SPAIN - Valencia - SPIA Publications, S. L. 1987

 

http://www.valenciaworld.com

Editor: Patricia Murray

B. Sc. (Communication) Navarre University - Pamplona

M. A. (Communication) Valencia University - Valencia

M. Sc. (Journalism) Columbia University - New York

FOR SALE: plot (for four persons) in the Parque de la Paz Cemetery, in Chiva, Valencia, with perpetual maintenance. The present owner has signed remains over to medical research. Phone: 646.516.274 or spia@spia.com

Alberto Fabra, President of the Valencian Government, accompanied by Lola Johnson, Valencian Government Councillor of Tourism, Culture, and Sports, and Manuel Butler, director general of Turespaña, presided a meeting of the Counsel of Tourism of the Valencian Region, and announced the creation of Technical Commissions to increase the participation of representatives of the tourism sector in the Counsel of Tourism.

There were 5.4 million foreign tourists in the Valencian Region in 2011 and also a rise in the number of Spanish tourists, mainly due to the new High Velocity Train - AVE, that enables people to get from Madrid to Valencia in 90 minutes, and also because of the increase of flights into Valencian airports.

Valencia is the second most popular Spanish destination for foreign tourists after Cataluña, and offers a wide range of cultural events, sports, health and beauty spas, congresses, and camping sites. 

Alberto Fabra, President of the Valencian Government, inaugurated the CEVISAMA Ceramics Trade Fair in Valencia accompanied by Maximo Buch, Valencian Government Councillor of Economy, Industry, and Trade, and Isabel Bonig, Valencian Government Councillor of Infrastructures, Territory, and the Environment (on his left), and Rita Barbera, Mayoress of Valencia, (on his right).

CEVISAMA opened its doors with 780 exhibitors and over 200 articles catalogued as novelty products. The appreciation of the dollar over the Euro drew a group of 250 Arab buyers and distributors to the Fair, from Saudi Arabia, the Arab Emirates, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine, among others.

Morocco, Algeria, and Libya, all doubled the number of buyers compared to previous editions of CEVISAMA, and Joaquin Piñon, chairman of the Spanish Association of Manufacturers of Tiles, Paving, and Ceramic Slabs - ASCER, declared "CEVISAMA is a meeting point to capture potential clients from emerging markets such as the Near East and the Maghreb".

Zorica McCarthy, Australian Ambassador to Spain, was received in Government Palace by Alberto Fabra, President of the Valencian Government (on the left in the above photo) who was accompanied by Maximo Buch, Valencian Government Councillor of Economy, Industry, and Trade.

This is her first visit to Valencia, and Ambassadress McCarthy was here to inaugurate the exposition "Contemporary Indigenous Art in Australia" in the Valencian Institute of Modern Art - IVAM.

(More information on the exposition further down this page).

Senior and Junior Fallas Queens Sandra Muñoz and Rocio Pascual, were among the numerous guests at the inauguration of the exposition "100 Years of Fallas in the Press" organised by the El Corte Ingles Ademuz department store (3rd floor) in Valencia. Also present were Joaquin Beneyto, director of the Ademuz store, Pau Perez, general director of El Corte Ingles Communications, Francisco Lledo, City Hall Counsellor for Fiestas, and the commissioners of the exposition Manolo Sanchis and Ramon Estelles (at the lectern).

The exposition takes the visitor on a journey through one hundred years of the history of Valencia as seen through the stories and articles on Fallas in the written press, with numerous photographs, cartoons, and graphics, and may be visited till the 31st March during opening hours at the store.

Information on other Fallas events programmed by El Corte Ingles is available at http://www.ambitocultural.es

Isabel Bonig, Valencian Government Councillor for Infrastructures, Territory, and Environment (on the right), and Rita Barbera, Mayoress of Valencia, inaugurated a tourist project on the Juan Carlos Royal Marina in Valencia, whereby three cafeterias will be constructed beside the swivel bridge of the Formula 1 Street Circuit.

The project, that will draw people to a fairly unused section of the Marina, has a cost of almost 1.5 million euro and is expected to be completed in three months, although one of the cafeterias is due to open its door sometime in March.

Rafael Aznar, chairman of the Port Authority (behind Councillor Bonig in the photo) and many other tourism agents, were also present.

Sandra Muñoz, the Fallas Queen for this year (photo above), made her first public appearance in the Music Auditorium in Valencia accompanied by Alberto Fabra, President of the Valencian Government (on her left), Rita Barbera, Mayoress of Valencia (on her right), Paula Sanchez de Leon, Spanish Government Governor in Valencia (beside President Fabra), and Mayren Beneyto, City Hall Deputy of Culture, and chairperson of the Music Auditorium of Valencia.

