On 31.01.2018, a regular general meeting of the members of the German-Belarusian Economic Club on the results of 2017 was held. Hovsep Voskanyan, Chairman of the Management Board, chaired the meeting. According to the Statutes of the Club, the first part of the meeting presented the results of the Club’s work for the past year. Then the board members and cashiers of the Club were dismissed by the General Meeting.

During the General Meeting it was decided to increase the number of Board members to six. There were no elections for the Board this year, so at the next meeting a new member will be included in the Board. The next election will take place at the next General Meeting of the Club in February 2019. Mrs. Karin Kascheyeva and Mr. Klaus Jacobi were re-elected as cash comptrollers.

The tasks and plans of the Club for 2018 were then presented and discussed. By a general vote, decisions were made on important issues of the Club’s work, in particular on increasing the membership fee, on organising the 10th German Economy Day as well as the annual conference of German Economic Clubs from CEE countries. Furthermore, it was decided that a new format of events in the form of workshops and specialized seminars, which had already been held in 2017, would be introduced to add to the Club evenings.

In total, the meeting lasted about 2.5 hours and laid the groundwork for the Club’s work in 2018. We hope that the first results of the decisions made will be visible in the coming weeks.

The 2018 calendar of events was opened with the January club evening on 10.01.18. Traditionally, this first club evening served to give members the opportunity for comments and feedback on the club’s activities in the previous year, as well as any suggestions for the new year that has begun.

As a basis for discussion, Chairman Hovsep Voskanyan began by giving a brief overview of the past year – the events and activities held, as well as the budget fulfilment.

This was followed by an exchange of ideas for activities in the new year. The retention of the monthly club evenings, one or two business-oriented major events – depending on feasibility, as well as the end-of-year ball as fixed points of the calendar of events was welcomed by all members. There were some concrete suggestions for the implementation of professional or leisure-oriented events. The proposals and measures discussed will be incorporated into the agenda of the upcoming general meeting in accordance with our club’s statutes. The agenda will also include the important point of the current adjustment of membership fees, which was discussed in detail at the club evening.

The agenda will be sent to all members by 15.01.2018 at the latest for their information and submission of further proposals by 24.01.2018.