The Annual General Meeting of the TBCCI for 2006
The Annual General Meeting of the TBCCI for 2006 was held at Bury House, 33 Bury Street, London, on 18 December 2006. The agenda included the receiving and considering the statutory accounts of the Chamber for the year to 30 June 2006, which was approved. Members of the Board explained that membership is expected to increase following service and project based trend. The election of Board Members did not take place in this year’s Annual General Meeting.

BEKO plc Wins CIH White Goods Supplier of the Year Award
BEKO plc, one of the UK’s fastest growing electrical companies and a member of our Chamber, has been named the ‘White Goods Supplier of the Year’ at this year’s CIH (Combined Independent Holdings) Awards Ceremony. CIH is the member of Euronics in the UK, which is the largest buying group in Europe. BEKO has been awarded the title over top name competitors including Indesit and Electrolux. Clayton Witter, BEKO’s managing director said: “We are delighted to have won this award. It is a fantastic achievement for BEKO and represents the hard work and commitment of a significant number of people within the business. The independent sector has been critical to our success and we are very proud that the efforts we have made have been recognised by CIH.”

Germany takes over the EU Presidency
On the occasion of Germany taking over the rotating EU Presidency, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated that the EU could only remain strong if it offered some vision to the citizen, and added ''Many people are asking ‘Will Europe bring me greater wellbeing and security?’ and 'Is there not too much bureaucracy in the EU?’. We will try to give a response to these questions.” Merkel stated that this year is the 50th anniversary of the idea of unity in Europe, and that they would celebrate the 50th year with an unofficial summit in Berlin on 25 March 2007. Merkel said the EU felt the need for a constitution, and for this reason she would conduct talks with European partners, and intended to prepare an action plan for the development of an EU Constitution following these talks. As well as the EU Presidency, Germany has taken over the Presidency of the G-8 for one year.