Past Events

On 01 October 2015, the Arab-Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with SGS, organized their seminar “Doing Business with Arab countries: theory and practice” for the 6th successive year.

Indeed, the Arab-Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce is well aware of the fact that to effectively conduct business in the Arab World our business leaders should have an in-depth understanding of the complex realities that lie behind the various changes undergone by the Arab world.

This was done in a most comprehensive way, by giving the floor to experts such as Prof. Dr. Bichara Khader, Director of Institut du Monde Arabe UCL, who provided the participants with an insight on the recent turbulences that occurred in the Arab world, and their relations with Belgium and Europe.

Mrs. Mireille Janssens, Business Development Advisor for Delcredere | Ducroire, presented the Belgian Export Credit Agency ‘“Delcredere | Ducroire” as a supporting body for Belgian and Foreign exporters.

Subsequently, Mr. Dominique Delattre, Director Middle East & Africa at AWEX, presented trade relations between Belgium and Arab countries as well as the various services provided by AWEX to support companies doing business with the Arab world.

After a short break, Mr. Hijazin, Secretary General of the ABLCC, gave the floor to Mr. Luc Jonckers, Business Development Manager atTranscontinental Logistics-T.C.L., talked about T.C.L. day-to-day experience of doing business in the Arab world.

Mr. Holger Vogt, Deputy Head of Region, Central Europe, Business Development at Bahrein Economic Development Board, made an interesting presentation on “Bahrain - the financial services hub in the Gulf”.

Last but not least, before starting a question and answer session, Mr. Joseph Somers, Operation Manager at SGS Belgium, gave an overview of product conformity assessment in Arab countries.

To bring this interesting seminar to an end, the participants were invited to take part to a networking buffet in presence of Arab Economic Attachés.

Based on these testimonies, we can conclude that despite the recent transformations in the Arab world, major opportunities remain.