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SwissCham held
its annual fall conference on November 10, 2004 at the
Hotel Sofitel, Zurich. The event brought together 30
members from chambers as far and wide as Peru, Brazil,
Hungary, Turkey, Morocco and a variety of other destinations
for lively discussion and networking.
The Herbsttagung
this year was devoted to "Initiatives". It
focused on recent and planned SwissCham initiatives
aimed at enhancing chambers' opportunities to provide
services to the Swiss and international business communities.
Forms of cooperation between the its members and other
Swiss business promotion instruments were also addressed.
Jürg
Schweri, SwissCham President, who moderated the conference,
opened the proceedings with an overview of the board's
efforts to understand the needs of its members and create
the conditions for them to provide optimal services
both locally and internationally.
In his presentation
Daniel Küng, CEO Osec and ex-officio member of
the SwissCham board, examined areas of cooperation between
Osec and the chambers. This will be developed further
in 2005 with service agreements between Osec and select
chambers, and additional resources for financing and
training. On a related topic, Dr. Urs Leimbacher, Director
of Information and Knowledge Management, informed the
chambers about Osec's "pool of experts".
Specialists from among the chambers' members can make
their services known and available to Swiss SMEs within
this framework.
Jürg
Schweri pointed out that "just as the chambers
can work effectively with Osec and the hubs, so they
can collaborate well with private organisations."
With this in mind Daniel Isler, CEO Fargate AG, presented
his firm's offerings to Swiss SMEs active in global
export. Developing the point further, Mr. Schweri emphasized
SwissCham's intention to strengthen cooperation with
other organisations such as LocationSwitzerland and
the cantonal chambers of commerce.
The networking
and dynamic exchange that typified the SwissCham fall
conference continued the following day at the Forum
of Swiss International Business (Forum der Schweizer
Aussenwirtschaft) that took place on November 11 and
12 at Technopark, Zurich. As a Forum network partner
alongside Osec, SOFI, SIPPO, erg and SIHK, SwissCham
was involved in decisionmaking regarding concept and
program, organisation and other key event-related issues
from the project's inception.
SwissCham
was also a visible presence at the Forum. A number of
chamber representatives attended, and Susan Horváth,
Board Member and Managing Director of the Swiss-Chinese
Chamber of Commerce made a presentation on intercultural
management as a competitive advantage. SwissCham had
a stand where members' documentation was prominently
displayed. This also functioned as a networking point
where SwissCham representatives could inform visitors
about its services and those of its chambers. ds
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| Jürg Schweri, President,
SwissCham, moderates the conference. |
Left to right: Hans Peter
Graf, SwissCubanCham; Dr. Christoph Etter, Latcam;
Hugo Salvisberg, Chambre de Commerce Suisse pour
les pays d'Afrique Centrale and Max Steiner, SEC.
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| Sushil Premchand, Swiss-Indian
Chamber of Commerce (left) and Susan Horváth,
Swiss-Chinese Chamber of Commerce. |
Daniel Küng, CEO,
Osec. |
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| Dr. Urs Leimbacher, Director
of Information and Knowledge Management, Osec. |
Left to right: Gülin
Arican, Swiss Chamber of Commerce in Turkey; Jean-Luc
Peyrot, Swiss Chamber of Commerce in France and
Corinne Schirmer, Swiss Chamber of Commerce in Peru. |
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| Left to right: Alejandro
Campos Fischer, Asociación Económica
Hispano Suiza; Dr. Bertram Schefold, Schweizerische-Deutscher
Wirtschaftsclub e.V. Frankfurt am Main; Christopher
Watts, Osec and Ariane von Wild, Swiss Chamber of
Commerce in France. |
Franz Probst, Swiss-Indian
Chamber of Commerce (left) and Martin Herb, Swiss-Japanese
Chamber of Commerce. |
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| Theodor Häner, Vereinigung
Schweizerischer Unternehmen in Deutschland and Jürg
Schweri, SwissCham. |
Gérard Salzmann,
Chambre de Commerce Suisse au Maroc (left) talks
to Roger Unterberger, SEC. |
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| Csilla Halasz, Swisscham
Hungary (left) and Corinne Schirmer, Swiss Chamber
of Commerce in Peru. |
Paulo von Scala, Swisscam
Brasil. |
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| The Forum der Schweizer
Aussenwirtschaft at Technopark Zurich. |
Susan Horváth makes
a presentation on intercultural management at the
Forum der Schweizer Aussenwirtschaft. |
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| The SwissCham stand at
the Forum der Aussenwirtschaft where members' documentation
was displayed. |
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