World Chambers Federation
WCF Vice-Chair joins chamber leaders on CACB Congress panel
“The challenges of entrepreneurial representation in the world” was a central theme of the 21st Congress for the Confederation Commercial and Business Associations of Brazil (CACB), held in Salvador, Bahia, 10-11 August, celebrating 200 years of Brazil's Chamber of Commerce serving their small- and medium-sized business community.
On the panel, Mick Fleming, Vice Chair, ICC World Chambers Federation was joined by other chamber leaders from across the world, including, Kwanele Gumbi, Vice President, Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, South Africa; Julio Alfaro, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of East Timor and Werner Lindig, Director of the Training Development Centers of the Bavarian Employers’ Associations – BFZ – Germany.
Mr Fleming highlighted some important actions of membership based organizations to retain their autonomy, representation and influence at the local, regional and national levels. He also shared key elements for effective management of local chambers, and how they contribute to their community’s economic development. Other topics on the agenda included entrepreneurship, mediation and arbitration, digital certification and electronic transactions.
CACB President, Jose Paulo Dornelles Cairoli CACB said: “Especially now that we are facing a financial crisis, chambers need to be prepared to deal with the challenges that are ahead and need to be equipped with strong strategies and be organized.” He spoke on the need for chambers to increase the cooperation between their institutions, meet and talk about the development and advancement of programmes and services, as well as to combine forces on entrepreneurship and innovation fields seeking improvement of business on our regions.”
He cited their current partnership with an executive from East Timor Chamber of Commerce currently based in CACB learning on the systems they have been using and about other services. This partnership will assist the East Timor Chamber on how they can use examples back in their country. By disseminating know-how CACB are hoping to improve international commerce between the regions and help the development of East Timor.
“I also made the connections I needed to prepare a delegation of members of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives to Brazil in Spring,” Mr Fleming added.
Mr Cairoli concluded that the event’s success was possible thanks to the effort and collaboration of CACB members and partners, as well as institutions such as the International Chamber of Commerce.
The CACB brings together more than 2,400 million members, 27 state federations, and 2,300 chamber and trade associations.
