1. Meeting Details

British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) was established in 1860 and now sits at the heart of a national network of 56 Accredited Chambers of Commerce, together serving over 100,000 businesses across the UK, who employ over five million people. During the meeting ABBC and the Independent Republic of Armenia was introduced.

Mr. Reyner welcomed the idea to create a British Chamber in Armenia and conveyed his readiness to establish good cooperation with it.

The following proposals were put through:

• In order to facilitate the future contact between our structures, a Point of Contact (POC) should be appointed at the BCC, who will be available to work with ABBC and who will have enough information about Armenia and ABBC, in order to advise the decision makers on the issues related to the latter.
• Once the cooperation kick starts, we shall agree to share information about investment opportunities in the UK and Armenia.
• Taking into account the size and the volume of operations and the limited personnel, it was proposed also to identify a Chamber of Commerce, e.g., London or Birmingham Chamber of Commerce to champion the cooperation with ABBC. Birmingham Chamber of Commerce which is particularly active in international cooperation field.
• It was also proposed to establish direct contact between the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Armenia and the BCC, which ABBC will organize. All the proposals were positively received and commented on.

2. Meeting Details

British Expertise, formerly BCCB, is the leading UK private sector organisation for British companies offering professional services internationally. It introduces members to key British and international contacts, identifies potential partners and clients, and offer market intelligence and training. British Expertise can and does lobby effectively in its members’ interests.

First point to note is that Mr. Peters was well informed about Armenian and the region in general. During this meeting, after sharing of opinions about the recent economic and political developments in the UK and Armenia, we agreed that there is a lot of potential for practical cooperation. As a first step we agreed to provide information about the developments in our respective countries and, in case an interest arises among their members to get acquainted with Armenia’s investment opportunities, ABBC will be the first point contact. In a similar way, ABBC will refer any Armenian businessman wishing to do business in the UK to the British Expertise.

One project that Mr. Peters introduced, was of particular interest: The Central Asia & Transcaucasus Business Interest Group (CATBIG), which is a business forum that meets to provide an opportunity for companies to hear about recent developments (both economic, commercial and political), in the 8 CATBIG countries of: Armenia; Azerbaijan; Georgia; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Tajikistan; Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

In the framework of CATBIG, in the next meeting is envisaged in September and October. Usually the British Ambassadors, together with the representatives of the British Chamber of Commerce of the respective countries, give a talk to about 100 businesses about their experiences and views on the development of the country that they operate in. Mr. Peters will send the details of the next meeting and ways we can partake. This will be a good format and a good opportunity to present ABBC in London.

3. Meeting Details

ABBC short history was introduced and possible cooperation and proposals were discussed. Discussions on Armenia-UK relations were pursued and how the potential of cooperation should be realized. They all shared the view that ABBC should be a practical organization with a clear focus on tangible results. Moreover, ABBC can compensate the absence of the commercial staff in both embassies and provide information to Armenian Embassy to the UK and the British Embassy to Armenia, so that both can rightly present the investment opportunities and the business climate in Armenia. When speaking of attracting investment to Armenia, the provision of small to medium size investment portfolios is extremely important.