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ECONOMIC CHAMBER OF MACEDONIA

bsi. ISO years
9001
Quality 1922 - 2016
Management

СТОПАНСКА КОМОРА НА МАКЕДОНИЈАFS549642

Osnovana 1922

ECONOMIC CHAMBER OF MACEDONIA

Founded 1922

European Integration, Democratization, and

Modernization of Economies Central Topics at

EUROCHAMBRES’ Session in Brussels

EUROCHAMBRES Representatives of commercial
chambers of countries that are in
Europe, but are not EU member
states held a plenary session within
Eurochambres on 9 September 2016.
The session was focused on European
integration, democratic processes and
modernization of economies. More
than 30 representatives of chambers
of commerce from Europe and the
EU attended the session, as well as
businesspeople.

Mr. Rifat Hisarciklioglu, President of
the Union of Chambers and Commodity
Exchanges of Turkey opened the official
part of the event. Mr. Hisarciklioglu gave a brief overview of Eurochambres’ history and the significance of
this organization in the development of national economies.

The CEO of Eurochambres, Mr. Arnaldo Abruzzini, underlined the role of European chambers of commerce
in terms of the efforts they make to improve the business climate on international markets and the support
they provide to companies from Europe and from the world.

Mr. Günter Verheugen, former Vice-President of the European Commission, also addressed the event.
According to Mr. Verheugen, it is extremely important that all countries stay on the road to becoming EU
members, as the benefits they will gain from being part of this community have positive long-term effects on
businesses.

Mr. Dirk Vantyghem, Director of Operations at Eurochambres, also delivered a presentation on
Eurochambres’ international activities on how to access new markets, and support companies’ development
and investments.

Eurochambrеs is an international organization established in 1958, right after the establishment of the
European Economic Community. Eurochambres represents over 20 million businesses in Europe, has
more than 45 members of which 43 are national chambers of commerce and 2 are transnational chamber
organizations, in addition to a European network of 1700 regional and local chambers. More than 93 % of the
businesses are SMEs. Eurochambres aims at improving the general conditions for doing business, increase
market accessibility in the EU and outside its borders, provide human, financial and natural resources, and
improve the overall wellbeing.

The session’s final observations provided a detailed list of challenges faced by every country in the process of
implementing EU standards, doing business and internationalization of economies. A special emphasis was
placed on education and HR development in each economy, as the overall increase of value added depended
on each country’s quality workforce.

Boris Trimcev M.Econ.

84 October 2016