The following day, Junior Fallas Queen. Rocio Pascual, poses upstairs in the Music Auditorium with Mayoress Rita Barbera. Mayren Beneyto, manageress of the Auditorium and Fallas committee executives.

The Fallas Fiestas take place in Valencia starting the 10th March and ending on the night of the 19th March when almost 400 bonfires made with gigantic papier mâché, wood, and cardboard figures, are burned to the ground.

Isabel Bonig, Valencian Government Councillor of Infrastructures, Territory, and Environment, accompanied by Alfredo Castello, Mayor of Sagunto, inaugurated an exhibition related to the Via Augustus laid down by the Romans over 2,000 years ago. The Councillor revealed that the Valencian Government is carrying out research to restore 450 kilometres of history and said that the Via Augustus, one of the great highways of the Roman Empire, is the precursor of the future Mediterranean Corridor, that is part of the European Project FERRMED EU27 CORE NETWORK for 2030.

Projected by the Emperor Augustus, the Via Augustus is 1,500 kilometres - the longest in the Iberian Peninsula, and is the most important Roman element in the Highway Heritage included on the index list of the UNESCO World Heritage. It crossed the Iberian Peninsula from Cadiz up to the Pyrenees, continued on through France as the Via Domitia, and in Italy became the Via Flaminia and the Via Aurelia leading to Rome.

The Valencian Government restoration will also extend to 180 kilometres of the Via Dianium that runs from Albalat de la Ribera to Alicante.

Maximo Buch, the newly appointed Valencian Government Councillor of Economy, Industry, and Trade, receives his portfolio from his predecessor Enrique Verdeguer, who has been named chairman of ADIF by Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy. Councillor Buch has a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, an MBA from the University of Navarra, and has had an extended career in the entrepreneurial world.

Spanish Railways - RENFE, in conjunction with Agence France-Presse, and the COSO Foundation, has organised an exposition of 100 photographs "2011: The World in Images", that will be exhibited over the next 15 days in several of RENFE trains, and viewed by over 200,000 passengers.

The exhibition has been organised to celebrate Journalists' Day on the 24th January, Feast of Saint Francis de Sales, and the following people attended the inauguration; David Williams, director of Agence France-Presse in Spain, Tino Ricote, Communications director of RENFE in Valencia, Vicente Vidal, executive director and director of training of the COSO Foundation, and Jose M. Anchel, communications director of COSO.

The Valencian Region had a stand at the Tourism Trade Fair - FITUR, that takes place in Madrid from the 17th to the 22nd January. and numerous citizens travelled from Valencia to attend the Fair and to celebrate Valencia Day on the 19th, among them Alberto Fabra, President of the Valencian Government who poses in the photograph above with a groups of guests. Also present was Alfonso Rus, chairman of the Valencia County Council who is seen in the photo above left with Isidro Prieto, Tourism Deputy of the Valencia County Council, while in the photo above right, Alfonso Rus and Alberto Fabra are joined by Lola Johnson, Valencian Government Councillor of Tourism, to enjoy a Robot Show. In the photo below, President Fabra, Alfonso Rus, Isidro Prieto, and neighbours from the town of Alboraya in Valencia, raise a toast to the success of the Tourism Trade Fair, with glasses of Horchata - a cold non-alcoholic juice derived from the Tiger Nut grown in the region of Alboraya.

Paula Sanchez de Leon, who was appointed Delegate of the Spanish Government in Valencia at a ministerial meeting last Friday presided over by Mariano Rajoy, chairman of the P.P. (People's Party) in Spain, was sworn in during a ceremony attended by Carlos Osorio, Archbishop of Valencia, Alberto Fabra, President of the Valencian Government, Jose M. Garcia-Margallo, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation, Lieutenant General Camas, and members of the Valencian Government along with Valencian members of the Spanish Senate. Rafael Aznar, chairman of the Port Authority, Jose. V. Morato, chairman of the Valencian Chamber of Commerce, and Alberto Catala, chairman of Valencia Trade Fairs, were among the guests, as well as representatives of the entrepreneurial sector of Valencia.

Alberto Fabra, President of the Valencian Government, escorted Maria J. Catala (till now Mayoress of Torrente), the newly appointed Valencian Government Councillor of Education, Training, and Employment, and Jose Ciscar (formerly Valencian Government Councillor of Education), the newly named Vice-president and Spokesman of the Valencian Government, to be sworn in for their new posts.

The previous vice president was Paula Sanchez de Leon who last Friday was appointed Spanish Government Delegate in the Valencian Region.

Alberto Catala was re-elected chairman of Valencia Trade Fairs for the next four years, at an executive meeting hosted by Rita Barbera, Mayoress of Valencia. Mr. Catala's programme for 2012 includes 12 new trade fairs that will be added to the 90 already existing, and the project is to increase the total number to 120 by the year 2015.

