New UMCE president

Jacques Jean Sarraf of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists (ALI) was elected president of the Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises (UMCE - of which the FOI is a founding member) for the term February 2007-February 2009 at UMCE's general assembly.

The assembly, held in Cairo, Egypt, on February 2, also elected Galal El Zorba, president of FEI (Egypt) and Hédi Djilani, president of UTICA (Tunisia), as UMCE vice-presidents.

The assembly also reconfirmed FOI president Adrian Bajada's position as co-ordinator responsible for the UMCE relations with the European Union and the observer members.

The presidents of confederations from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia and Turkey, who participated at the UMCE general assembly, also approved the membership applications of the National Confederation of Mauritania Employers (CNPM) and MEDEF (France) as UMCE associated member and observer member, respectively.

This signing ceremony took place in the presence of Confindustria (Italy) and SEV/FGI (Greece), who attended the assembly as observer members to UMCE.

The official launch of the Macro-Economic Thematic Commission was also organised during the general assembly, with a presentation being delivered by the Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI) that was based on a study carried out entitled 'UMCE Economic Outlook: The Economic Performance of UMCE Countries'.

For a copy of this UMCE study, please contact the FOI Secretariat by e-mail: info@foi.org.mt.