Zaragoza.- The Territorial Trade Directorate of Aragón in Zaragoza hosts from 26 to 28 May the first annual day for the improvement of the competitiveness of the SOIVRE Inspection Service, a professional meeting organized by the General Directorate of Trade Policy and Economic Security of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, which brings together SOIVRE inspection and laboratory managers from all over the national territory.

The SOIVRE Inspection Service plays a key role in protecting the economic and commercial interests of Spain and the European Union, through the commercial quality control of foreign trade goods, organic agricultural products, the safety of industrial products, and hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. The increasing complexity of trade flows and the entry into force of new European regulatory frameworks require increasingly coordinated, homogeneous and efficient action throughout the territory, which gives this meeting particular strategic relevance.

The inaugural day has an institutional welcome by the delegate of the Government of Spain in Aragon, Fernando Beltrán. Julián Conthe Yoldi, General Director of Trade Policy and Economic Security, speaks with a presentation focused on the strategic vision of the SOIVRE Inspection Service, coordination in the field of market surveillance and the future challenges framed in the REVIME-Strategic Plan for the Strengthening of Market Surveillance. The session continues with a networking cocktail and, in the afternoon, with the first internal working meeting of the SOIVRE Inspection Service.

Throughout the three working days, the attendees —about 60 officials of the SOIVRE Inspection Service, heads of laboratories, and territorial and provincial directors of the Territorial Trade Network, coming from all the inspection points of Spain— will share experiences, identify good practices and define common lines of action that contribute to improving the capacity of the Service to respond to current and future challenges. The program seeks to align the strategic vision of SOIVRE with the objectives of the Plan, reinforce the role of the territorial network and laboratories, and advance a culture of continuous improvement oriented to results, productivity and service to the citizen and economic operators.

The choice of Zaragoza as the site of this first edition responds both to its status as a reference logistics node in southern Europe and to the Ministry’s desire to bring the activity of the directorates-general closer to the different territorial directorates. The program also includes a visit to the Aragonese logistics ecosystem, with the participation of the Zaragoza Logistics Platform (PLAZA), the Zaragoza Logistics Center (ZLC), the Zaragoza Maritime Terminal (tmZ) and the Association of Freight Forwarders, International Shippers and Assimilates of Aragon (ATEIA Aragon - OLT), so that the inspectors can know at first hand an environment in which border inspection and international logistics converge with special intensity.

The organization is run by the Territorial Directorate of Trade and ICEX of Aragon, in collaboration with the Sub-Directorate General of Inspection, Certification and Technical Assistance of Foreign Trade.