Torrevieja’s Councillor for International Residents, Gitte Lund Thomsen, who also holds the competencies within the town hall for EU Relations, held the first of what her department hopes will be the first of many conferences to help boost business in the town.

This week, accompanied by the president of the Association of Small and Medium-sized Merchants (APYMECO), Jorge Almarcha, the first conference, held at the Real Club Náutico de Torrevieja (RCNT), focused on EU grants that small businesses and the self-employed to improve their digital presence, in which you can receive thousands towards new computers, websites, ecommerce, etc.

The day “Europe Opportunity. Financing for companies and the self-employed” involved technical staff from the Generalitat Valenciana to inform about the open subsidies and those planned in the coming months, and from the Alicante Chamber of Commerce, who spoke about Kit Digital, which deals specifically with these technology grants.

Thomsen confirmed that this event is the first of a series that aims to show the opportunities that Europe presents for companies and citizens. “We wanted to start by presenting to the business fabric the work we are doing to bring them closer to the information so that they can benefit from the Next Generation funds. Torrevieja companies can count on economic means to improve their competitiveness by making them more technological and sustainable”, said the councillor, who explained that “after the pandemic, Next Generation funds are an opportunity for European countries. With this economic support, the European Union also intends to change the productive model of our countries, betting on clean energy and digitisation”.

To this end, “Torrevieja City Council has two people who offer specialised advice to companies and freelancers seeking financing from Next Generation funds, which will also support citizens and non-profit entities with any European aid and programme”, she said, whilst referring to the difficulty that companies are having when applying for European aid because new concepts have been introduced and they ask for a lot of documentation. “Hence, it has been decided to open this new service to inform and advise any interested person, company or entity”, she explained.

These two people are located, one in the Local Development Agency (ADL) and the other in the La Mata Town Hall, and provide telephone, face-to-face and online service by appointment at gvanext.torrevieja@torrevieja.eu and by telephone 607 822 878.

It is also planned to launch a newsletter to which any company, person or entity that is interested can subscribe. Likewise, the website also provides a link to the gvanext.com tool where you can search for aid financed with Next Generation funds.