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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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| March 16 |
| Anita Kaleja at the BCCL Anual General Meeting |
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Dear Members,
Since I was first elected on the Board of the BCCL in 2003 our Chamber has gone through a number of changes. I believe that all of these changes have been for the better and we have become a professional, reputable and noteworthy organisation. I am proud to have had the privilege of being this organisations chairman for the past four years.
Our Burns Night programme was printed as part of our BLT magazine this year to further emphasise our commitment to CSR and by illustrating our and our members good deeds we can show that we are not only talking about this important issue but also putting it into action. In spite of these difficult times we are all experiencing in our businesses I feel that the BCCL has a proven track record and when looking at cost saving, the majority of our members agree to continue their membership payments obviously a well considered investment. As still the largest foreign chamber in Latvia we are pleased that new companies and individuals are approaching us and that our events continue to be sold-out. I believe this proves that the BCCL continues to move in the right direction and is addressing issues of importance to the BCCL membership. As members of the BCCL and especially in these challenging times, I would like to emphasise the importance of continuing with our examples of good business practices, of taking into account the community we are working in and as importantly lets continue assisting one another in our business activities.
Since November of last year a new executive director Natalija Kondratjeva was appointed. She will report on administrative matters, our membership and the events we have had. Ieva Gruziņa, our former executive director worked part-time from November of last year and has now fully handed over the position to Natalija. Ieva Gruziņa has left her position in order to concentrate fully on her PhD but has promised to continue to be a regular guest at our events. When we advertised the position of executive director I was pleased to see the quality of candidates. Natalija withstood vigorous interviewing and testing and we believe we have found the best possible candidate for this challenging job. Ilva Grīnvalde continues to fulfil her tasks as our deputy executive director and did for example do an excellent job with the organising of our trip to the UK last autumn. A big thank-you goes out to Ieva Gruziņa, Ilva Grīnvalde and Natalija Kondratjeva.
This year we have had monthly Board meetings and our sub-committees have met between the main meetings. As the Chairman of the BCCL, I attended not only the Board meetings, but also the sub-committee meetings.
We had seven sub-committees: I chaired the Events Committee but many thanks go out to our office staff for detailed and excellent organisation of these events. We have had wide-ranging events with excellent speakers including the Rt. Hon. Douglas Hurd and the new Mayor of Riga, Nils Ušakovs. Our annual trip to the UK was a particular success as was our trip to Jelgava. We are already planning this years events and please plan to join us for our regional trip to Liepaja this will probably be for two days, but definitely well worthwhile. Our PR partners Hauska will present a short photo-gallery of our events later on. As Ive mentioned before, our events continue to be extremely popular even for our breakfasts we have to look for venues that can host at least 50 people. Our Burns Supper was also fully booked one month prior to the event.
I chaired the Personnel Committee and was assisted by Board member Agita Kalviņa. We were more busy than usual because not only did we need to meet our staff to understand their needs and concerns and voice those of the Board, but also knowing that our executive director Ieva Gruziņa was to leave in the autumn, we organised all work necessary in order to appoint our new executive director and have a smoothly running office in the meantime. I would like to express special thanks to Agita and the company she represents Fontes for her professional involvement in the recruitment process.
The Membership Services Committee was again energetically chaired by Neil Jennings. This committee continues to look for new ways to attract members to our organisation.
The combined CSR/Charity Committee was chaired by Ieva Morica. 2010 is the last year the BCCL is supporting our present charities Dzīvesprieks from Tukums, which works with orphans from social risk groups (www.dzivesprieks.lv) and Cerību spārni (www.ceribusparni.lv) from Sigulda, which supports disabled children and their families. Ieva and I together with our members Hauska visited Dzīvesprieks in May of last year and witnessed the positive impact our funds are having. I have visited Cerību Spārni on a number of occasions. This year the day before our Burns supper, our piper Iain Watson and his wife joined my family at Cerību Spārni and we were honoured to watch their performance of their light theatre. In this context I would like to add that at our annual charity ball Burns Night in January of this year, we raised 10.100LVL for these charities!
The PR committee was chaired by Arnis Marcinkēvičš and more specifically our member Hauska who Arnis has represented. The accomplishments of this committee should be visible to you all by the increasing media coverage received by the BCCL we have been in newspapers, magazines, on national radio shows, breakfast TV and my children and I were even stars of a cookery programme preparing Scottish food and hopefully attracting more attention to our charity Burns Night . Our office continues collecting copies of all articles mentioning the BCCL. Last year I told you we had become a voice to be reckoned with but this year I would like to add that we have also become opinion makers and the media contacts us as they are interested in what the BCCL membership thinks and advises.
The Finance committee was headed by Steve Austwick of KPMG and Steve will be presenting the figures shortly. But I would also like to especially thank Neil Jennings who attended all of the finance committee meetings and actively took part in analysing our figures and suggesting measures to improve efficiency. Our accountant Daiga Valtere of our member company Sia Valteri has continued to provide on-going professional accountancy services.
Vineta Čukste continued to head the Public Affairs Committee. If this committee continues with the new Board, it will have to continue the sometimes difficult task of developing relations with state secretaries and developing platforms for exchanging ideas on topics of corporate and national governance. I would like to mention that last year the BCCL signed a memorandum between Non-governmental Organisations and the Cabinet of Ministers.
I would like to thank our Charge dAffaires Dr. Antony Stokes for opening the AGM this morning and all the staff of the British Embassy for their continued support and active involvement with the BCCL. It is this strong tie between us that also makes us different from many other chambers. The British Embassy is actively involved in the Chamber and our mutual cooperation is no doubt enviable. Last year, our Ambassador Mr. Richard Moon had to return to the UK. We were fortunate that when our Charge dAffaires arrived he invited Ieva Gruziņa and myself for an introductory meeting and made sure that the sound relationship between the Embassy and the Chamber should continue to thrive. Dr. Stokes attended a number of Board meetings and many Chamber events. Over these months we have become friends as well and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Stokes for his contribution to the business community here in Latvia and wish him every success in the future. From April of this year we will welcome our new Ambassador Mr. Andrew Soper.
In spite of our busy schedules the Board has worked well in order to further develop the BCCL. This year we have six positions available on the Board and I am proud to see so many outstanding candidates. New Board members will be elected for a two year term. Our new Board will also be electing a new Chairman this year. The board should not only assist in steering the BCCL and helping our staff, but it should also provide practical help to our office staff and at events. Members are welcome to join committees and help plan and organise events. If your company would like to host an event, if you have expertise to offer please let us know!
After seven years on the Board of the BCCL I shall not be standing for re-election today. Also I would like to thank Ieva Morica, Vineta Čukste, Neil Jennings, Arnis Marcinkēvičs and Steve Austwick for their time and dedication to the BCCL as Board members.
This year is a year of change. The BCCL has a new executive director, the BCCL is about to elect a new Board and Chairman and the British Embassy is looking forward to welcoming their new Ambassador. It is clear that change is inevitable. In order to manage change best, a particular type of mindset is needed. The mind is like a parachute it works best when it is open. Lets embrace the changes ahead of us!
Anita Kaleja
Chairman
BCCL
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