home.
From the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong it has also been an honor to support the Spanish team from Southeast Asia. In order to accomplish such support, the Spanish Chamber had the honor to invite Spanish supporters to join us at our pri-vate venue Delaney´s based in G/F & 1/F, One Capital Place - 18 Luard Road, Wanchai.
After the national team success at UEFA EURO 2008 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Spain might have become accustomed to cel-ebrating major victories, but there was no let-up in the nation’s joy as Vicente del Bosque’s triumphant side returned from UEFA EURO 2012 on Monday.
EVENT DETAILS
Private Venue: Delaney´s. FIRST FLOOR, One Capital Place. 18 Luard Road, Wanchai-Hong Kong.
Prices:
SCC members: 120HKD Pre-sales: 130HKD (Before Today 29th June by 6pm)Non-members: 150HKD
Special SCC members pre-sales package: ticket + Spanish T-Shirt: 180HKDSpecial non-member pre-sales package: ticket + Spanish T-Shirt: 200HKD
Price included:2 drink coupons to be used during the match. After that, cash bar will be available.Drink coupons available in the door.
Focus on>
LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
Focus on>
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Despite the jet lag, the tremendous desire to celebrate the Span-ish victories led fans to fill the pub room. Therefore, the pro-posed event was an absolute success. We attracted a large num-ber of fans, seduced by the suggestive deals agreed with the pub.
This was the previous flyer, all of us expecting the best results…
And that was the result…EUROCUP CHAMPIONS!!
BOOKLET: We produced 2,000 copies of booklets to promote this event among different targets including F&B sectors, hotels, restaurants, medias, universities, Spanish language schools and other institutions.
EVENT DETAILS
Drinks List:Beer (Carlsberg)Wine (white, red) Standard Spirits Standard Cocktails
ATTENDANCE EUROCUP 2012
1st match: Spain - Italy 10/6 (Sun-days night) at 0:00. 86 attendants
2nd match: Spain - Ireland 15/6 (Thursday night) at 2:45. 25 at-tendants. 3rd match: Spain - Croatia 19/6 (Monday night) at 2:45. 20 at-tendants. 4th match: Spain - France 24/6 (Saturday night) at 2:45. 130 at-tendants.
5th match: Spain - Portugal 28/6 (Wednesday night) at 2:45. 45 attendants.
6th match: Spain - Italy 2/7 (Sun-day night) at 2:45. 170 attend-ants.
ORGANIZERS’ DETAILS
Organizers’ name: Spanish Cham-ber of Commerce in Hong KongAddress: Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, 7/F, Unit B-C One Capital Place, 18 Luard Road Wanchai, Hong KongPhone: (852)3622 6236Email: [email protected] Organizer’s web: www.spanish-chamber.com.hkFair’s web: http://www.spanish-chamber.com.hk/pages/viewnew.asp?CodArt=753
LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
Focus on>Treasury Statement on Financial Assistance to
recapitalise the Spanish Banking Sector
On Saturday, June 9th 2012, the Spanish Government has an-nounced its intention to request European financing for the recapi-talisation of its weakest financial institutions.
The Eurogroup has stated its will-ingness to respond favourably to such a request with a loan suf-ficient to cover estimated capital requirements with a significant safety margin, summing up to 100 billion Euros that will be provided by EFSF/ESM.
In line with the conclusions of its recently published Financial System Stability Assessment on Spain, the IMF welcomes the com-mitment of Europe and Spain and stands ready to support the imple-mentation and monitoring of this financial assistance.
The European funds will be pro-vided to the State Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB) under more favourable conditions than currently offered in the capital markets. The FROB will then use those funds to recapitalise Span-ish financial institutions in accord-ance with EU State Aid Rules. The
Kingdom of Spain will retain the full responsibility for the financial assistance thus provided.
This financial assistance will not only not undermine the present conditions of the current stock of Spanish Public Debt: it will also re-inforce its overall solvency. Furthermore, a sound and duly capitalized banking system will re-duce future contingent liabilities of the State and will therefore re-inforce the sustainability of Span-ish debt.
The upper limit of 100 billion Euros guarantees a credible backstop, sufficient to cover the system’s eventual capital needs in the most stressed hypothetical scenarios, plus an additional buffer.
