Entrepreneurs meet Embassies

1. UNITEE EME REPORT 2011-2012
ENTREPRENEURS MEET EMBASSIES
www.unitee.eu

2. EME Portugal &
Italy 10 October
Strengthening Europe’s economy
through Cross-Border Trade
UNITEE has organised a series entrepreneurs and professionals, of
of conferences and high-level business and investment opportunities
networking events aimed at stimulat- in other countries around Europe. Those
ing business and trade opportunities in events serve as forums for diplomats,
Europe. Chief among these has been chambers of commerce and entrepre-
a series of conferences entitled Entre- neurs to exchange ideas on how the
preneurs meet Embassies featuring investment potential of their respective
diplomatic, political and business rep- countries can be maximised through
resentatives from a range of European constructive dialogue and cross-border
countries.The purpose of these confer- collaboration between governments and
ences is to inform our members, innovators.
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3. Our UNITEE EME Events
EME Portugal & Italy 10/10/11 EME Romania & Bulgaria 05/12/11
Our first event focused on Portugal and Italy and fea- Our second event in December was attended by en-
tured trade representatives, diplomats and politicians trepreneurs from Belgium and the Netherlands eager
from those countries to learn about business opportunities in Romania and
Bulgaria
EME Baltic States 31/01/12 EME Poland 18/04/12
The first of our events to take place at the European Our most recent event focused on investment op-
Parliament, this conference was hosted by Estonian portunities in Poland and was hosted by the Polish
MEP Kristiina Ojuland embassy in Belgium
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4. ENTREPRENEURS MEET EMBASSIES: Portugal & Italy
10 October 2011
Mr. Adem KUMCU
On 10 October, European-Turkish entrepreneurs from around Belgium met with diplomatic representa-
tives from Portugal and Italy with the aim of discovering new and innovative ways to promote cross-border
trade in Europe. The event was organised by the European-Turkish Business Confederation (UNITEE)
and Betiad - the Federation of Active Entrepreneurs, and was the first of a number of such meetings involving
embassies and business persons from around Europe.
This conference included speakers such as:
• Mr. Jan Van Fraechen, president of the Belgium-Portuguese Chamber
• Mr. Federico Eichberg, vice-president of Invitália
• Ms. Claire Tillekaerts, General Director of Flanders Investment & Trade (FIT) Also present was a number of
leading figures from the Belgian business community including:
• Mr. Philipe Suinen, chief executive officer of the Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency (AWEX)
• Mr. Jacques Evrard, managing director of Brussels Investment & Export and
• Mr. Jan Sap, managing director of UNIZO
The event was accompanied by a selection of Portuguese and Italian music and an art exhibition by Miro da
Silva. Dr Adem Kumcu, president of UNITEE said: it is my sincere hope that this event will mark the beginning
of constructive dialogue between entrepreneurs, innovators, diplomats and decision makers in turn contribut-
ing to Europe’s economic recovery.
4

5. Dr Adem Kumcu
opens art exhibition
by Miro da Silva
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6. From the left: Pavel Strahilov,
Mugur Popovici, Chantal De
Bleu, Savas Matin and Atalay
Tamer
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7. ENTREPRENEURS MEET EMBASSIES: Romania & Bulgaria
5 December 2011
The second event in this series took place in December 2011. This conferencewas organised by
the UNITEE in association with the Federation of Active Entrepreneurs in Belgium (Betiad) and
the Federation of Young Dutch Entrepreneurs (HOGIAF).
Speakers at the event included:
• Mr Mugur Popovici, minister-counsellor (commercial and economic) at the Embassy of Romania
• Mr Atalay Tamer, president of the Romanian-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Mr Pavel Strahilov third secretary, commercial affairs, Bulgarian embassy in Belgium and
Luxembourg
• Ms Chantal De Bleu, deputy general manager, Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency
• Ms Rovana Plumb MEP, a member of the delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary
Committee
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8. ENTREPRENEURS MEET EMBASSIES:
31 January 2012
The Baltic States
On Tuesday 31 January, European-Turkish entrepreneurs from Belgium and the Netherlands met with
diplomatic and business representatives from the Baltic States – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. This
event was the third of the series and was the first one that took place in the European Parliament. The
host was Ms Kristiina Ojuland, a Member of the European Parliament for Estonia.
The participants were addressed by a number of high-profile speakers including:
• Ms. Lelde Līce – Līcīte, Latvian Ambassador to Belgium,
• Ms. Tuuli Parnsalu, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim at the Estonian Embassy in Belgium
• Mr. Tomas Vasilevskis, Head of the Lithuanian Business representation in Belgium
• Ms. Sandra Kalniete, a Member of the European Parliament for Latvia
The Secretary-General of UNITEE, Mr Savas Metin said: the ‘‘New European business community in Belgium
and in Europe at large is young, flexible and eager to embrace education and new skills. Considering the
changing nature of demographics in Europe, New-European entrepreneurs will play a key role in ensuring our
future prosperity’’.
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9. Adem Kumcu with
the Polish ambassador
Mr Artur Harazim
ENTREPRENEURS MEET EMBASSIES:
18 April 2012
Poland
UNITEE in collaboration with the Embassy of Poland organised the fourth event of our series entitled
Entrepreneurs meet Embassies on Wednesday 18th April. The event took place at the Embassy of
Republic of Poland in Brussels and was hosted by HE Ambassador Artur Harazim. The debate was
chaired by Mr Bartłomiej Lewandowski, First Secretary of the Trade and Investment Promotion Section.
Participants heard from very important and influential speakers such as:
• Mr Marek Korowajczyk, Deputy Director of Department of Promotion and Bilateral Cooperation at the
Ministry of Economy
• Mr Jean-Marie De Baerdemaeker, Managing Director at BEPOLUX
• Professor Krzysztof Rybiński, Rector of the Vistula University
• Mr Mehmet Orhun Eskici, Executive Board Member at Akfel Group
In his welcome speech, Ambassador Harazim emphasised the importance of the close cooperation between
Poland and Turkey in the economic and political realms. Dr Adem Kumcu promised that playing the role of
intermediary, UNITEE will aid and advise entrepreneurs, in finding new business opportunities and engaging
with the key players in the Polish market.
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10. IN THE FUTURE:
More Entrepreneurs Meet Embassies
and Trade Missions
In the future UNITEE will con- experience the country first hand. They
tinue its effort to promote cross- will witness with their own eyes the busi-
border trade by delivering top quality ness environment, they will meet their
programmes in collaboration with Eu- counterparts in their respective sectors,
ropean countries and their Embassies. decision-makers and other stakeholders
And we will not stop there! In order to and they will have an opportunity to net-
deepen business relations and expand work and build business relations. As dr
knowledge of international trade and in- Adem Kumcu, the President of UNITEE,
vestment opportunities in Europe’s un- said: ‘‘At UNITEE, we will continue to
familiar markets, UNITEE will organise take concrete steps to develop business
trade missions to those countries. Dur- relations between our entrepreneurs
ing these visits missions ambitious en- and those (…) all over Europe’’.
trepreneurs and business professionals
will have a chance to
Ambassador Lelde Lice-Licite visits UNITEE’s
offices in Brussels to discuss a trade mission to Latvia
TO BE CONTINUED…
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11. Our European Network
Poland
Austria Germany Portugal
Belgium Ireland Slovenia
Czech Republic Italy Spain
Denmark Latvia Sweden
Estonia Lithuania Switzerland
Finland Luxembourg The Netherlands
France Norway UK
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12. European-Turkish Business Confederation
UNITEE EVENT
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