Minutes of the Annual General Meeting ( AGM ) of the MYAMMAR BUSINESS CHAMBER OF LUXEMBOURG A.s.b.l. ( MBCL ), held on the 26 th November 2014 at the Chamber of Commerce, address 7, rue Alcide de Gasperi, Kirchberg, 2981 Luxembourg at 12.00 p.m. ------------------------------------------------------- PRESENTS: H.E. U Paw LWIN SEIN, Honorary President (HE PLS); Mr. Antonello SENES, President and Board Member (AS); Mr. Jean-Claude VESQUE Vice-President and Board Member (JCV); Mr. Andrea PINNA Vice-President and Board Member (AP); Mrs. Marie Pierre HOMMEZ, Treasurer and Board Member (MPH); Mrs. Valentina BIAGINI, Secretary General and Board Member (VB); Mr. Luca GALLINELLI, Economic Advisor and Board Member (LG); Mrs Visaka KIMARI, Communication Advisor and Board Member (VK); Mrs. Lucia DEL VITA, Board Member (LDV); Mrs. Phyu HNIN WUTYI, Board Member (PHW); Mrs Federica PAZZOLA, (FP); Mr. Daniel SAHR, (DS); Mr. Sudir Kumar KHOLI, Honorary Member (SKK). REPRESENTED: Lorenzo RAFFAGHELLO; Lars GOSLINGS; Arnaud RANZENBERGER; Frank ROLLINGER; Giuseppe RICCIARDI. QUORUM: Chairman of the meeting was appointed AS, with VB acting as secretary. The Chairman reported that a quorum was present, thus valid resolutions could be passed, and that the meeting was properly constituted and could validly deliberate on all matters tabled in the Agenda. AGENDA: 1. Amendments and approval to by-laws and organizational outline activities and fellowships; 2. Report of the Board of Directors on the initiative envisaged or carried forward; 3. Content and timing of external communications, including the creation of a web site; 4. Submission of new members for the Association's admission; 5. Establish projected expenditures and dues structures; 6. Solicit areas of interest, capabilities and identification of short and long terms needs.
The Meeting started at 12:15. AS reads the letter addressed from the Minister of Finance, Mr Pierre Gramegna, to the Presidents and members of the MBCL. Mr Gramegna recalls, in this letter, that in 2012, when he was still Director General of the Chamber of Commerce he head the honor to lead the first mission from Luxembourg to Myanmar. He explained how satisfied he was to see that those seeds we planted a little more then two years ago, have started to grow and are in the process of developing into a fruitful relation between Luxembourg and Myanmar. After that lecture, HE PLS gave a short speech where he congratulated Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, on being elected as the President of the European Commission and noted that this could also help Myanmar and Luxembourg to create a very good joint venture. HE PLS explained how this is exactly the right time for the two Countries to work together under business operational projects (in different area, as the finance). From that point of view the MBCL is the perfect role model to allow this kind of cooperation. HE PLS explained how many companies are now investing in Myanmar, the largest country in Indochina by size, very well located, with 12 billions USD in imports and 13 billions USD in exports to Europe. The main investors in Myanmar at the moment remain Korea, Singapore, UK, China and Japan. RESOLUTIONS 1) Amendments and approval to by-laws and organizational outline activities and fellowships: AS proposes that the role of Honorary President is instituted with publicity in the chamber s bylaw, partially amending Article 16 of the Statute and that Mr U Paw LWIN SEIN is appointed to this role. AS also proposes that the number of board members be raised from a maximum of 7 (seven) members to a maximum of 9 (nine) members and that Mrs Phyu HNIN WUTYI be appointed together with Ms Lucia DEL VITA. Both resolutions were passed and Article 6 and Article 16 were modified accordingly. The new composition of the board of directors and the amendments to the Statute are attached to these minutes. 2) Report of the Board of Directors on the initiative envisaged or carried forward; AS informed the assembly that a short interview was released to the Luxemburger Wort the day before the AGM.