This agreement will only entail the necessary policy conditionality pertaining to the financial sector, and does not require any addition-al commitments on fiscal consoli-dation and structural reforms than those already in place.
The details on this financial assis-tance package will be established in coordination with our European
partners and duly communicated to the market.
In this context, the Spanish Treas-ury reaffirms its commitment to capital markets, and will therefore continue to execute its funding programme through its regular auction calendar.
The Spanish Government remains committed to the programme of fiscal consolidation and structural reforms that has earned Spain the confidence of its European part-ners.
More information about Spain:
- Information regarding growth and sustainability in Spain.Documentos depresentación del CEC, crecimiento y sostenibilidad.
- Information regarding business council.Documentos depresentación del CEC, referente al consejo empre-sarial.
Ministerio de Economía y Com-petitividad (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Competitiveness)
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LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
Table Talk>The topics of this Table Talk are foods and drinks in summer.
Spanish food is known by its fresh ingredients and its health cooking. Everybody knows Mediterranean Diet like one of the best diets in the world.
Among the multitude of recipes, this time, we have chosen the most known recipes at summer, both of them: food and drink. That is why we are talking about Gaz-pacho, Paella and Pulpo a la Gal-lega like the main dishes when the sun and hot come to Spain. And, to refresh, Spanish usually drink alcoholic drinks like Sangría, or another soft drinks like Horchata. In this edition we have not re-ferred to other important and well known typical foods at summer
such as Salmorejo and Ajoblanco, or drinks like Rebujito and Tinto de verano.
Nowadays, Spanish cooking is “in fashion”, especially thanks in part to Ferran Adrià, who in the summer of 2003 attained inter-national renown thanks to praise in the Sunday supplement of The New York Times. His restaurant El Bulli is located in the province of Girona, near Roses. In a long arti-cle, the New York Times declared him the best chef in the world, and postulated the supremacy of Spanish cooking over French cui-sine.
Besides, there are some excellent chefs in Spain whose restaurants have three Michelin stars: Juan Mari Arzak (Arzak in San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa); Martín Berasategui (Berasategui in Lasarte, Guipúz-coa); Pedro Subijana (Akelarre in San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa) Carme Ruscalleda (Sant Pau in Sant Pol de Mar, Barcelona); and the Roca brothers (el Celler de Can Roca, Girona).
Other very famous chefs in Spain are Andoni Aduriz (Mugaritz in Rentería, Guipúzcoa), Sergi Arola, chef at La Broché and a disciple of Adrià; and Simone Ortega, author of the best-selling cookbook in Spain, 1080 recetas.
Likewise, Karlos Arguiñano, who over the years has presented cook-ing programs on various Spanish television channels in which he shows his communication skills and sense of humour while cook-ing; José Andrés, chef and owner of Minibar by José Andrés in Wash-ington D.C., and a disciple of Adrià who is currently host of Made in Spain, airing on Public Broadcast-ing Service (PBS) Public television.
Foods and drinks in Summer
LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
PREPARATION
Clean and rinse the tiger nuts very well. Rinse them under running tap water if necessary. Remove and discard the bad ones.Soak them in plenty of cold water for 12 hours. Double check the ti-ger nuts that float on the surface because they are usually bad.Drain them. Rinse them again and check again for bad ones.
PREPARATION
Combine the almonds, bread, and garlic in a food processor and blend until smooth. With the mo-tor still running, slowly pour in the olive oil until a smooth paste is formed.Add in the cold water and the vin-egar. Process until the mixture is thin and smooth. Season with salt to taste.
AjoblancoINGREDIENTS
> 1 cup (6 oz) blanched almonds> 4 slices crustless white bread, soaked in cold water for 5 min-utes> 3 garlic cloves, sliced> 5 tablespoons olive oil > 1/2 cups (20 fl. oz) cold water> 2 tablespoons sherry vinegarSalt1/2 cup (3 oz) seedless green grapes
Pour the mixture into a large bowl. Float the grapes on the top of the soup. Cover and allow to chill in the refrigerator. To serve, pour the soup into individual soup bowls and garnish with the toasted almond slivers and chopped parsley, if desired.OPTIONAL: You can add grapes, melon slices or a few prawns.
