The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce seeks to conclude formal agreements with chambers in Barcelona and Nice in the first quarter of 1994, and then with the Bangkok Chamber of Commerce later in the year, according to Pepe Cummings, vice president of the Chamber’s International Department.
Mr. Cummings said that the Chamber also hoped to formalize its ties with the Confederation of Industry Associations of Mexico once U.S.-Mexican economic relations were more in focus. “With passage of NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), there has been so much going on there and so many issues to address this doesn’t seem a top priority right now,” he added.
The Atlanta Chamber is beginning 1994 with a new strategic business initiative that will consolidate its ties with selected other business organizations around the world.
The Chamber has established formal agreements, already ratified by its Board of Directors, with the Fukuoka (Japan) Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Georgia, and the Taipei Chamber of Commerce.
Informal ties also have been developed with the chamber in Manchester (UK), the Confederation of British Industry, chambers in Tokyo and Yokohama, the chamber in Stuttgard, the chambers in Toulouse and Bordeaux, the Danish Chamber of Commerce and the Milan Chamber of Commerce, among others.
Mr. Cummings said that he felt the Barcelona and Nice relationships would be the first to be formally approved this year because the formal language of the necessary documents had been discussed already.
Each strategic alliance will provide for: the identification of a contact person at the partner organization; the exchange of business information; the facilitation of business development; educational, cultural and governmental exchanges; and the mutual agreement to these ends by the parties involved.
For more information concerning the new alliances, Mr. Cummings may be reached by telephone at (404) 880-9000, or by fax at (404) 586-8464.