Mr. Catala's programme will also reduce costs as much as possible to overcome the present economic crisis.

Luis Rosado, Valencian Government Councillor of Public Health (third from the left), presented a new programme "Future Clinic" in the Prince Felipe Research Centre in V Valencia, that will enable the 5 million patients in the public health system be diagnosed and treated based on their genome data.

The project will be carried out through the Valencian Government Council of Public Health in conjunction with the Valencian Government Council of Economy, Industry, and Trade, with the object of researching the methods and techniques needed to incorporate to the health system data bank, the patient's genome data in order to apply personalised genome medicine to each patient, taking into account that there are 30,000 variants in the genes of people.

The "Future Clinic" project - that is expected to be up and running in two years, contemplates the creation of the first Strategic Office of Bio-computer Science, as well.

Also attending the presentation were, Rosa Valenzuela, manager of the Research Centre (on Councillor Rosado's left), and Joaquin Dapazo, director of the Computer Service (to her left), while Vicente Felipo, director of the Research Centre is to the right of Councillor Rosado and executives from the Bull company (involved in the project) are on the extreme right and left.

Isabel Bonig, Valencian Government Councillor of Infrastructures, Territory, and the Environment, and Rafael Aznar, Chairman of the Valencia Port Authority (on her right), chaired an assembly to discuss the Ferrmed Great Axis main trunk of the Mediterranean Corridor for Mobility and Transport, to be completed by 2030.

The 4,000 kilometres trunk line will cross eight states, and Valencia will be the hub of the Spanish line with a Valencia-Athlantic Corridor and a Valencia-Cantabria Corridor.

Alberto Fabra, President of the Valencian Government, was guest of honour at the ceremony held by the Valencia County Council to celebrate the 500 anniversary of the General Hospital in Valencia.

Founded in 1482, the General Hospital was amalgamated with several other Valencian hospitals by a decree of King Ferdinand the Catholic in 1512, among them the Hospital of the Innocents founded in 1409 by Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Hospital of Santa Lucia founded in 1310 by Queen Constanza of Suabia, wife of Peter III the Great, the Hospital En Clapers, founded by Bernat des Clapers in 1238, and San Lazaro, founded by King James the Conqueror to heal lepers.

From 1878 it came under the auspices of the Valencia County Council till 2002, when the Valencian Government and the Valencia County Council undertook a Consortium to run the establishment.

During the celebratory ceremony, attended by Rita Barbera, Mayoress of Valencia, Lola Johnson, Valencian Government Councillor of Tourism, and Sports, Rosa Fuster, chairperson of the Valencian College of Surgeons, and other distinguished guests, gold medals were distributed to the chairmen of the Valencian County Council over the last fifty years, ending with Alfonso Rus, the present chairman.

Lola Johnson, Valencian Government Councillor of Tourism, Culture, and Sports, visited an exhibition of church vestments, books, and parchments, restored in 2011 by the Valencian Institute for the Conservation and Restoration of the Cultural Heritage of Valencia, to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of the death of Saint Juan de Ribera, known as The Patriarch.

During her visit to the Royal College of Corpus Christi, also known as La Patriarca because it was founded by Saint Juan de Ribera, Councillor Johnson presided the presentation of a facsimile of a biography of Saint Juan de Ribera, by Father Miguel Navarro, and Juan Tallon, professor of the Cardinal Herrera University - C.E.U. publishers of the book in collaboration with the Valencian Library Saint Michael and the Kings.

		Zorica McCarthy, Australian Ambassador to Spain, accompanied by Consuelo Ciscar, manageress of the Valencian Institute of Modern Art - IVAM, inaugurated an exposition "Contemporary Indigenous Art in Australia" that will hang in the IVAM till the 16th April. Also present at the inauguration were Ian McLean and Erica Izett, curators of the exhibition, and artists Judy Watson and Christian Thompson. The contents of the exhibition are on loan mainly from the private collection of Marc Sordello and Francis Missana and bring together 71 paintings by 58 artists that are part of the Western Desert Movement comprising artists indigenous artists from the communities of the almost desert area of western Australia.
Ningie Nanala Nángala	Jean Lane Yaritji	Further information is available at the website http://www.ivam.es

Juan Calaforra, a twenty-four years old Valencian singer, with an extraordinary voice, and using the stage name Juan Whist, presented his first disc to an audience of over one hundred fans in Las Naves, a Contemporary Creation Space located in Valencia - and sang some of his songs on stage. The disc, with the title Be Tween, was produced by Ximo Gimeno for Enclave Records, and comprises five themes with a fusion of Pop and Soul. The following titles were offered in excellent English (he spent some years in England) but with Juan's personal touch; "Maniac", "Long goodbye", Saint James Infirmary", "Livin' for you", and "Whenever you're ready". Click below to buy the disc: http://www.juanwhist.com

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