AT THE MOMENT of writing my Words we acknowledge that this is a stressful and concerning time for many due to the prevailing situation around the infectious virus Corona, covid-19/2019-nCoV. Although it is hard to measure the impact of this pandemic, the experts agree that it is safe to say that the hit to the global health situation and global economy is already severe. We would like to do our very best to support all our members and your business in the best way we can. Unfortunately, this means that we had to decide to cancel some of our events, however, as soon as the situation has stabilized and things are under control again, we hope to have them back on our agenda very soon.
Ranked no. 4 in the world by Forbes’ “Best Countries for Business”, the Netherlands is truly a world-class business destination. The Swedish Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands are excited to operate in this international environment and to help Swedish companies with an interest to expand their business on the Dutch market by connecting them to our existing business networks to help them grow their business. We are also pleased to offer an excellent Mentorship Program for Young Professionals in the NL and a Women Business Leadership Program allowing female leaders to thrive. For 2019, The Swedish Chamber of Commerce is looking back on a very successful year with many highlights, new useful business networks and business opportunities for our members. Moving office to Epicenter Amsterdam and starting a serious collaboration with the Epicenter founders and team has made it possible for the Chamber to realize inspiring and innovative events together. This also made it possible to connect the Epicenter tech community to the Swedish Chamber members for mutual benefits and new collaborations. Our contemporary office space represents the new trend of an open and transparent Chamber where everyone is welcome, and we are happy to connect and help companies in any way we can to grow.
I would like to extend our sincere thanks to Honorary Chairwoman, H.E. Ambassador Annika Markovic and her team for the great collaborations which have made it possible to organize Summits together with an impact on topics such as Circular Economy, Gender balance, and Tech Bridge Sweden – Netherlands – Women in Tech, enabling us to highlight Swedish values and creating new collaborations on different levels from governments to entrepreneurs. Another important and inspiring partnership is the #NordicTalks together with our Nordic Chamber colleagues. This year the #NordicTalks presented a very inspiring AI Summit featuring speakers from Ericsson, Microsoft, Rockstar and many more tech companies on the edge of innovation.
The very good collaboration between Sweden and the Netherlands was this year again visible by an invitation from Prince Daniel of Sweden to Prince Constantijn, TechLeap, to visit Stockholm to find out more about the Swedish Startup and Tech ecosystem and a visit by State Secretary Mona Keizer for the same reason a few months later. The Swedish Chamber is proud that our Startup Summit in May 2018 has continued to inspire and encourage collaborations and knowledge exchange and created new business possibilities for the Startup eco systems in our two countries. Last but not least I would like to thank all our members for the fruitful collaborations, fantastic sponsoring and support which has made it possible for the Swedish Chamber to once again present a fantastic business program with nearly 1400 participants at the different events throughout the year. This year the Swedish Chamber of Commerce is celebrating 60 years anniversary in the Netherlands. Founded in 1960 – by business and for business – we have represented, inspired and promoted our members, extended commercial relations between our countries, and delivered first-class services and events for 60 years! It is through our collective effort that we make the Chamber dynamic and diverse and what makes it possible to connecting Swedish and Dutch companies and to form the ultimate business platform. Sweden and the Netherlands celebrate centuries of friendship and trade, and our business and political spheres are tightly interlinked as a result of it. On November 19, 2020* we are therefore celebrating the Swedish-Dutch 60 year’s Anniversary Summit and Gala Dinner about 21st century innovation and leadership, bringing together business leaders, entrepreneurs, politicians and academics from both Sweden and the Netherlands to address the greater trends facing us, from tech to climate change, the future workforce and global trade.The Anniversary year will be highlighted on November 19, 2020 but throughout the whole year we are underlining the anniversary and the good relations between Sweden and the Netherlands. We cordially thank the exclusive 60th Year Anniversary sponsors for making our Anniversary year possible and we welcome all our members and relations to take part in the celebrations and inspiring programs during the year and to take the opportunity to highlight your company, products and services.
Finally, I would like to share the strong values of IKEA which, in my opinion, resonates very well with the Swedish Chamber of Commerce. The IKEA values are: Togetherness, cost consciousness, renew and improve, give and take responsibility, caring for people and planet, simplicity, different with a meaning.“Most things remain to be done. Glorious future!” — Ingvar KampradYours sincerely, Ehsan Turabaz Chairman
*Due to the Corona Pandemic the Swedish Chamber of Commerce 60th Anniversary Celebration will be postponed until Q1 2021.
