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27.05.2008
ELECTION SPEACH MR. KRITON PHITIDIS
by Mr. Kriton PHITIDIS, IUCAB President:
On the occasion of the 55th Annual Delegates Meeting of IUCAB, Mr. Kriton Phitidis of Cyprus was elected as the new President of IUCAB. Prior to his unanimous election as the successor of Mr. Wolfgang Hinderer, Mr. Phitidis presented his election programme to the Delegates of the National Member Associations of IUCAB published hereunder.
ELECTION SPEACH MR. KRITON PHITIDIS
Professional Background and Motivation
I have served as an elected member of the Cyprus Commercial Representatives Association (CCRA) since 1984 and have been its President since 1999.
Representation of the Commercial Agency Profession at an international level is, in my opinion, essential for many reasons as suggested below.
- In order to serve the interests of the members of national associations, a constant and international profiling, is required to attract the attention of manufacturers, governmental institutions and trade organisations;
- The position of Commercial Agents is a unique one, in the chain of trade and supply. This position and the value of working with Commercial Agents should be promoted internationally by all available means. Only such a highly organised international organisation can give national associations a platform from which to achieve this;
- National Associations have a duty to ensure that the legal interests of their members are safeguarded and protected. Within the European Union this can only be effectively done through an international organisation, which can voice the interests of Commercial Agents to the appropriate European institutions. The European Directive of 1986, is of course a remarkable example of this, but also in more recent years, the IUCAB has shown its effectiveness in successfully lobbying European institutions, ( the exclusion of Commercial Agency relations from restrictive competition law measures and current efforts to ensure that Commercial Agents will not be treated differently with a view to the possible future development of a European Civil Code);
- The IUCAB platform has in many respect, proven to be a very strong voice at times when it really mattered, and it will continue to be so since it combine tremendous forces, knowledge and experience from all over the Western hemisphere. In fact no serious national association of Commercial Agents could seriously consider not becoming part of the IUCAB network. It would not be good for their image.
For the above reasons, I have seen it as imperative to participate in the annual IUCAB Delegates’ Meetings, something I have done for the past 11 years. The Cyprus Association hosted one of these annual gatherings in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1998. During the last two years I have also participated as an Observer at the meetings of the Executive Committee of IUCAB and I was honoured to host one of those meetings two years ago again in Nicosia.
The meetings of the Executive Committees have always been inspiring, although certainly not always easy. There are a great many challenges ahead of us and as many different views on how to take up these challenges. That is part of the deal when being in charge of an umbrella organization, which counts so many associations from different countries, with different cultures and different languages.
It has nevertheless become abundantly clear to me over the years, that all those who actively carry out work for IUCAB, have a very strong, shared feeling that unites them. Commercial Agency is a profession that deserves to be promoted, that one can be proud of, and that must be given opportunities to develop and adapt to the constant change of the requirements, demanded by the global market.
Having built up good and solid relationships with many of the representatives of the different IUCAB Member Associations, I have the strong wish to contribute to the fulfilment of IUCAB’s aims and tasks. I believe that I could achieve this by presiding, guiding and uniting the members of our international organisation of national associations of Commercial Agents.
Vision and Mission for future years
It is my sincere belief that one of the major strengths of IUCAB, lies in its being the only international platform that can and does act as the worldwide voice of Commercial Agents. It is the voice of huge numbers of independent business people, who play a very important role in the chain of the supply of goods and services.
Another major strength lies in the fact that IUCAB has enormous resources of knowledge, experience and creative force through all its’ member associations, that are prepared to share these resources.
The added value of IUCAB Membership is to be found in the above assets, which have already very clearly showed and continue to show, their importance for Commercial Agents in the European Union. I believe that I do not need to elaborate on that, but nevertheless, I would like to stress that all members should be made aware of exactly what the association can provide.
The Directive of 1986 has allowed for the earning of substantive profits amounting to Billions of Euros by European Commercial Agents. The professions’ exclusion in principle of competition law restrictions has given an advantage in many respects over other groups active in the trading of goods. Moreover IUCAB’s presence in Brussels gives it an advantage, whenever initiatives are undertaken by the European institutions, which might affect the profession in any way, be it legally or commercially.
The role of the IUCAB Legal Working Group in this area has been and continues to be of vital importance, and I would like to thank all the legal experts of that working group, for their dedication to the IUCAB cause. We should consider ourselves very fortunate, that we can avail ourselves of the help of highly qualified legal experts from all over Europe and North America.
The way forward in future years is not only to continue IUCAB’s close working relationship with its’ Lobby Organisation EuroCommerce in Brussels, but also to increase its’ presence in that organisation.
IUCAB’s German member CDH, is doing a magnificent job for all the European Associations, by making Mrs. Kerstin Berchem (CDH manager of international affairs) available to represent IUCAB in Euro Commerce/ Brussels, which task she is fulfilling with great success. It would be one of my aims that the CDH and Mrs. Berchem should receive support from other member associations. This could be in the form of one or two more legal experts from other associations joining forces with Mrs. Berchem.
I know that IUCAB Vice President Simonetta Maffizzoli maintains excellent relations through FNAARC with Brussels, and I intend to explore the possibilities of increasing IUCAB’s presence through those channels.
It is of great significance that we concentrate more and more on strengthening the existing ties between the member associations, so that we can learn from one another and share not only opportunities but also concerns. Important steps in this area have been made during recent years under the Presidency of Wolfgang Hinderer.
- A Vision Group has been created, chaired by Vice President Jan Björnum. This group is now in the process of collecting data and information about the national associations and their members. I will stimulate and encourage this process, because I believe that it is crucial for fulfilling the aims IUCAB. We need to have a regularly updated clear picture of the group whose interests we are representing, so that we can establish the points which require initiatives and actions on an international level.
