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Kr. Valdemara str. 33
Office 11 (entrance from courtyard)
Phone: +371 67218043
Fax: +371 67218045
info@bccl.lv |
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| February 27 |
| Anita Kalçja at the Corporate Social Responsibility Dinner at La Boheme Restaurant |
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Dear guests of the BCCL,
Members,
Friends,
I would like to confess that I was slightly worried about tonight’s dinner. Firstly, it is our last dinner before the AGM, and hence also my last opportunity to address directly our members before my first year as Chairperson of the BCCL expires. Secondly, the topic for the dinner - Corporate Social Responsibility - is not well understood in Latvia.
But I am glad to see that the membership has responded positively to the proposed topic, and I take it to be a vote of confidence about the Board’s decision regarding the future development of our organization in terms of closer integration not only with business partners in Latvia and the United Kingdom, but also with non-governmental and governmental instutitions. This direction will give our members an added lobbying power in the future as well as a great potential for strengthening the reputation of the BCCL and our member-organizations.
Allow me to say a few words about each of these concerns.
I would like to thank our members for the support that we, the Board and I personally, have received over the last year. And I should be straightforward about the fact that the Board is taking responsibility for its actions. I believe that the members have a right to be informed about the details of the way in which the Board conducted its business last year. In order to ensure the flow of information, the materials for the AGM will be sent out well in advance of the event. For your benefit, these materials will include my address to the members with a vision about the future of the BCCL, as well as relevant data on decision-making and attendance of the current Board members.
We have no reason to underestimate the potential of the BCCL, and we need a Board that is capable to advance the goals of our organization for the benefit of our present and future members. All of our members can stand for election, maybe consider whether you could become more active as a Board member. If you are interested in standing for election, please let me know. I will be more than happy to discuss this further with you.
As for the second concern, it is indeed well known that the nature of Corporate Social Responsibility - a term that has lately become almost commonplace in discussions about the future of European and Latvian business - is somewhat of a mystery for many of our members, including myself. Hence we have invited two experts in the field of CSR (as it is known amongst its devotees). Dr. Atis Zakatistovs is Latvia’s expert for the European Commission, and Mr. Uìis Rotbergs, the Director of Pasaules Dabas Fonds, is amongst the best practitioners of CSR in Latvia. Both of them are known to our members, and I have no hesitation to reveal, that they are also my friends.
So, without further ado, I present to you our speakers. There is one condition though. In order to test their expertise on the topic and in order to earn our attention, I would like to ask them to say “Corporate Social Responsibility” three times in a row before proceeding with their respective speeches.
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