HorchataINGREDIENTS
> 9 oz (a little more than a cup) chufas> 1/2 cup sugar> 1 quart of water> 1/2 of a cinnamon stick (optional)
Add the chufas and 1 glass of the water to a blender or food processor to grind them into a soft paste.Slowly add the rest of the water. Mix well. Add in the cinnamon stick and allow it to rest for 2 to 3 hours.Sift through a cloth filter. Sieve it again if you need to. It should be free from any impurities. My drink was pure milky white.Add the sugar and mix well.You now have a fine, milky liquid that can be placed in the fridge to be served cold. Or you can also serve the Horchata in slushy form (which I also saw…but didn’t try) as you would ice-cream. Simply put it in the freezer, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t freeze solid.
Table Talk>
LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
Rebujito
GazpachoINGREDIENTS
> 6 ripe tomatoes> 2 green peppers> 1 red pepper> 1 cucumber> 1 onion> 1 garlic (optional)> 2 slices of stale bread> Salt, oil extra virgin olive, vinegar
PREPARATION
Put to soak the slices of bread. They are placed in a bowl with wa-ter to cover them, adding a bit of salt and oil.Peel and chop tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, onion and garlic. Re-move the seeds of the peppers. Mix all ingredients.In the electric mixer, place the mix-ture of ingredients (in a batch or in several batches), add a little water and grind until you get a cream.
Add the bread with water, vinegar and beat again until everything is thoroughly crushed and emulsified.Add cold water and mix well. Check the point of salt and vinegar.Pass through a food mill, or a Chinese strainer to remove the skin of the pepper. To have them crushed with skin is floating and is very unpleasant to the palate.Add more water if necessary, should be a liquid cream texture. Put it in the fridge until you achieve the de-sired temperature and ready to serve, drizzle with a little oil extra virgin olive, and mix with a wooden spoon.It is served with a garnish of raw cucumber, cut into cubes, squares of bread (toasted or normal), pepper cut into cubes and chopped onion. Each element in a plate separate so that diners can serve your tastes
Table Talk>
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INGREDIENTS
> Chamomile wine bottle> Soda drink (it is preferable to > use one flavored with lima, such as Seven Up or Sprite), > Ice > Mint leaves.> Cubes
PREPARATION
Mixing. In a large glass jar all the ingredients are mixed: the ratio is a part of wine by two of soda. This proportion can go by varying depending on if we like the flavor more or less strong.
Add a large amount of ice. On many occasions it is better to put the ice at the beginning in the jar, before do-ing the mixture. One of the keys of this drink is that it is very refreshing.Mint. With mint leaves, we promote that sweet and smooth taste.Remove. Stir all ingredients well
It is very important to take into account that rebujito always has to be served very cold
LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
Salmorejo
Also add the olive oil, salt and vinegar. Beat for six or seven minutes, until you get a very well locked and homogeneous mass. If necessary, add mineral water or spring-sparingly, until it gets the desired consistency, which is creamy.Try salt and vinegar, rectify if necessary and blend again until it becomes a fine cream.
Note: Salmorejo should refresh and let settle the flavors, so it is necessary to keep it in the refrigerator at least one hour before eating. Serve with cubes of ham and egg hash.
Table Talk>
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PREPARATION
Put the bread to soak in water for a few minutes, until it is soaked. Drain the water with hands and place the bread in the bowl of the mixer.Chop on the tomatoes and add the garlic.
INGREDIENTS
> 1/2 kg of stale bread, without bark> 3/4 kg of ripe, aromatic and peeled tomatoes> 2 dl extra virgin olive oil> 1 clove of garlic> Montilla wine vinegar 50 cl> Salt
SangríaINGREDIENTS
Enough for 4 glasses:> 2/3 L Spanish red wine> 1/3 (over) L of sparkling orange juice> 1 medium size apple> 1 orange>2 tablespoons of sugar
Wash the fruit and cut it in to pieces. To peel the fruit is not, by no means, indispensable – moveorver, you may find that the skin of the orange gives sangría a special taste… The same of the juice applies here: ortho-doxy doesn’t count. If your favorite fruit bite is pear, be it pear; if you are a peach lover, go with peach. Once the fruit is cut, add all of it to the mix of the wine and the juice.
