Third Bruges European Business Conference

Trade and Investment Challenges for European Business

The College of Europe, in partnership with Deloitte, hosted the third Bruges European Business Conference "Trade and Investment Challenges for European Business", held on Tuesday 20 March 2012 at the College's campus in Bruges.

EU Commissioner for Trade, Karel De Gucht, the CEO of FIAT / Chrysler, Sergio Marchionne, and TABD co-chair James Quigley of Deloitte delivered keynote contributions.

The conference debated how European business can effectively have access to lucrative markets outside Europe. This requires mutual trade and investment liberalisation with key trading partners. Globalisation and the ever more critical significance of worldwide value chains render good market access imperative for European business competitiveness in Europe as well as elsewhere.

The morning was dedicated to a series of plenary debates, including the opening keynote session and two panels with policy and business focus. In the afternoon, three sectoral workshops dealt with specific business issues of global trade and investment in the financial services, automotive and pharmaceutical industries.

Conference Programme

Detailed conference programme


Presentations


Key-note session: Strategic Benefits from Global Trade

Karel De Gucht: European Business Needs Open Trade
Jim Quigley: Aligning Trade Policy and Negotiations with the Strategic Needs of Business
ACEA press release
Summary of the session by Virginia De Lama Gutiérrez and Ani Hovhannisyan, College of Europe students, European Economic Integration and Business specialisation

Session 1: Market Access to Principal Trading Partners

Kim Seung-Ho: A New Approach to Market Access
Alison Murray: Seizing the Moment in Japan: Improving Market Access for EU Companies
Antonio Parenti: EU-China Trade: From 'Made in China' to 'Bought by China'
Charles Cheeter: The Transatlantic Dimension of European Trade Partners
Summary of the session by Abdelfettah Bitat, College of Europe student, European Economic Integration and Business specialisation

Session 2: Horizontal Business Issues of Market Access

Pascal Kerneis: Horizontal Business Issues of Market Access
Jan de Jong: Language, Culture, Stability...
Petros Sourmelis: A Pro-active EU Trade Policy to the Benefit of EU Business
Summary of the session by Joanna Kulpa, College of Europe student, European Economic Integration and Business specialisation

Workshop on Financial Services

Richard Reid: Financial Intermediation, Regulation and Growth
Stefano Micossi: Financial Services
Rudy Bonte: Going forward with the Regulatory Bank Reforms: what it means for banks and supervisors
Summary of the session by Abdelfettah Bitat and Khayala Mammadova, College of Europe students, European Economic Integration and Business specialisation

Workshop on Automotive Industry

Eric Desomer: How European OEM’s are getting ready for a tough 2012
Erik Bergelin: Overview of ACEA’s Position on Trade Liberalisation and on FTA Negotiations
Wolfgang Schneider: EU/South Korea FTA – What it means For The FORD company; EU Trade Negotiations with India and Japan – What it could mean for the FORD Company (shared ACEA position)
Summary of the session by Nicolae Babii and Iryna Luk’yanova, College of Europe students, European Economic Integration and Business specialisation


Workshop on Pharmaceutical Industry

Summary of the session by Ani Hovhannisyan, College of Europe student, European Economic Integration and Business specialisation