Now another 40 years

High above the roofs of Vienna, in the Sky Lounge on the 12th floor of the Austrian Economic Chamber's headquarters, the Club for Trade Delegates (CdH) celebrated its 40th anniversary together with it's members and representatives of Austria's economic, commercial, and socio-political landscape.

Ron Willis, President of the Club for Trade Delegates, welcomed the more than one hundred guests together with host of the evening, Dr. Christoph Leitl, President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.  Dr Leitl lauded the club's work of the past four decades:"You did a great job, not only to serve Austria! I wish you a successful 5th decade and this house will always be a meeting point for you", Dr. Leitl said.

As the key note speaker of the evening, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ewald Nowotny, Governor of the Österreichische Nationalbank (National Bank of Austria) and a member of the governing council of the European Central Bank, gave his impressions of  recent economic perspectives relating to Austria and the international economy, and referred the CdH as an "extremely important club linking Austria to the world".

Afterwards, Ambassador Dr. Hubert Heiss, Director General for EU Coordination and Global Economic Governance, representing Vice Chancellor Dr. Michael Spindelegger, gave the numerous trade delegates, ambassadors and industry representatives a warm greeting at this exceptional event, chaired by Nikolaus Palffy of Bank Austra UniCredit. Dr. Heiss stated:"I especially appreciate the role the club takes as an active partner, successfully contributing to international partnerships". He mentioned the close relationships between Austria and it's neighbouring countries in CEE and the EU, with the Danube Strategy being a specific example, "which has to be communicated clearly to the next level, to the society now - and meetings like this play an important role to communicate this message".

Dr. Heiss invited all to look back at the last decades during which the club has been active and to reflect on the club's activities , focusing on the close relationship to the business community of Austria and in the final address of the evening, Friedrich Schmidl (Austrian Business Agency), Secretary General of the Club for Trade Delegates, outlined the club and its activities, with fond memories, in a review.

"The membership and participation in the events organized by the CdH has proved to be a wonderful platform for networking not only with Colleagues from other countries, but I also got to know quite a few key players of the Austrian industry and Austrian economic environment as a whole, some of the meetings really opened doors for future business for my country", Ana Isabel Douglas, Embassy of Portugal - Aicep Portugal Global enthused: "The CdH is indeed enrichment for our work. Congratulations to our "Mr. President" Ron, who together with the fantastic supporting team from ABA always managed to offer us exciting visits and perfect organization. PROST and let's keep our Club der Handelsräte alive for another 40 years!"

"During my - up to now - 5 years tour of duty in Austria, the club for trade delegates, through the organization of numerous events, allowed me to become acquainted with excellent colleagues and with very interesting Austrian companies and institutions. I hope the Club will continue in the same way. Congratulations with your 40th anniversary and best wishes for a further successful future", the Belgian trade delegate Guido Scharpe stated.

For 40 years now, members of the CdH have visited many well-known and internationally-active Austrian firms, institutions and universities, and, during this time, the club has continuously served as a contact platform between accredited trade and economic delegates and the Austrian business and political community.

"I would like to mention that the Club of Commercial Attachées is a real usefull institution within the Austrian Business Agency. I myself use the events and comming togethers as an especially useful tool in order to get to know about Austrian infrastructure and Austrian players. In several of my functions it is very important to inform Foreign Trade Councils, Embassies and Organizations as well as Governments, Officials and Medias about this matter to get them know about the very specific role of Austria within the global biz system", said Werner Wiessböck, Austrian-Japanese Association: "I really do hope that the activities of CdH will continue as excellent as before and I am happy to be allowed to stay also in future as a member of it. Thank you very much."

The club is non-profit oriented and is aimed towards extending and strengthening the links between its more than 100 members and the Austrian economic, commercial, and socio-political landscape. Over the last 40 years the club has been active in bringing the complete international trade representation in Austria into contact with the economic and commercial representatives of Austria, as Igor Skocek of the Slovakian Embassy confirmed: "The Club for Trade Delegates was a first association which I connected after my arrival to Vienna. I was surprised how all the meetings and events were good organized and what a good ambience there was!"

Vicky Arguinchona Campo, Spanish Embassy summarized: "The Club der Handelsräte offers an excellent platform to get an insight into the Austrian business world as well as to meet colleagues from other countries to exchange our experience in Austria. The monthly meetings and visits to top Austrian companies are always very professionally organized within a very relaxed atmosphere. I congratulate the Club for its 40th Anniversary and wish many more successful years to come!"

 

Download: President Ron Willis' welcome address

 

The board would like to expres its thanks to the event sponsors MVC Motors and Bank Austria UniCredit