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2005
was a year marked by an economic growth and by the passage and enforcement
of a set of legal instruments, variables that had a direct impact
on business activity, and therefore, on VenAmCham.
This environment benefited the Chamber's internal well-being, an
internal growth, the consolidation of programs and the strengthening
of its internal organization.
The
economic and business variables prompted VenAmCham
to develop a series of activities in order to provide the local
business sector with tools and knowledge so that it fares better
in the economic and legal environment of the country. Therefore,
events related to the "credit democratization," Law on Illicit Exchange,
Lopcymat, among other topics of great interest, were hosted nationwide,
without omitting, of course, the events expected by the business
sector as a whole: the economic and social perspectives.
Just
like every year, the results of the survey carried out during the
event on Economic Perspectives arise great interest, especially
in a year in which the recuperation of the Venezuelan economy was
expected (which indeed happened) to continue. However, for the 221
businesspeople surveyed, the political uncertainty and the legal
insecurity were the factors of greatest concern, and the FTAA negotiations
the FTA with U.S. were priority issues for Venezuela's political
agenda.
Internally,
the committees reflected their members' interest in the legal environment
that directly influences the activities of the companies they represented,
and at the same time they continued to reinforce their activities
on issues of interest for all the affiliate members.
In
order to put together and to process all the information generated
in VenAmCham,
the Direction of Analysis and Information was created, as part of
the strengthening process of its internal structure that started
in 2005. The committees work hard with the Direction and thanks
to the wealth of information they produce, the recently created
Direction began to release not only economic but also legal information,
which is an aggregated value for all of our affiliate members.
Also, during the same year and under the coordination of this Direction,
VenAmCham
worked together with Latin American Industrial Association (AILA),
the Venezuelan Confederation of Industrialists (Conindustria) and
the Andean Corporation of Development (CAF) in order to carry out
a study and define the strategy Venezuela should follow to assess
the impact the FTA between several countries of the Andean Community
with the United States would have on the local productive sector
as well as on our regional relations. The study covered four sectors:
industry, trade, services and the agricultural sector. We will continue
to work on this project in 2006.
Social
Alliance, headed by Edward Jardine and Margarita Méndez, continued
to expand nationwide and, like in previous years, we have witnessed
not only businesses' interest in their communities but also continued
to inform about projects of great relevance undertaken by Social
Alliance Committee's member companies in sectors such as education,
health, among others, during this year. But above all, it is important
to highlight the number of workshops that were hosted in order to
provide NGOs and people in charge of CSR in the companies with tools
that help them get the most of their social investment. It is important
to stress the visit, once again, of the prestigious Spanish philosopher,
Fernando Savater.
Backing
every effort to promote investment relations between Venezuela and
the United States, VenAmCham
created, with the support of its Media Committee and the coordination
of the Media and Communications Direction, the Frank Amador Award
for journalism on Binational Economic Relations. It is the first
award the Chamber grants on this subject, but I would dare say that,
nationwide, few initiatives recognize the work of the journalists
specialized in economic issues in Venezuela. That is why, we promoted
this project and we named it after Frank Amador as a tribute to
the former Executive Director of the Chamber and a pioneer in fostering
relations between the United States and Latin America. This year,
four journalists were recognized: Katiuska Hernández (El Nacional),
Eduardo Cámel (El Universal), Javier Marín (Venevisión) and Ginette
González (Unión Radio/CMT). We expect to include journalists from
regional media in 2006.
We
also have to stress the creation of the Library & CyberCenter, conceived
by InfoCenter, which is a large book and electronic collection provided
for by the most prestigious multilateral organizations and both
public and private institutions.
Also,
the economic and business activity was marked by Venezuelan businesspeople's
growing interest in extending operations in the United States. It
is important to stress, above all, the interest in establishing
in the state of Florida and, thanks to our alliance with Enterprise
Florida, represented in Venezuela by VenAmCham's
InfoCenter, 4 Venezuelan companies established in the U.S.
In
2005 we did a study on the internal environment of the organization,
which had interesting results, and we did another one on the external
environment, in other words, on membership and how VenAmCham
is evaluated. The results of these studies are being taken into
account for strategies of change and reorganization of the Chamber.
It
is important to highlight the fact that VenAmCham's
number of affiliate members continued to increase and by the end
of 2005 the Chamber included 1,089 companies. Also, the Chamber
helped in the application of a total of 3,290 American visas.
Last but not least, VenAmCham
was involved in a great deal of activities in order to offer better
benefits to our affiliate companies. But one of the strengths of
this year has been its nationwide consolidation as an organization
that promotes economic relations between Venezuela and the United
States. VenAmCham
is present in the key regions of the country's economic development:
Maracaibo, Valencia, Barquisimeto, Maturín, Margaria Island and
in Puerto La Cruz since 2005. The latter is a city of great commercial
relevance where tourism, oil and energy services such as electricity
and gas exploitation are the main sectors and where many of our
affiliate companies have already invested or plan on investing.
That is why VenAmCham
opened a third office in the eastern part of the country, which
started off with 40 affiliate companies.
With
the sole intention of continuing to promote and improve trade and
investment between the United States and Venezuela, VenAmCham
applied during 2005 a work strategy comprised of three action areas:
promoting trade exchange and investments with the United States,
promoting the economic freedom system and supporting and protecting
the general and legitimate interests of its members, which gave
excellent resultsapplied during 2005 a work strategy comprised of
three action areas: promoting trade exchange and investments with
the United States, promoting the economic freedom system and supporting
and protecting the general and legitimate interests of its members,
which gave excellent results.
When
comparing the results of the trade exchange between Venezuela and
the United States for this year with what is happening on matters
of trade negotiations that exclude agreements with the United States,
the commitment is even stronger with the possible signing of the
free trade zone agreement between the United States and the Andean
countries, in which Venezuela is not participating. This will affect
the inter-Andean trade, particularly with Colombia, as well as the
trade relation Venezuela-US. To this we add the possible challenges
that the trade with MERCOSUR can generate.
During this period (2004-2005), VenAmCham
promoted the pluralistic debate with all the sectors, reiterating
that "competition and economic opening have shown to be the way
to achieve economic wellbeing and progress."
Imelda
Cisneros
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