- A Secretarial Working Group has been created, chaired by Vice President Paul Wakeling. The purpose of this Working Group is to get together the Secretaries of the national associations once a year. The national Secretaries have in common that they are all in charge of the day to day execution of the policy determined by the Boards of their respective associations. They can and should make use of the opportunity to learn from their colleagues in other countries and discuss and execute bilateral or multilateral initiatives to the benefit of their membership.
I will encourage and support all such initiatives.
- A lecturers’ program has been set up by Vice President Walter Krammer. The number of IUCAB speakers should increase further and I will ask National Associations to assist with this continuing innovation.
As well as these and other initiatives, I will try to promote a more active participation and involvement by national associations at our annual meetings. The Executive Committee needs a good understanding of wishes and ambitions of the member associations, regarding international cooperation and policy. More opportunities for the exchange of proposals and ideas must be made available for that purpose. I will facilitate this and encourage member associations to contribute in a constructive way, in fulfilment of the IUCAB aims. We should always keep in mind that the Assembly of Delegates is the “parliament” of IUCAB, which bears responsibility for determining and approving IUCAB policy carried out by the Executives.
I would like to pay specific attention to our member from North America, MANA. The relationship with MANA has been intensified during the last nine years, following the inspiring annual Delegates’ Meeting 2000 in Long Beach, California.
George Hayward was elected Vice President of IUCAB in 2001 in Berlin and he has done an outstanding job in many respects. Not only in the field of professionalising, promoting and materializing the concept of excellent education, but also in strengthening the ties between Europe and the US. I consider it of the utmost importance that we maintain and further develop the relations with our friends from North America, who belong to the IUCAB community. My mission is to increase the IUCAB profile towards that part of IUCAB’s membership and to start up talks with Bryan Shirley CPMR and President/CEO of MANA on what we can do in this field and how we should do it in an effective way.
Education is vital for the progress of the Commercial Agents’ profession. National associations are committed to that. Under the firm guidance of IUCAB Vice President George Hayward, IUCAB has found that the CPMR educational course is to be endorsed and strongly recommended by IUCAB member associations for their members.
It is a benefit which I will continue to promote to the best of my abilities to all member associations. We must be realistic in this area and not expect that thousands of European Commercial Agents will be travelling to the US in future years to participate in this internationally oriented course. That should not discourage us, however, for continuing to look for initiatives in this field with the help of our member associations. We know that in the IUCAB community there are many excellent and highly qualified professors/ speakers in the field of education. Our members associations in North America, Germany and France are, I believe, leaders in this field. Might it not be possible to get a number of these educational experts together and organise an educational event every perhaps two years, where members from North America and Europe could participate together? I think that we ought at least to try and do this and will therefore initiate contacts in order to see if this would be a feasible idea.
Profiling the image of IUCAB and the Commercial Agents’ Profession is something which is the core business of IUCAB. Our Secretary General Jaap van Till is fulfilling his role in that area exceptionally well. Year by year, he speaks at well attended conferences of our member associations profiling IUCAB in any language you can imagine. The Secretariat has also set up an excellent website and is publishing articles on the IUCAB News on a constant and regular basis.
For future years we should concentrate on increasing efforts to reach out to national and international organisations of manufacturers.
The initiative undertaken by IUCAB Vice President Walter Krammer to develop an online IUCAB Database of Commercial Agents is also an excellent project for increasing the IUCAB profile. I am happy that Walter Krammer and the managing Director of the CDH Andreas Paffhausen, have decided to join forces in this area and they will receive my strong support in the further development and carrying out of this project, which will of course have to be done in such a way, that the wishes and requirements of all participating associations are accommodated.
The financial position of IUCAB is an issue which deserves our careful attention. The budget is small by all standards and everyone must take this into account when making plans for IUCAB projects and initiatives. We must remain realistic in our ambitions, because otherwise we might become unnecessarily frustrated. If everything works out well with the IUCAB Database project it may generate additional income not only for the national associations, but also for IUCAB directly. It will in any case take some years before we can see whether this project will indeed generate additional income. At present we are fully dependent on the annual contributions received from the member associations and I think that it is not feasible to substantially increase the budget through contribution increases. My mission in this area will be to try and get together experts among our member associations for the purpose of researching realistic options of obtaining additional funding and to report back to the delegates in order to decide how to proceed.
New Members from other parts of the world have always been and will continue to be welcome to join the IUCAB community if they meet with the requirements of the IUCAB Charter. Experience tells us that Europe and North America appear to be the leading regions in the world as far as organised associations of independent Commercial Agents are concerned. In many other parts of the world, the Commercial Agency profession is not so well known and is often mixed up with the profession of employed sales representatives.
My mission in this area is to get reports from our members in Spain and North America, about their possible contacts with Commercial Agents associations in South America and to then see if these contacts could be used for profiling the IUCAB network and eventual new membership.
Conclusion
There are a great many challenges and opportunities ahead of us. Our President Wolfgang Hinderer has played a vital role during the last nine years in steering IUCAB through years of enormous changes in the business environment. His cosmopolitan outlook, broadminded attitude and wide experience, have been an example to all of us and I thank him for that. It would be an honour for me to take up this challenge and to work with the Vice Presidents, who are all in their own way exceptional people.
In close cooperation with them I would like to contribute in my own way to the sound future development of IUCAB along the lines and missions which I have touched upon. IUCAB interests will always prevail.
Should I become President, I would do my best to unite all members and their resources under the IUCAB umbrella, towards our common goal. Sharing all available expertise, knowledge and using the power of large numbers of Commercial Agents should lead us into a future in which the role of the profession of Commercial Agents in international Trade remains of vital importance as it has been in the past.
THANK YOU!
23rd May 2008