New format for Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce’s Annual General Meeting April 27, 2016, at 16:30

Dear Members,

After the same format has been used for our yearly gathering of members at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for a number of years, we are excited to introduce a new format for the 2016 AGM.

At the start of this year’s AGM, we are inviting all members to join a 90-minute forum discussion about how we can all make better use of our chamber to address the most pressing and urgent challenges, our members are facing.

We will divide into groups of 10-12 members where we – facilitated by a moderator – will discuss challenges in various areas such as for example:

– Immigration and visa challenges (To/from Thailand)
– Work permit and other Labour Department challenges
– General HR challenges
– Customs and Revenue Department challenges
– Ownership structure challenges incl. BOI, Foreign Business Licence
– Any other challenges or issues suggested by members

At the end of the forum, we will compile a list of the most pressing challenges facing our members, and this will form the basis of what the incoming board and chamber office should focus the chamber’s activities on, not only for our events and media but in particular our advocacy as a national chamber and as members of Joint Foreign Chambers Commerce in Thailand (JFFCT) and of European Association for Business and Commerce (EABC).

And instead of spending the majority of the AGM proceedings going over the past year’s activities in detail, this year will send out the 2015 report in advance, together with the 2015 financial statement and the proposed budget for 2016.

This will allow members to prepare questions or comments in advance, which can then be discussed after the brief verbal report for the year, which the president must present according to our by-laws.

As usual, we will arrange dinner, but also here we are introducing a number of changes aimed at making the AGM more engaging:

– Dinner will be served after the member forum and before the approval of last year’s balance sheet and the election of the 2016 board.
– Seating will be assigned, so new members will meet existing members, and so key people in the Thai-Danish business community are distributed across all tables.
– Menu selection will be less formal, also to be able to offer at a more competitive price level.

We will contact you soon to ask what challenges, you would like to see discussed at the AGM’s member forum, and you can also send us your suggestion now atcontact@dancham.or.th

In accordance with our by-laws, minimum one-third of our chamber’s 11 board seats are open for new candidates, so please contact our chamber office at:contact@dancham.or.th, if you would like to stand for election and if elected, take a more direct role in making sure your cause is being promoted through our member activities such as our events, our newsletters, our website and, in particular, our advocacy towards Thai and Danish authorities.

The AGM will be held April 27th from 16:30 onwards (venue TBC), and we strongly encourage you to reserve the date already now, so you can join your fellow members in making sure our chamber works on what is important to you.

Best regards,

Thomas Nyborg
– on behalf of your board.