On June 13, 2019, members and friends of the Lugano Commodity Trading Association (LCTA) attended in large numbers the annual “Commodity Traders’ Dinner”, one of the most important event that the LCTA organises every year.
The event took place at the “Tenuta Bally von Teufenstein”, a prestigious location in the middle of the vineyards. The evening program included a conference, focused on current hot topics, and was followed by a networking standing dinner. It was a great opportunity to meet in the area of Lugano commodity traders as well as representatives of banks, insurances, fiduciaries, shipping companies and other services providers.
The President of the LCTA, Thomas Patrick, held the opening speech. Then Alexander Galilov (Filhet-Allard Maritime, kind sponsor of the event) presented an interesting overview on their activities in Switzerland and abroad.
The special guest of the event, Ramon Esteve – President of the Swiss Trading & Shipping Association (STSA) – gave a speech on the goals and challenges of the national association, which includes also the regional organisations as LCTA and ZCA. STSA’s expertise is largely recognised and the association plays a very important role. It is a strong association and it aims at reinforcing local presence to increase national weight.
A very interesting part of the conference was the presentation of the Swiss Federal Council Report “The Swiss commodities sector: current situation and outlook” (November 2018) by Frédéric Chenais (FDFA), Nina Taillard(EAER), and Julie Tomka (FDF). The report underlines that Switzerland is still a leading global commodities trading hub and an attractive location, despite the difficulties (under constant pressure given the attractiveness of other trading centres). The report expresses two main recommendations that aim at:
- maintaining Switzerland’s prominent position as a competitive and socially and environmentally responsible trading centre and to sustainably secure the significant contributions in added value that the commodity companies make to Switzerland’s overall economy
- ensuring that overall political, economic and legal conditions make Switzerland an attractive and reliable location for doing business in all sectors, including the commodities industry
The audience had also the opportunity to receive more information about the “Guidance on Implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights”, the result of a public consultation with NGOs, the private sector and the Geneva cantonal authorities.
In conclusion of the event, Barbara Engeli of the Aarambh Joyti Association presented an important humanitarian project for a hospital construction in Bihar, India.
