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CITC-A-BCC joint annual meeting

The joint CITC-A-BCC annual meeting took place at the chamber premises on 21 January.

John Dunsmure, Managing Director of the British Chambers of Commerce, took the chair as a stand in for Geoff Runcie who arrived later following another meeting in Westminster.
On behalf of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce, Dr Afnan Al Shuaiby, Secretary General & CEO, warmly welcomed everyone to the meeting.
She stressed that the A-BCC sets great value on the close working relationship established over many years with the British Chambers of Commerce.
“In cooperation with its agent chambers around the country, the A-BCC is able to deliver reliable round-the-clock trade services to hundreds of exporters to the Arab world,” she stated.
Dr Afnan said that it was her first opportunity to attend the joint annual meeting since taking up her post at the A-BBC. “I intend to listen closely to all your comments on how the chamber is performing and plan to take account of your suggestions on any improvements we can make to this vital area of our work,” she said. 

She anticipated that more UK companies would be looking to trade with the Arab markets in the current period of global economic uncertainties when growth was slowing down in their traditional markets of Europe and the US.
“The Arab economies are now widely recognised as ranking among the most open in the world and, while they are not unaffected by the global credit crunch, they remain robust and dynamic and are continuing to invest and develop for the future, the Dr Afnan stated.
Companies that already have a presence will reap the benefits when the revival in the economy begins, she stressed.   
“It is our role as a chamber of commerce to assist our member companies to expand and thrive in these challenging global market conditions.” 

She assured her audience that the A-BCC remained fully responsive to the changing needs of its customers and partner organisations and was always looking to develop new services to assist them. “I am confident that together we can meet all the tough challenges that lie ahead.”
Mr Dunsmure thanked Dr Afnan for her valuable comments and went on to describe the present period as one of transition with the reorganisation of the Certification International Trade Committee (CITC).
He stressed the need for the business community to regain confidence and felt that the chambers of commerce had a vital role to play in this regard.
Abdeslam El Idrissi, Director of Trade Services, A-BCC, gave the main presentation in which he set out the current position concerning use of the chamber’s documentation services in the context of the global economic downturn that emerged in the later half of 2008.  
He first of all welcomed the support that the A-BCC had received during the year from the British chambers for the promotion of events like the Expo and the quarterly Export Clubs.
The chambers also performed an important role as partners in the production of the A-BCC Trade Directory.
On the crucial issue of documentation services, Mr El Idrissi stressed the convenience and speed of processing documents by electronic means. This method was especially useful for urgent requirements and its use should be more widely encouraged, he said.
He continued by outlining the trends over the year and noticed that while there had been an increase in UK exports to certain Arab countries, the number of documents used had actually decreased. 
Chambers all have a duty to ensure that customers do not suffer by advising them properly, he stated. 
The potentially disastrous consequences of exporting goods without the appropriate documentation needed to be more clearly explained to customers.

Looking at the prospects for 2009, Mr El Idrissi explained the rationale behind the modest increases in charges and signalled the launch of some new services from the A-BCC.
During the discussion that followed, the A-BCC Secretary General stressed that she was keen to visit local chambers around the UK to strengthen relations and went on to briefly outline future activities that the A-BCC was planning including taking a trade delegation to the Arab region.
The meeting concluded with the presentation by Dr Afnan to Geoff Runcie, who was stepping down, in appreciation of all his work over the years to strengthen BCC-A-BCC relations.