14,000 Chambers strong

President of the Balikesir Chamber of Industry, a Member of the Executive Board of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), President of the ICC Turkey, ex-President of the Union of Chambers of Turkey, Rona Yircali is a leading personality in the Chamber world. At the age of 64, the Chair of the World Chambers Federation (WCF)
has been head of the largest network of Chambers of Commerce in the world (14,000 members) since 2006. On the menu of this 6th edition of the World Chambers Congress, of which Commerce International was a media partner: sustainable growth and change. Whilst the Chambers of Commerce movement is consolidating, the WCF sets out to perfect its organisation, notably by appointing deputy vice-presidents in global regions.

Commerce International: The 6th edition of the World Chambers Congress that you organised drew around 1,000 people from Chambers of Commerce worldwide, to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. How do you explain the per-petual success of Congresses run by the World Chambers Federation?
Rona Yircali: “First of all, let’s recall that the World Chambers Federation (WCF) is
a movement of Chambers of Commerce parallel to the world of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). As you know, the ICC is more generally organised via national committees, such as the ICC France, the ICC Turkey or the ICC Italy. I believe that the Chambers of Commerce movement is in the midst of becoming more significant throughout the world. Not only due to the economic difficulties that we are encountering today, but also generally because Chambers of Commerce are not the representatives of large national or international companies in each country, but more
importantly, they represent small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). In all countries, developed or developing, in the West or in the East, wherever you may look, 90 % of the time, companies are SMEs. SMEs are, moreover, essential, as they are excellent vehicles for wealth distribution. As majority actors, they represent a massive political force apt to diffuse wealth to many people. Chambers of Commerce represent these forces.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that SMEs remain economically fragile, and fragile in terms of financing. They cannot commit to an adequate level of research and development, and they cannot open up easily to international markets. Small and medium-sized companies thus expect much from Chambers of Commerce to help them in these tasks, and even more so in these economically difficult times. To go back to the Congress, we hold this type of event every two years, and this is the 6th edition. Previously, it has been held in Istanbul, Durban, Canada, Seoul and the very first one was in Marseilles. The next Congress will take place in Mexico, and cities in the Middle East wishing to host the Congress are contacting us already. In 2015, we will return to Europe where five cities are candidates. As for the 2017 edition, it will take place once again in Asia, where Beijing, Sydney and Osaka aspire to host the event. I am telling you all this to show the extent to which the dynamism of this Congress benefits from the fact that the Chambers of Commerce movement throughout the world is becoming more and more prominent. During this Kuala Lumpur edition, we received over one thousand delegates representing 70 Chambers from some one hundred countries. It is a real success to bring together all these leaders in economic life, for if you consider the distances that have to be covered to get to Malaysia, the economic situation, as well as the H1N1 flu epidemic, the current situation is not conducive to travelling. Finally, it should be said that during these Congresses, we seek to cover several themes. Some are directly business-oriented, others touch on more global issues, such as climate change. We also study different topics, such as the work of Chambers of Commerce in port zones, good governance, intellectual property or the role of women in business. We also run the World Chambers Competition which kicked off in 2003, and which recognises the work of CCIs in four categories. For this edition, we short-listed 43 Chamber projects, out of 90 candid-ates. This is very important, as it shows how Chambers share ideas and drive one another, on common topics throughout the world. It is a very popular event that contributes to the dynamism of the Chamber movement.”

