H. E Humaid Ben Salem chaired the meeting which had the full attendance of the Board Members. The Chairman set the scene by outlining that the members of the ICC, the World Business Organisation had faced an unprecedented challenging period for trade and investment across the globe in the current year 2020. He reminded the participants that at times where there is pressure to distance it becomes more important for countries to form closer cooperation for trade and to reach out to our partners who are in most difficulty.

Vincent O’Brien, Director of ICC UAE briefed the Board on a broad range of trade support initiatives implemented for international trade by ICC UAE.   Following the direction of the Chairman, ICC UAE had delivered guidance, technical assistance and organized events in partnership with many other chapters of the International Chamber of Commerce, including:

• ICC Afghanistan
• ICC Bangladesh
• ICC China
• ICC Egypt
• ICC Georgia
• ICC Pakistan

Vincent O’Brien, Director said “The Outreach Initiatives of ICC UAE have been driven by the need to support our trading partners during these difficult times.  ICC UAE has grasped the benefits of digitalisation and virtual communications and not only maintained but increased and enhanced the operations at ICC UAE, especially in the area of trade facilitation”

Hassan Al Hashemi, Secretary General of ICC UAE explained “Our success in applying digital technology to reach out and support our members has been driven by members of ICC UAE and provided us with the global reach to support trading colleagues in all corners of the World”.

ICC, the World Business Organisation, operates in more than 130 countries and in closing H. E Humaid Ben Salem congratulated the ICC UAE Team and shared the news that ICC Chapters in only two countries, ICC Austria and ICC UAE had recently been commended by the Secretary General of ICC World-wide, Mr. John Denton as the two countries that are leading the World in terms of provision of technical assistance across the ICC World-wide Network.

The Chairman, thanked the board for their guidance, support and approval in maintaining the momentum of a very dynamic plan of action by ICC UAE for 2021.