The National Council of the Australia Arab Chamber of Commerce and Industry held its mid-year meeting in Canberra on 17 and 18 June 2008. To mark the occasion, the Chamber offered a reception on the evening of 17 June to which the distinguished members of the Arab diplomatic corps were invited, along with Australia’s Foreign Minister, The Hon Stephen Smith MP, and senior government officials and business members of the Chamber.

Mr Smith, who had just returned from a visit to a number of Arab countries, delivered an address to guests at the reception. The Minister highlighted the breadth of Australia’s relations with the Arab countries, noting in particular the economic dimension of Australia’s interests in the region. He also referred to the current global food crisis and praised a recent decision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to donate $500 million to the World Food Program.

The Minister also referred to the Australian government’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and noted that one of the first decisions of the current Australian government was to double the level of development assistance to the Palestinian people.

The Chamber also held a General Meeting on 18 June at which a new AACCI Constitution was adopted. One of the consequences of the adoption of the new Constitution was a change in the leadership of AACCI and in the structure of the Board of Directors.

Mr Syd Giller has stepped down as National Chairman after a distinguished period of service. Syd had earlier foreshadowed his retirement as Chairman upon the adoption of the new Constitution. Directors elected Mr Ray Najar of Adelaide, South Australia, as the new National Chairman and Mr Don Neale of Brisbane, Queensland as Vice Chairman. Also as a consequence of the adoption of the new Constitution there has been an immediate structural transition from National Council, which included a number of adviser positions, to an AACCI Board.

The new Board structure does not provide for adviser positions. As a consequence, the two advisers to National Council, Mr Michael Coffey and Mr Tony Knight retired upon adoption of the new Constitution. Members of the Board thanked Messrs Giller, Coffey and Knight for the very significant contributions they had made over the years to the Chamber.

The Department of Agriculture and Food in Western Australia hosted a dinner for the Yemeni trade delegation on 22 June 2008. The dinner was held at the Parmelia Hilton and attended by leading grain exporters and the President of WA Farmers Mr Mike Norton of The Western Australian Farmers Federation.
AACCI was invited to attend to represent the relationship between AACCI & the 22 Arab League nations.

Pictured at centre is the Hon Kim Chance, WA Minister for Agriculture. To his left is HE Dr Yahya al Mutawakel, Minister for Industry and Trade of the Republic of Yemen.

In late May the Chamber welcomed representatives from the Doha based satellite broadcaster ‘Al Jazeera’. A Senior Journalist along with 2 News Producers visited the Chambers Head Quarters in Melbourne as a part of the Australian visit arranged by the Council for Australian-Arab Relations (CAAR) and invited by DFAT under DFAT's International Media Visits Program (IMV).

The journalists commenced their formal Australian visit on the 26th May 2008 with the program including appointments in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

The visit by the Al Jazeera representatives was an important opportunity for Australians to profile Australia and society on an influential Middle East based network particularly given their extensive audience. The program for the broadcasters was specifically developed to profile and increase awareness throughout the Middle East region that Australia is as tolerant, innovative, sophisticated and multi-cultural society, as well as our business and trade relationship.

To promote Omani culture the Students Society organized the First Omani Exhibition at Federation Square in Melbourne on 19 April where visitors experienced Omani hospitality, as well as seeing first hand Omani costumes, jewellery, pottery and crafts, and experiencing Omani song and dance. The exhibition was attended by many visitors, including the Lord Mayor of Melbourne (see photograph, left).

In his address at the official opening of the exhibition AACCI National Chairman, Mr Syd Giller, announced the formation of a special AACCI award available to members of the Oman Students Society of Victoria.