From the 11 to the 15 of March of 2008, nine businesses, AFEC and AIR CONDITIONING (Ifema), they have participated as direct exhibitors in Mostra Convegno. Of them, 8 have done it in the modality of Grouped Participation, that is to say in a common stand and another by means of independent stand. In both modalities, there is a subsidy from ICEX, Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade.

The relation of businesses that have participated in this edition, together with AFEC and CLIMATIZACIÓN (Ifema) is: AIRZONE, CASTELLANA DE SUMINISTROS FRIGORÍFICOS, GARCÍA CÁMARA, GER, MEGA HISSOTTO, MONFRI, SISTEVEN, TECNIFAN, TRIAQUA.

This third participation, consecutive to that of the 2006 edition, is a consequence of the decision taken at the time by the majority of the participating companies in previous editions of the fair, once the positive results of the participation in previous years had been confirmed.

The design of the stand was modelled on that of the previous edition, which was generally approved for its luminosity and sense of spaciousness, with some modifications introduced to further enhance the aforementioned features. In any case, the idea of dedicating all the space to the exhibiting companies was maintained, to the detriment of a possible general reception area, maintaining two central areas, as shared warehouses, with direct access from each of the individual spaces of each company.

The adjudication of spaces had been carried out months before by drawing lots in the offices of AFEC, in a meeting, already traditional, in which the different aspects were considered that agrees to analyze in a participation grouped. Among others: selection of the business that should carry out the design and construction of stand, election that fell on the same business that had carried out it in the edition of the year 2006; selection of the business of transport and logistics; needs of podiums; instructions of packing and confection of the packing list; contracting of hostesses/interpreters, etc.

The assembly of the stand was completed on time and without any complications, which allowed to place, the equipment that was going to be exhibited, in their respective podiums, in presence and with the collaboration of the representatives of the exhibiting companies. So in the early afternoon before the opening of the fair everything was finished and ready.

As had already happened at Mostra 06, the design demonstrated its functionality and favoured the relationship and cooperation between the exhibitors.

Among the documentation that the Association must provide to ICEX in order to receive the subsidy corresponding to this activity is a questionnaire that includes the number of visits received, the contacts made, the degree of satisfaction with this participation, the qualification of the fair in its different aspects, the evaluation of the participation in the group, etc., which must be completed by the participating companies.

Although this document has not yet been filled in by the companies and therefore we do not know the details of the above-mentioned data and the definitive opinion of the companies regarding their presence at the fair, the general perception, during the celebration of the event and at its conclusion, was of satisfaction with the quantity and above all with the quality of the visitors.

For AFEC the presence in a manifestation of this type supposes, as in previous occasions, the possibility to maintain encounters with professionals of other associations, with representatives of other fairs, with journalists and institutions of the sector, what redounds in diffusing the international presence, not only of the association but also and by addition of the Spanish sector of the air conditioning.

Airzone, that for reasons of identity or commercial decided to participate with own stand in the Parlor, included in its design the signs of identity, logos of AFEC and of Spain, that permitted to assimilate that individual participation to the collective of the stand of AFEC.

Once finished the contest, AFEC, will present to the ICEX a complete dossier that will include among other documents: the relation of expenses, the original documentation that protects the same, the banking extracts and documents evidences of the payments carried out, the report of execution of the activity, the sworn declaration of helps, and all those other that are preceptive to receive the approval of the audit, as previous step to the reception of the helps compromised previously by the cited Institute.

Subsequently, the originals of the invoices will be sent to Italy, to the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Milan, in order to use their management to request the refund of the VAT paid in advance, when purchasing services in that country.

As a final summary we can say that our presence at the fair has been settled without any incident, and that the participation of Spanish companies has been in principle fruitful at the logical expense of developing the contacts made. In any case, some companies have expressed their interest in participating in the next edition.