ICSC is launching a series of National Committees across Europe to maximize opportunities for its members within these countries.
The first Committee will be launched in Romania on Tuesday 3 July, at the Howard Johnson Grand Plaza Hotel in Bucharest, with the Baltic States National Committee being launched in Jumala, Latvia on 26 September.
These National Committees give ICSC members the opportunity to meet closer to home and encourages both existing and new members to make the most of their ICSC membership, and highlights opportunities within these countries. Committees organise events, networking and information sharing for members in their country, and provide information to retailers considering new markets.
In Romania, Ali Ergun Ergen of Baneasa Developments will chair the group, to which the Mayor of Bucharest has also been invited. Speakers from ING Romania and Cushman & Wakefield will also be addressing the event and discussing international and European retail trends.
The first National Committee to be set up was in Greece in February this year, where the Hellenic Committee was formally launched during that month by national ICSC Chairman Theodore N Charagionis of Acropole-Charagonis. The committee's first major task is to assist the Greek Government in the legal definition of shopping centers, using the pan-European study prepared by the European Research Group, and prepare a registry of Greek shopping centers.
Following the successful Hellenic committee launch, a number of committees have already been set up in Bulgaria and Romania where the committees met for the first time this April, in the Czech Republic where a committee is currently being formed and in the Ukraine where ICSC held meetings in Kiev on 15 May and 12 June.
Announcing the initiative, Jaap Gillis, Chairman of the ICSC European Board and COO of REDEVCO Europe, said, "It is essential that retail property professionals network locally as well as taking part in pan-European and global business meetings. ICSC members can draw on the existing expertise in the association and use research to inform discussions with governments, as well as at European level at the European Union on such important issues as sustainability."
Source: ICSC