Finally, add the sugar and stir. Refrigerate for two hours. Serve chilled over ice and do not forget to cheer ‘Salud’ while drinking.
PREPARATION
Get a big jar (make sure it has ca-pacity for 1.5 L) and fill it with the wine. Whatever you have heard about this drink, consider that the better the wine, the better the sangria.
Add the juice – if you feel more like having a different taste for your sangria, try different flavors; it doesn’t have to be necessarily orange juice.
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Cultura con Ñ>
Autor: Patricia FerreiraGénero: DramaAño de publicación: 2012País: España
Película ganadora de la Briznaga de Oro del Festial de Cine de Málaga. En “Los niños salvajes” conocemos a Álex, Gabi y Oki, tres adolescentes que viven en una gran ciudad. Son unos desconocidos para sus padres, para sus profesores
y para ellos mismos. ¿Qué pasaría si pudiéramos saber lo que están pensando y lo que querrían hacer? Su aislamiento emocional, llevado al extremo, tendrá consecuencias in-esperadas.
“Els nens salvatges” (Los niños salvajes)
El temblor del héroeDirección:Álvaro PomboAño: 2011País: EspañaPremio Nadal 2012
Román es un profesor universitario jubilado al que in-vade la nostalgia de los días luminosos de la pedagogía en que fascinaba a sus alumnos despertándoles el amor por el saber y ayudándoles a alcanzar una vida más no-ble y más alta.Entre sus antiguos alumnos están Elena y Eugenio, una pareja de médicos con los que ha estable-
cido complejas relaciones en lo intelectual y en lo sentimental.Por otra parte, halagado por el interés hacia su persona que demuestra un joven periodista, Héctor, permite que éste entre en su vida sin sospechar que el pasado torturado del nuevo personaje le atra-pará en una situación en la que es incapaz de tomar decisiones, de comprometerse con
La palabra del mes: “Chiringuito”
Festival de Cine de MálagaEl pasado abril tuvo lugar la decimoquinta edición del Festival de Cine de Málaga. La película “Els nens salvatges” (Los niños salvajes), dirigida por Patricia Ferreira, se alzó no sólo con la Biznaga de Oro al mejor largometraje, y asimismo con los premios al mejor guión, a la mejor actriz de reparto y al mejor actor de reparto.
Imanol Uribe se llevó el premio al mejor director por Miel de naranjas, y el premio al mejor actor, Antonio Dechent por A puerta fría, de Xavi Puebla, película que también consiguió el premio de la crítica. Carmina o revienta, de Paco León, logró el premio del público y Carmina Barrios el premio a la mejor actriz por la misma.
Tal y como dice la Real Academia de la Lengua Española, un chirin-guito es un quiosco o puesto de bebidas al aire libre. Se entiende por chirnguito un pequeño esta-blecimiento, de edificación más o menos provisional, cuyo fin es establecer un negocio, general-
mente dedicado al sector servi-cios, y particularmente a la venta de alimentos y bebidas. Normal-mente están localizados en playas y zonas turísticas. Suelen tener actividad estacional, pero pueden ser también construcciones fijas. Usualmente, la actividad del chir-inguito de zona de playa y turís-tica en general, se ve reducida a la temporada vacacional alta, con-siguiendo grandes beneficios en un corto espacio de tiempo. Tales
beneficios suelen corresponder a unos elevados precios de ventas se deben a la idónea localización del chiringuito.
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LA GACETA. Spanish Chamber of Commerce In Hong Kong
One shot>
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The origin of the fiesta of San Fermín, in Pam-plona (Navarra), goes back to the Middle Ages and is related to three celebrations: religious cer-emonies in honour of San Fermín, trade fairs and bullfights. The Sanfermines reached their peak of popular-ity in the 20th century. The novel “The Sun Also Rises” (“Fiesta”), written by Ernest Hemingway in 1926, attracted people from all over the world to come to the fiesta of Pamplona. The festival is a deeply rooted celebration held annually from 12:00, 6 July, when the opening of the fiesta is marked by setting off the pyro-technic (chupinazo), to midnight 14 July, with the singing of the Pobre de Mí.
San FermínFoto: Elena Fernández