For several years now, the World Chambers Federation has, like the Congress and the Chambers of Commerce movement, experienced considerable growth. In statutory terms, isn’t it time for the WCF to become independent with respect to the ICC?
R.Y.: “I don’t think so. The WCF is the organisation that represents the Chambers movement within the ICC. WCF members come from 144 countries, encompassing 14,000 Chambers of Commerce. Of course, when I took up my functions, not everything was organised. What I mean is that the Chambers of Commerce were not really grouped together and identified amongst other ICC members. But for two years now, our statuses have evolved. Next year, for example, the WCF is going to hold elections for the first time, as we have not had any elected representatives until now. This remains very difficult to organise as our network far exceeds the size of other trans-national networks, such as Euro-chambres, the Association of European Chambers of Commerce, and we must involve 144 countries from all continents at all levels of management, financing, etc. We are moreover going to increase the number of vice-presidents, and each of these will be in charge of a region of the globe. Indeed, it seems important for us to work on regional issues and we are going to organise regional gatherings between each World Congress, and thus increase interest in local Chambers. We are also more involved with all trans-national Chamber networks, such as Eurochambres, Islamic Chambers and Mediterranean Chambers (ASCAME). All this is in the process of being constructed and to get there, the fact of working in an international organisation such as the ICC is of great aid to us, for the International Chamber of Commerce has the necessary structure at its disposal. The ICC has been working throughout the world for 90 years this year, and I am myself one of the founders of the ICC Turkey; I believe that national ICC committees that work in each country gain from very close and sometimes historic links with local Chambers. Of course, there are exceptions, such as in France, where the ICC France and the French network of CCIs work very little together; in Germany, there are also differences, as well as in certain Northern European countries. But generally, national committees of ICCs and Chambers of Commerce provide close support for one another. Our role is to involve Chambers of Commerce even more in the international dynamism created by the ICC. Moreover, today, we have four WCF members representing our organisation who are permanently seated at the ICC Board of Directors. This was not the case previously, and it is an indication that Chambers are increasingly recognised in the ICC and are more involved in decision-making. As a result, I do not think it would be judicious for the WCF to become independent now. You know, I am also President of a Chamber of Commerce in Turkey, I was President of the Union of Chambers in my country, I am also Member of the Board of Directors of the ICC, so I am well placed to know that all these organisations work together and should work together.”

Two private meetings took place on the fringe of the Kuala Lumpur Congress. The first assembled trans-national Chambers of Commerce networks and the other, representatives of G20 Chambers. What are the differences between these meetings?
R.Y.: “I am glad that you asked this question as these are primordial initiatives for us. Firstly, we have been organising the meeting of trans-national networks of Chambers for 5 or 6 years, for the ICC and the WCF are global organisations, but as I said previously, we consider that regional issues are very important and wish to deal with them together, along with the trans-national Chambers, like Eurochambres for Europe or ASCAME for the Mediterranean region. This was, first of all, a matter of gathering everyone around a table, and then explaining to them that we do not wish to compete against them, but rather work as closely as possible with them, and offer useful exchanges. If they support us, then we’ll support them. As for the meeting of G20 Chambers, this, in my opinion, is even more important. As you know, the G20 movement is very new as an extension of the G8, for it is now written into the world agenda. Here, we have wished to gather Chambers of G20 countries in order to share viewpoints on the economic situation, allow each participant to know what has been undertaken by other members, and what the international community expects from everyone. This is the first time that we have organised this G20 meeting, and we plan to repeat the experience in September on the fringe of the official G20 meeting in Pittsburgh, as well as in October, when the IMF and the World Bank will meet in Istanbul to discuss the more technical aspects of financing.”

The theme of this 6th edition of the World Chambers Congress was “Sustainable growth and change.” Does this mean that the Chambers of Commerce prefer to talk about sustainable development rather than the world crisis?
R.Y.: “We could not focus on the crisis by despairing and asking what we should do. But by choosing the theme of sustainable development, we are not so far off the mark either. Growth is the remedy to this crisis. Rather than sitting down and crying about the effects of the crisis, we have to find levers of growth. The potential of sustainable development, sound governance, and policies for change seem to be the only remedy. We held discussions to select the theme. Should we have chosen a theme such as management during the crisis? I think, on the other hand, that the choice of theme, ‘Leading sustainable growth and change’ has a definite role in today’s economic circumstances. Chambers of Commerce are by nature embedded in economic life. But I think that we are in a position to be more active now, to protect companies. This is our job. Perhaps we cannot change the economic situation, but Chambers have the faculty to preserve what has already been achieved and to stop further deterioration. To get there, we have to prepare our members so that they are ready to intervene, notably SMEs, which are the most vulnerable to the crisis and the most numerous in our economies. We also have to prepare to manage unemployment rates which have not finished rising and which will continue to do so until the end of the crisis.”