Secretary-General of the BNRSC Invited to Visit Madrid Series II
On May 7, 2019, the Secretary-General of the Belt and Road Service Connections (herein referred to as BNRSC), Jia Hui, met with representatives of the Madrid construction industry, the Madrid Bar Association and the Arbitration Commission, the Spanish Investment Promotion Agency and the Madrid Stock Exchange，respectively，arranged by the Madrid Investment Attraction.
In a meeting with representatives of the Madrid construction industry, the representative of the Madrid City Hall, Mr.David Solla Navarro, warmly welcomed the visit of the Secretary-General Jia Hui and expressed his good desire to cooperate with Chinese enterprises in the dominant industry in Spain, the construction industry. He cited the success of the acquisition of Spanish architectural design firm, Eptisa by JSTI Group Co. Ltd., saying that the Madrid government was willing to support the cooperation between Spanish construction industry and China. Professor Antonio Lorenzo Lara Galera, from the University of Technology, Madrid, presented the advantages of the teaching, R & D, and training of the Madrid Polytechnic University with a long history of more than 200 years in the construction industry，not only in the field of construction project，but also in engineering related business management, law, markets, technical and other aspects of professional personnel training, being willing to cooperate with relevant universities and research institutions in China. Mr. Jorge Perelli, a representative from the Madrid Institute of Architectural Engineers, presented Spain's talent advantage in building engineers, which currently has more than 26,000 construction engineers, 1/3 of whom are in Madrid and about 10% work overseas, particularly in the Latin American region, but relatively few in Asia. He expressed his willingness to work with the Chinese construction industry to develop markets in Latin America and Asia. Mr. David Garcia Núñez, a representative of FCC construction, a leading construction company in Spain, described the achievements of the company in leading European infrastructure in recent decades, including airport construction, the M-30 Highway project, extensively participated in a number of infrastructure projects around the world. Although Spain has a global lead in the construction industry, it is regrettable that the connection with the Chinese construction industry and market is far from enough, and the representatives of the Madrid construction industry who attended meeting have expressed the hope of enhancing cooperation with China through the BNRSC.
Then, the Secretary-General Jia Hui met with representatives of the Madrid Bar Association and the Arbitration Commission. Mr. Jose Maria Alonso Puig, president of the Madrid Bar Association, had a cordial meeting with Mr. Jia. The representative of the Madrid Arbitration Commission introduced the situation of the arbitration industry. Currently, the Arbitration Commission has more than hundreds of arbitrators, which has an independent charter and system, establishing arbitration procedures of fast, medium and slow tracks respectively. In addition, the Spanish Arbitration Club, a national organization, has established links with more than 50 countries to take arbitration as a dispute resolution globally, but has not yet with China. Mr. Jia introduced the operation of the International Commercial Mediation Center for the Belt and Road initiated by Ms. Wang Li, which has established cooperative relations with China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, Beijing Arbitration Commission, Guangzhou Arbitration Commission and Xi ' an Arbitration Commission in China to promote the dispute resolution of "mediation & arbitration". The representative of the Madrid Arbitration Commission was interested and expressed his willingness to establish a cooperative relationship with the International Commercial Mediation Center for the Belt and Road, in particular with regard to investment by Chinese enterprises in the Latin American region and Spain, promoting the use of "mediation & arbitration" to create a dispute resolution center in Madrid.
Subsequently, Alicia Tamames, head of the Asian affairs department of the Spanish General Directorate for Foreign Trade Development and Investment (herein referred to as ICEX), received the Secretary-General Jia Hui. She greeted Mr. Jia with fluent Chinese and introduced the recent investment promotion activities to be held in China by the ICEX. The Spanish market is one of the largest in Europe, establishing a platform for business dealings with the EU in addition to the Mediterranean region, North Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Spain created a good atmosphere in commerce, with high level of hardware and software resources, and focus on technology-centrist production model. Alicia Tamames indicated her wish to strengthen ties with DeHeng Law Offices and the BNRSC in China to promote investment and economic exchanges between the two countries.
Finally, the representative of the Madrid Investment Attraction accompanied the Secretary-General Jia Hui on his visit to Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) of the Madrid Stock Exchange, which established a separate Latin American stock market (herein referred to as LATIBEX). Mr. Jesus Gonzalez Nieto-Marquez, Vice-president and Chief Executive Officer of BME, accompanied the Secretary-General of Jia Hui to visit the Madrid Stock exchange, which had a long history, and briefed him the operation conditions of the Latin American Stock Market. LATIBEX is the only multilateral trading market denominated in euros for shares of listed companies in Latin America, where investors from Europe have the same voting rights and benefits as local investors in Latin America. The LATIBEX listing transaction is mainly subject to three conditions: 1) being listed in a local national stock exchange in Latin America; 2) with a market value of more than 300 million euros; and 3) undertaking to disclose the company's financial information and related circumstances in the same manner and at the same time as the local stock exchange. Mr. Jesus Gonzalez Nieto-Marquez, together with the Secretary-General Jia Hui, explored the feasibility of Chinese institutional investors participating in the two tier market of the BME and the listing of Chinese investment enterprises in Latin America in LATIBEX, and answered the relevant questions in detail. Mr. Jia introduced the advantages of DeHeng Law Offices in the securities and said that the BNRSC is willing to assist the BME in strengthening cooperative links with Chinese institutional investors and stock exchanges.
At this point, the Secretary-General Jia Hui successfully completed his visit to Madrid. This visit is facilitated by Cortizo law firm, a Spanish member of the BNRSC, which is also an authorized representative of the Madrid Investment Attraction in China. Its founding partner, Victor Cortizo and consultant Chen Wenjun actively contributed to the promotion of friendly communication and exchanges between China and Spanish government institutions or enterprises, while at the same time working to assist Chinese enterprises in the implementation of their investments and projects in the city of Madrid, Spain.
