Garrigues plays host to the annual Taxand meeting
Taxand relocated to Madrid to stage its annual meeting. Around 500 people (some 300 taxanders hailing from 50 countries and over 200 clients) gathered together at the Hotel Eurostars to attend a comprehensive program of activities, taking in everything from conferences on current tax trends to face-to-face encounters between tax advisors and delegates from major multinationals. As the host and represented by numerous professionals from the tax department, Garrigues played a leading role over the course of the four-day event.
Taxand relocated to Madrid to stage its annual meeting. Around 500 people (some 300 taxanders hailing from 50 countries and over 200 clients) gathered together at the Hotel Eurostars to attend a comprehensive program of activities, taking in everything from conferences on current tax trends to face-to-face encounters between tax advisors and delegates from major multinationals. As the host and represented by numerous professionals from the tax department, Garrigues played a leading role over the course of the four-day event.
The early risers arrived on Tuesday 24, the first day of the event, to participate in the Next Generation School, an initiative aimed at mentoring and training the professionals who have recently joined the global network in such relevant aspects as client relations. The event continued on Wednesday morning with the meeting of Taxand’s two executive bodies: the Board, made up of ten members (including our senior partner Ricardo Gómez), and the Executive Committee, on which Vicente Bootello and Miguel C. Reis sit on behalf of Spain and Portugal, respectively.
The afternoon saw a series of meetings get underway at which clients, accompanied by their Taxand contact, could raise questions specific to their business with the tax specialists of their choice. Over one hundred meetings were held non-stop. ‘Client Time’ took place on Thursday, when corporate representatives held informal meetings with taxanders from other countries. Over 200 clients were present at the annual meeting, including leading companies such as Nike, Amadeus, Orange-France Telecom, Airbus, Deutsche Bank, Ipsen and Tom Tom.
There was also time set aside for the traditional conferences to analyze topical tax-related aspects of economies the world over. Matters discussed during these sessions included changes in the tax systems, how to manage risk and make the most of the opportunities offered by emerging countries or the future prospects of the most important figures in the tax world. Alongside Ricardo Gómez and Vicente Bootello, tasked with opening the sessions, speakers included the Garrigues partners Gonzalo Gallardo, Luis Guerreiro, Jaime Sol, Ramón López de Haro and Daniel Armesto.
External experts such as Paulo Nuncio, former Garrigues Portugal partner and the current Portuguese Secretary of State for Tax Affairs, also participated in the conference program. The Taxanders’ schedule, already full to busting, was rounded off with various service line meetings.
The four-day program bore witness to Taxand’s potential, with an outstanding present and a more than promising future in the field of international tax services. As Ricardo Gómez told the financial daily Expansión, hosting this event “testifies to Taxand’s growing importance”.