The German Business Association (GBA) in Vietnam celebrates the new year with a brand-new Board of Management. Chairman Thomas Debelic is re-elected for a second term.

The German Business Association (GBA) successfully organized the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday, January 21st with more than 116 members’ participating in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The new GBA Board of Management 2019 with 13 Board Members was elected.

Following the AGM’s result, on Monday, January 28th, the new GBA Board held its first meeting and defined the roles, scopes of competences and responsibilities in order to contribute their best to serve the GBA and its members during their election term. The GBA Board of Management 2019 is defined as follows:

• Chairman: Mr. Thomas N. Debelic – Senior Representative of COMMERZBANK AG Representative Office
• Vice-Chairman in HCMC: Mr. Horst Geicke – Chairman of Deutsches Haus Ho Chi Minh Stadt Limited
• Vice-Chairman in Hanoi: Mr. Torben Minko – Managing Director of B.Braun Vietnam Co., Ltd
• Treasurer: Mr. Erik Petermoeller – CFO of Mercedes-Benz Vietnam Ltd.
• Delegate to EuroCham: Mr. Alexander Götz – General Manager of Fischer ASIA Co., Ltd.
• Board Members in HCMC:
  • Mr. Philip Baumann – Director of Cremer Vietnam Company Limited:
  • Prof. Dr. Tomas Benz – President of Vietnamese-German University
  • Mr. Matthias Ehrtmann – Division Manager Food & Pharma Industry of Rieckermann Vietnam (Machinery & Industrial Solutions)
  • Mr. Tobias M. Gruemmer – Area Head Delivery Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos of Maersk Vietnam Ltd.
  • Mr. Nikolay Kurnosov – General Manager Vietnam & Cambodia of Bosch Rexroth | Branch of Bosch Vietnam Co., Ltd. in HCMC
  • Mr. Marko Walde – Chief Representative of German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam
• Board Members in Hanoi:
  • Ms. Hien Nguyen – Clients & Markets Director of Deloitte Vietnam
  • Dr. Oliver Massmann – Partner – General Director of Duane Morris Vietnam LLC

BeluxCham would like to send a congratulation on GBA’s New board of Management 2019! We hope that we will have many corporations with GBA in the future.

Their Excellencies Mr. Bruno Angelet, EU Ambassador in Vietnam, Mr. Paul Jansen, Ambassador of Belgium to Vietnam and Mr. Vu Anh Quang, Ambassador of Vietnam to Belgium meet some of our corporate members & BVA takes this opportunity to launch itself as official associated member of the Federation of Belgian Chambers of Commerce

At the debut event in Brussels, BVA President Andries Gryffroy said with its new functions, the entity will become a trustworthy partner of institutions and enterprises to develop an international business network and offer useful links for legal, economic and investment information.

Noting the alliance’s focuses in 2019, he said it will continue helping businesses learn about the content, signing and ratification of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Investment Protection Agreement (IPA), along with business and investment opportunities for both sides’ firms. The BVA will also provide language support for Belgian companies that want to invest and do business in Vietnam.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg and head of the Vietnamese Delegation to the EU Vu Anh Quang said after being signed and ratified, the EVFTA and the IPA will open up more chances for Vietnamese businesses to strengthen partnership with those of Belgium and other EU member countries.

Echoing the view, head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam Ambassador Bruno Angelet said 90 percent of transactions between Vietnam and the EU will be exempted from different taxes after 10 years, so there is huge potential for promoting bilateral trade and investment.

Founded in 2011, the BVA has made efforts to strengthen cooperation between Belgium and Vietnam in economic, cultural and social aspects. With its new functions, the alliance is expected to better serve as a bridge linking businesses of Vietnam, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Watch full news video on VTV4 here.

The EU has just launched a new Call for Proposal in promoting sustainable consumption and production (SCP). The title of the call: “SWITCH-Asia and Central Asia II – Promoting Sustainable Consumption and Production”

Website: http://bit.ly/EUSwitchAsia2.  The call will be advertised as soon as possible also at the home page of the programme (www.switch-asia.eu).

SWITCH-Asia and Central Asia Program focus on:

• Many developing countries in Asia and Central Asia find themselves in the midst of a rapid industrial transformation (the fastest growing source of new greenhouse gas emissions in the world)
• Need to decouple economic growth from the environmental degradation and natural resources depletion
• Several countries are among the most vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters
• The focus in Vietnam is on: Agri-food processing; wood processing ; sustainable tourism and waste management

Main objectives of the program:

1. Promote sustainable production (development of less polluting and more resource efficient products, processes and services) and sustainable consumption patterns and behaviours in Asia and Central Asia, through an improved understanding and strengthened cooperation between Europe and Asia/Central Asia, notably by supporting SMEs and MSMEs in adopting SCP practices and getting access to finance, and by mobilizing the private sector, financial intermediaries, retailers, producers and consumer organisations and groups, along with relevant public sector authorities.
2. Create an enabling environment to strengthen the implementation of national SCP policies in target countries and assist stakeholders (government, private sector, citizens, civil society) in harvesting the benefits of Sustainable Consumption and Production.

The priorities of this call for proposals are:

– Priority 1: address sustainable supply chains management with a focus on green trade and on facilitating the integration of MSMEs into supply chains.

– Priority 2: support sustainable consumption and consumer awareness on SCP.

– Priority 3: focus on either large industrial parks and large economic zones or clusters of SMEs in order to produce bankable projects

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 45.700.00 of which:

– Lot 1 Asia: EUR 32,700,000

– Lot 2 Central Asia: EUR 13,000,000

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

– Minimum amount: EUR 1,000,000

– Maximum amount: EUR 3,000,000

The deadline for the submission of concept notes is 28/02/2019 at 12:00 (Brussels date and time).

An information session will be organised next week in Brussels (Thursday 17th January, 09:30-11:30 Brussels time) and it will be accessible via web-streaming at: https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/switch-asia-programme-info-day-17-01.

All questions related to the call should be sent to: EuropeAid-SWITCH-ASIA@ec.europa.eu. Regular FAQ will be published at the webpage of the call.

Download detailed information here.

If you have interest, please contact directly to Mr. Ivo Hooghe at the Belgian Embassy, email: ivo.hooghe@diplobel.fed.be

BeluxCham is honored to have you as our member and looks forward to continue working together with you to make 2019 another successful year. 2018 was the year where some changes started and where we focused more on business-related events where our members could join:

• Belgian Beer Festivals in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh;
• Business-seminars with Solvay Business School;
• Co-hosted events with the other Business Associations in Vietnam (‘Share and learn’ – ‘Business Thursday’ in Hanoi…)
• Business meeting with the Belgian Ambassador
• Meetings with Belgian Federal and Regional ministers.
• Besides that, we also organized our social events like the Belgian networking drinks and supported the Belgian Football Team during the World Cup in Ho Chi Minh (at BELGO) and in Hanoi (different places).

For 2019 BeluxCham is aiming higher more business related events; better contact with and between the Belgian companies based in; or doing business with Vietnam, starting up a discount program for our members.

We could not organize all of this without your support in 2018 for which we are grateful and we would like to continue to have your support in 2019.

What we would offer you when joining BeluxCham:

How to renew your membership in 2019: Downloading Company template or Individual template , fill this form and send the completed file to info@beluxcham.com