Anna Cox
THE SOUTH Africa/Israel Chamber of Commerce (SAICC) further cemented trade ties between the two countries at the recent International Conference of the Federation of Israel
Bi-National Chambers of Commerce and Industry held in Tel Aviv.
A total of 28 countries
were represented as well as
42 chambers and 19 foreign ambassadors serving in Israel.
The purpose of the
conference, said Stephen Danziger, chief executive officer of the SAICC, was to get all the chambers with ties to Israel to meet and to form one umbrella body to ensure that better facilities and services could be offered and that direct, face-to-face contact could be made between members.
"It is not that we were not in contact with other countries before. We have been communicating and networking with other countries on our own and making great inroads especially during the past year, but this was just the cherry on the top. We made some excellent contacts at the conference," said Yaron Pilcer, vice chairman of the SAICC.
There are plans to meet every second year and South Africa could be the host country for the 2002 conference, he said.
Another aim was to have a global international website to link all members and
to increase and widen membership.
Since mid-2000, the SAICCÕs networking has proved successful, according to Pilcer.
To date the chamber has put together 240 introductions of business in the local networking division and of this, 150 transactions have taken place totalling a value of over R10 million.
