The Swedish Business Association, SBA, in Jakarta was one of the founding members present when EuroCham, the European Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia, had its signing ceremony on Tuesday 11 May.
EuroCham is likely to bring in all bilateral chambers of commerce as members.
But why a European Chamber?
“The most important reason is that several of the larger companies need a wider platform to work from. Most countries have one big company within one specific industry sector, for example Ericsson, Nokia, Siemens and Alcatel, all from different countries and that makes it difficult for lobbyists. Americans and Japanese are better off in that respect. Furthermore there is a need from the many smaller countries, which today lack a chamber of their own, to get access to assistance, support and networking. The ten new EU nations have speeded up the EuroCham process,” explains Michael Olsson, secretary in SBA.
In what way can Swedish members benefit from EuroCham?
“The real benefit is of course the opportunity to lobby together with industry colleagues for improved legislation, deregulation and so on. It is also a natural step towards a unified Europe. Most business people abroad are not that nationalistic any longer and view matters more in a European context rather than from, for example, a Swedish perspective,” continues Michael Olsson.
It should also be added that Swedish companies now get access to resources that the larger chambers have due to the wider network under EuroCham.
And membership in SBA is enough to get those connections, because SBA is a founding member of EuroCham.
