Training the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry

From 7 till 10 October DECP trained in Dubai together with ITC/ILO  a delegation of board members and secretariat staff of the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI). It was the third consecutive year that such a training took place. In the previous years the trainings were concentrated on services , communication with members and governance of employers organisations . This year the training was centered around lobbying by employers organisations. The meeting addressed the reasons why there is – according to international data - no significant improvement in the economic situation of the country and few indications that  the government is trying to improve the business environment. And what can ACCI do about this?

Security and corruption are seen as the main handicaps for proper doing business in Afghanistan. The meeting took the battle against corruption as a special case and an example to illustrate how a lobby around such a specific theme could be organized.

The training took place under the leadership of Arnout de Koster of ITC/ILO and Jan karel Bout of DECP. The honorary consul of Afghanistan in the Netherlands Mr Ehsan Thurabaz attended the deliberations and as in previous years was very helpful in bringing ACCI , DECP and ITC/ILO together.