Important information to members

Dear members,

All of us in the Board of Trustees hope that you and the people you care about have had a pleasant 1st quarter in 2024. It promises to be another good year for PNBC, with several important events already in the pipeline. More on that further down.

During our Christmas luncheon, we mentioned a few items that are worth repeating.

First, we will resume the opportunities for you to present your company and its activities during our members’ meetings. We ask that you please keep your presentation to 5-7 minutes, so that we can include a few of you each time and have time for Q&A.
Second, we will open for members hosting a members’ meeting or a Board-meeting. The members’ meeting is a good way to profile yourself towards all our members. The Board-meeting is a perfect way to engage more directly with the Board and perhaps share some of your ideas and thoughts in a smaller setting.

We know that many of you have asked about these two, and here they are. For all those who are interested in either one of them, please contact Vanessa and we will include it in the plans going forwards.

PNBC Board Members and the Royal Norwegian Embassy kicked off the year with a meeting hosted by Odfjell Technology.

Events 2024

We had our first event of the year on January 3rd, in Norway, where the NSA invited “friends of the Philippines” to a luncheon (see uppermost photo). This was attended by Mr. Svend Foyn-Bruun from PNBC’s side. It is always a pleasure to reconnect with former ambassadors, representatives from the NSA and the wider maritime community in Norway.

In terms of what to expect from the year ahead, here are a few to keep in mind:

“Creating MORE Currents” returns in April. Planning is in progress, with a theme and topics already set.
WOFEX Manila, the country’s largest food-expo, takes place July 31st to August 3rd. This year, Team Norway amps up the Norwegian presence.
CrewConnect 2024 will take place in November, as usual. The exact dates and venue have yet to be announced.

In addition to the above, there will be official delegations from the Philippines to Norway during 2024. The first was there in Jan-Feb, with a focus on energy and transportation. A few companies here sent representatives along with the senior civil servants, and this is something we will discuss with the Embassy going forwards as this may be relevant to our members. From PNBC’s side, I joined the delegation as energy and transportation are fields where PNBC has been active since our founding.

We have also agreed the following meeting-schedule for 2024, and we ask you to please mark your calendars already:

24-Apr Board and Members’ meeting – “Creating MORE Currents” (might move by a day, pending finalisation of agenda for a high-level political visit from Norway)
29-May Board meeting and Annual General Meeting
26-Jun Board and Members’ meeting
28-Aug Board and Members’ meeting
25-Sep Board and Members’ meeting
30-Oct Board and Members’ meeting
11-Dec Board and Members’ meeting – the CSR luncheon

While there may be changes to the above, we expect this to be 95% correct in terms of the dates. Expected guest-speakers during the year will be: An expert in AI, several of our members, and more.

Membership

We have agreed, in the Board, to simplify our membership-structure. We will, during 2024, move from the current structure to one with two tiers only: Corporate and Individual. We will revert with more details during 1st quarter.

As always, thank you for your support of PNBC. We would not exist without you.

Warm wishes,

Carl M.
President – PNBC