On 20 April 2012, Union Fleurs, the International Flower Trade Association, elected a new Board of Directors on the occasion of its 2012 General Assembly, held in Straelen, Germany and co-hosted by by its German member organisation BGI and its Dutch member organisation VGB.
The new Union Fleurs Board of Directors will work for the next two years (2012-2014) under the leadership of Lennart Loven (Spain) on his second term as President of Union Fleurs, with the close support of Herman de Boon (Netherlands) as Vice-President.
Reflecting the global reach of Union Fleurs and its unique position as the representative organisation for the international floricultural trade, the new Board is made of a very international team, with the following representatives:
• Lennart Loven, President ( FEPEX, Spain)
• Herman de Boon, Vice-President (VGB, Netherlands)
• Frank Zeiler, Chairman EU section ( BGI, Germany)
• Richard Fox, Chairman World Trade Committee (Kenya Flower Council, Kenya)
• Augusto Solano, Chairman Americas Committee (Asocolflores, Colombia)
• Gülsen Bay, Relationship Manager (Ornamental Plants & Products Exporters Union, Turkey)
The election of this new Board of Directors follows a busy period for Union Fleurs that saw the organisation relocate its headquarters in Brussels in 2010 and revamp its internal functioning with the election of Sylvie Mamias as new Secretary General. Building on the excellent work carried out by the outgoing Board of Directors in the past two years towards increasing the visibility and pro-active approach of Union Fleurs as a member-driven organisation, the new team will dedicate its efforts into addressing the challenges facing the floricultural sector and ensuring a close cooperation between all the market players within the global supply chain.
Besides the election of the new Board of Directors, the General Assembly was also the occasion to officially welcome three new members within the association (Agriver Agricultural Ltd – Israel, Confindustria Imperia – Italy and MPS – Netherlands ) and to review activities carried out by Union Fleurs in the past year as well as identify priorities and upcoming challenges for the floricultural sector.
Keeping in line with its general mission of securing a favourable trading environment and the free flow of floricultural products from supplying countries to consumption markets under sound, fair and sustainable competitive conditions, Union Fleurs has recently been very involved in Brussels to ensure that the major supplying countries such as Kenya, Colombia and Ecuador can continue to enjoy dutyfree market access to the major importing and consumption markets, be it via unilateral preferential schemes such as GSP+ or bilateral free-trade agreements.
These efforts will be continued and pushed forward by the new Board of Directors, with the daily support of Sylvie Mamias in Brussels, to ensure that the floricultural industry can in the long run keep making a major contribution to the economic growth of the producing countries and secure the availability of a wide variety of quality flowers and plants for importers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers in the destination markets, as well as supporting jobs in each segment of the chain.
Over 40 participants from 15 countries were present at the meeting, coming not only from the EU countries but also from Turkey, Israel, Morocco, Kenya, Colombia, Japan and the United States. Guests from partner organisations FLORINT and AIPH also attended, which gave the opportunity to address issues of common interest across the floricultural branch such as the promotion of floricultural products and the sustainability agenda for the sector.
Besides the General Assembly meeting, participants also spent a full day exploring the 2012 Floriade in Venlo, Netherlands, where a cocktail reception for Union Fleurs members was hosted by the Turkish pavilion, and visited the Veiling Rhein-Maas in Straelen-Herongen as well as the Leurs Garden Center in Venlo.
Union Fleurs members will next meet in Brussels from 5 to 9 December 2012.
Union Fleurs is the International Floricultural Trade Association and officially represents the interests of traders in cut flowers & greens and pot plants. Union Fleurs was founded in 1959 in Brussels and has nowadays members in 19 countries worldwide.
The total value of exports of cut flowers and pot plants amounted to 10 billion EUR worldwide in 2009*. Union Fleurs membership accounts for around 80% of this value and most major players in the worldwide export & import trade are represented in the organisation (e.g. the Netherlands, Colombia, Kenya, Germany and Italy) Union Fleurs represents within its membership more than 3.000 companies worldwide. More information on Union Fleurs is available at: www.unionfleurs.org
Source: Union Fleurs