SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, March 2. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Chamber of Commerce of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the Cabildo de Tenerife reinforce their collaboration to support the exit of the island’s companies abroad with the launch of eight business programs with a budget of 417,000 euros.
In total, it is planned to support nearly 300 companies, either through their participation in specific training and advice programs, through consulting services or through the organization of trade missions to potential markets.
The CEO of Acción Exterior, Liskel Álvarez, and the vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and president of the Foreign Trade Commission, Arturo Escuder, presented this Wednesday at a press conference the program of actions for 2022, which is aimed at both companies with experience in the international market and those seeking to start their internationalization process.
This year’s budget represents an increase of 52.7 percent compared to 2021 and of the 417,000 euros, the Cabildo de Tenerife will contribute 269,000 euros (65% of the total) and will be divided into two large blocks, the first of co-financing and the second of own programs.
In the co-financing project, the island corporation will contribute almost 64,000 euros.
This amount will allow European funds worth 359,000 euros to reach the island for the internationalization of companies, which means multiplying the investment by 5.6.
Of this amount, 221,500 euros will be direct aid to companies, for their participation in trade missions, in programs to sell more online to other countries or with the tourism competitiveness program.
The second package includes its own programs, which are considered strategic for the island. This section includes ‘Tenerife Licita’ and the Tenerife export training program, which are 100% financed by the Cabildo.
The CEO of Acción Exterior, Liskel Álvarez, explained that “the Cabildo wanted to strengthen its support for companies on the island to promote their departure abroad, and it has gone from 160,000 euros last year to 269,000 euros this year, which represents an increase of 68 percent”.
Among the novelties, he assured that it is planned to launch a basic training program on exports, with which it is intended to help Tenerife companies in the first phases of their internationalization and in which experts will provide personalized consultancy.
“This new project will range from the selection of the country of destination to the location of partners, the resolution of doubts or the necessary documentation for the shipment of a product,” he said.
Liskel Álvarez highlighted that fact sheets and explanatory guides will be prepared on the steps that must be taken in foreign trade.
“The Cabildo de Tenerife manages various lines of support for companies on the island so that they can sell more and better both inside and outside our local market. The promotion of actions that favor and support the exit abroad of our business fabric, made up of mainly by small and medium-sized companies, is one of the priority lines of work of the corporation, which we carry out hand in hand with the Chamber of Commerce”, he pointed out.
COMPREHENSIVE ATTENTION
The vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, Arturo Escuder, and president of the Foreign Trade Commission, highlighted the coherence of this plan, where comprehensive attention is given to the company, since it has the first concerns about going to other countries and needs that someone accompany you during the first months, up to the most advanced and specialized programs such as ‘Tenerife Licita’ or the Tourism Competitiveness program.
Likewise, the Department of Foreign Trade will inform companies of other programs that may be complementary and that benefit companies, such as those offered by the Ministry of Commerce in collaboration with the Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade (ICEX). ) or the Government of the Canary Islands through Proexca.
“We want our companies to obtain the maximum public support and for this reason we are going to help them apply for these grants so that they can obtain the funds they need through our office”, added Escuder.
TRADE MISSIONS
Regarding the trade mission plan, the first destinations in which work is being carried out are Mexico, Peru, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Cape Verde and the United Nations headquarters in New York, so that the bidding companies can meet with the purchasing managers of this international organization.
The volume of purchases of this entity is estimated at 19,000 million dollars a year, with multiple fields of action, which include emergency aid, peace stabilization programs such as MINURSO (in Western Sahara) or carrying out plans for equality between men and women.
On the other hand, the ‘Xpande Digital’ programs, to sell more online, or ‘Tourist Competitiveness’ have already been launched and have open calls, with 10 and 15 places respectively.
BOOST FOR BIDS
As for ‘Tenerife Licita’, this year the emphasis is once again on the competition for bids put out by the United Nations, with a specific training and strategic consultancy programme.
In total, the companies belonging to this consortium are expected to receive more than 400 business offers from any international financial institution, including the European Commission, the World Bank and its regional banks or the United Nations, among others.
This program stands out for its personalized attention, where the company only receives alerts from regions and areas of action that have previously been determined by the company. Likewise, a tender support service is provided where the company is accompanied and supported in all phases of the tender process.
The members of ‘Tenerife Licita’ have the addition of Licired, a platform designed by the Chamber of Commerce to help companies locate partners and organize their references, within the framework of the European Confiafri2 project.
This year there will be new days of business opportunities in African countries and dissemination to promote cooperation between Canarian and African companies.
ANNUAL BALANCE
The year 2021 has closed with a positive result despite the persistence of Covid-19.
Although the execution of many programs was done through telematic means, such as virtual conferences or virtual missions, at the end of the year it was possible to achieve face-to-face with the mission to Portugal that included Madeira and Oporto or the face-to-face conference of opportunities for business with the United Nations.
In total, nearly 800 companies attended one of the conferences on internationalization, 420 business opportunities were sent and 360 Foreign Trade documents were issued, including Certificates of Origin, visas, other certificates and temporary importation of goods, and 85 were resolved. specific queries.
Likewise, the Chamber of Commerce is working on attracting investment to the island, through the ‘Why Tenerife’ project, where an aftercare job was carried out for several foreign firms that have established themselves.
On the other hand, the Chamber of Commerce participated together with the Cabildo in a pilot training program in Africa, which was aimed at Mauritania, with which 38 Mauritanian women were trained and thanks to which five business initiatives were created.