AS synthetized in a speech attached to these minutes the activity report 2013/2014, developed in compliance with the objectives of the association, namely to promote the development of bilateral trade and encourage economic, financial, tax, legal, scientific and cultural relations between the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The principal activities developed during the year are detailed below: November 2013: AS, AP and JCV took part to the EU-MYANMAR Task Force held in Yangon with the aim to lease with the Myanmar European Business Chamber of Commerce; February 2014: the BOD decided to consider three streamlines of activities in order to increase the relationship between the two Countries: I. FINANCE (with the view of setting up a training and educational platform to support the development of Finance industry in Myanmar); II. TOURISM (with the view of setting up a system of fellowships with a Luxembourg hotellerie school and possibility of stages); III. CHARITY (with the appointment of one or two charity activities to follow up with MBCL). More information are detailed in MPH report at page 5 of these minutes. March 2014: the Ambassador of Myanmar accepts title of the Honorary Presidency of the MBCL, which is for the chamber a matter of pride and stimulation of continuing development of the relationship between the two Countries. May-August 2014: Starting to make contacts with entities/people relevant for our projects. October-November 2014: Set-up of the chamber Website. The AGM resolved to approve the activity report 2013-2014. 3) Content and timing of external communications, including the creation of a web site: VB briefly introduced the demo of the website which will be on-line under the MBCL official domain, www.mbcl.lu, during the first week of December 2014. The website has been made by VB following the structure proposed by LDV, including seven chapters with related sub-chapters:. Home The Chamber Business & Finance Events Member Section News Contact VB awaits feedbacks, comments, idea or new inputs in order to grant the ongoing growth of this website.
Additional discussions were held on how the website will allow the Members to easily communicate in the future. HE PLS underlined this point during its final congratulation note. The AGM resolved to approve the launch of the website. 4) Submission of new members for the Association's admission: AS introduced the applicant new members of the Associations and proposed a vote in their favor. The proposed new members were: 1. Valentina BIAGINI, and 2. Phyu HNIN WUTYI. The AGM resolved to accept the two new members and appointed Ms Biagini as Secretary General, after the resignation of AR. 5) Establish projected expenditures and dues structures: AS pointed out that the Association needed to contact people and stakeholders, and to find resources of any kind to make all of the Association s goals possible for the support of the Chamber of Commerce of Luxembourg in Myanmar. The AGM resolved to confirm the objectives of MBCL as the Board has established them in February 2014. 6) Solicit areas of interest, capabilities and identification of short and long terms needs: AS reminded the Association that by the end of 2015 the corporate participation between the two chambers (of Luxembourg and Myanmar) must be granted in order to carry out the training/education projects which represent the first objectives of the MBCL. Miscellaneous: During the discussions, others proposals were made: JCV proposed that DS prepare a list of Luxembourg Companies having an interest on Myanmar that should be contacted. JCV invited the Ambassador of Myanmar in Brussels to assist at the Tourism LUXExpo to see how Myanmar could participate to this event in order to promote its tourism. These ideas, among others, were brought forward in order to bring visibility to the MBCL and to carry out its objectives.
Next steps: Finalize the first version of the website for the second week of December 2014, Responsible: VB/LDV; Initiate contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg about possible training to be supplied to Myanmar students, Responsible: AS/VB; Contact possible counterparties in order to establish partnerships, Responsible: AS/JCV/VB; From 2015, corporate participation with the EU Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar, Responsible: VB/ JCV/DS. MPH gave the members a brief introduction on recent new contacts for a charity project that would include the possibility to send money or food to Myanmar MPH explained that we would need to create a proper ONG, or to do partnerships with one already on place, to allow this kind of project. HE PLS gave a final speech in order to congratulate the new Members of the MBCL and to thank all others for the great efforts made that will allow the relationship of the two countries to became more beneficial. HE PLS reminded the Association that Myanmar is a challenging country in terms of business, but that challenge and opportunities always come together. Myanmar s people are committed to go to a democratic state, but whether the constitutional amendments will be approved or not, the next year will be crucial for the Country, and this is the exact right time to expand relationships with Europe. Mr Sudir Kumar Kohli, President of the Indian Business Chamber in Luxembourg, also congratulated the MBCL on being so proactive in such a short time and offered his help with the website. AS warmly thanked the Members. There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was ended at 13.20 p.m.