5th World Chambers Congress, Istanbul, Turkey
4-6 July 2007
The 5th World Chambers Congress was held in Istanbul . It is being held under the umbrella of the Paris-based ICC on a biennial basis under the theme "Partnership for prosperity and progress." More than 1,600 participants from 118 countries are taking part in the event in which ICC Bahrain is represented by the Chairman of the National Committee of ICC Bahrain Mr. Ebrahim Zainal.
The keynote speaker during the opening session was Turkish Prime Minister Rajab Tayyeb Erdogan, who called on the world to co-operate to confront all acts of terror and not to differentiate between them. In his speech, he highlighted the economic growth made during the past three years in Turkey, which exceeded the annual average of more than 7% per annum. He said Turkish exports have made a growth of more than 24% over the past six months of the year, totaling $ 95 billion last year. He expected Turkey to play an instrumental role in the global and European economy and to attract more foreign direct investments (FDI's) during the next few years, particularly when economic and the private sector have been able to create job opportunities for more than 2.5 job seekers over the past four years.
For his part, Mr. Marcos Walinberg, the Chairman of the ITC and
Chairman of the Swedish Saab Group, talked about the need to make serious
efforts to implement free economy principles which he called for during the Doha
conference. He warned that any setbacks occurring to such principles will have
grave consequences on free economy, and said the private sector does not only
consist of intercontinental and cross border
corporations, but also consists of a group of small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
which more than others need facilities and the removal of barriers and obstacles
to ensure smooth flow of basic materials and commodities and production inputs
in order to enable them to diversify production, enter new markets and improve
the economic standards of developing countries.
The conference is held biennially in one of the capitals of the world. During its working days many topics are discussed, and through the workshops which run in parallel with it issues which are vital for the private sector and for chambers of commerce and industry are highlighted. The conference also invites prominent personalities in economics and policy to address the participants. During this year's event, former US Secretary of State Marilyn Albright addressed the audience and it is also expected that Professor Mohammed Younus, the Nobel Prize laureate and the founder of the Bank of the Poor in Bangladesh will speak at the event.
In this year's conference representatives of national committees
of the International Chamber of Commerce in Arab countries, namely Jordan,
Bahrain, the UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and other
countries are participating. The Arab group held a special meeting with the ITC
Secretary General during which the Arab side called on the General Secretariat
to pay more attention to Arab national committees and to move some of the ITC's
events to the Arab region to give it more profile. The ITC Bahrain Committee
stressed the need to hold a conference and workshop on arbitration during the
month of November under the patronage of H.E. Shaikh Khalifa Bin Ali Al Khalifa,
Minister of Justice. The other members of the Arab side were informed of this
event in Bahrain, and the UAE also advised the group that it will host another
event during the
fourth quarter of this year, dealing with intellectual property rights and
combating the counterfeiting of commodities. On the other hand, the Arab side
agreed to convene the 4th forum of the national committees of the
Arab Chambers of Commerce in the Kingdom of Morocco or in the Arab Republic of
Egypt next February.
The Federation of Arab Chambers of Commerce participated in the event with a large delegation. The Chamber of the Eastern Region participated in a competition to choose the best chamber in attracting members, and the event, like other previous conferences, focuses on competition among chambers and federations of chambers all over the world in providing their different programmes in various fields, such as attracting members and offering programmes to serve small enterprises and the best chamber in establishing relations worldwide. The winners will be chosen during the conference sessions, and their names will be announced on the last day. It should be noted that Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry won one of the prizes in the previous conference held in Durban, South Africa, two years ago.
The conference, which attracts a large number of participants, is held biennially, with the first conference held in Marseilles, France, in 1997. It is expected that the next conference will be held in Kula Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, while Mexico and another Latin American country are competing to host the 7th conference due to be held in the year 2011.
ICC Bahrain was established in Bahrain in 1999. Since then, it has established a number of sub-committees, the most important of which is the banking and financial institutions committee which has played a vital role in discussing and revising the Unified Custom and Practices of Letters of Credit -500 version which are applied to all letters of credit beginning with this year. There is also the arbitration and lawyer' committee which will hold a seminar on commercial arbitration in co-operation with ICC in November 2007