About 280 attend October 28-November 2 annual gathering

The 2006 WTCA General Assembly in Istanbul, hosted by WTC Istanbul, was a resounding success. About 280 delegates, including 70 trade mission delegates and 30 accompanying persons, participated in an active program of presentations, workshops, business meetings and social events. All attendees were also quite impressed with the outstanding facilities and services of WTC Istanbul.

In his progress report to the members, WTCA President Guy Tozzoli announced that the Board had re-elected its current officers for the next two years. They are: Bryan Montgomery, chairman; John Drew, vice chairman; and David Lee, vice chairman.

Mr. Tozzoli also introduced those individuals that had recently been elected and in some cases re-elected to serve four-year terms on the WTCA Board of Directors. They include: John Adeleke, WTC Lagos; Gilberto Bomeny, WTC Sao Paulo; Mark Condon, South Carolina WTC Charleston; John Drew, WTC Boston; Peter Feiner, WTC Basel; Dietmar Goetz, WTC Koeln; Bella Heule, WTC San Diego; Vijay Kalantri,WTC Mumbai; David Hee-Don Lee, WTC Masan; Piero Piccardi, WTC Trieste; Tomio Tsutsumi, WTC Tokyo; and Annie S.C. Wu, WTC Hong Kong.
At its meeting in Istanbul, the Board approved the following cities for WTCA membership.
          Cheongna
          Goa
          Helsinki-Vantaa Airport
          Luxembourg
          Pescara
          Yeosu

The Board also approved the following options for membership.
          Constanta
          Islamabad
          Quanzhou

These and other membership actions approved by the Board bring total WTCA membership to 289 in 85 countries.

One very important outcome of the meetings was the formation by the Board of new WTCA Committee, to be called the Peace Committee. The idea was presented by John Dickson of WTC Kabul after concluding that many parts of the world do no sufficiently understand the important connection between trade and peace. The Board supported the proposal and appointed Mr. Dickson to be the chairman of the new committee.

The 70 trade mission delegates at the General Assembly took part in a busy schedule of business appointments, and all delegates appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the region’s history and culture through an interesting schedule of tours and other events organized by WTC Istanbul.