Dear AmCham Members, Partners and Friends,
Today we are pleased to present to you our 27 February AmCham Newsletter! We hope you enjoy it! Please feel free to share copies with your friends and encourage them to get a free subscription by sending a request with their contact information to Anne@amcham.lu .
Our interview this week is with Claude Meisch, the government Minister with responsibility for both Education and Housing. We very much appreciated having Minister Meisch as one of our two guests of honor for our January New Year’s reception. We appreciate Minister Meisch, and are glad to have a good relationship with him, and have been doing our best advocating with him and his ministries to gain their understanding and support for the housing and education issues which so uniquely impact our internationally focused members. Enjoy his interview and please let me know via Paul@amcham.lu if you have any feedback or questions.
Also in this edition, we are very pleased to publish a video from Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, which very strongly encourages the strongest possible support for maintaining and strengthening the Transatlantic Trade and Investment partnership which has grown to be such a principal driver of prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic over the past 70 years. Also included please find a joint statement written and endorsed by all of the AmChams in Europe through our AmChams in Europe federation (ACE) making exactly those same points as Madame von der Leyen.
The largest group of investors in the United States are European companies and the largest block of investors in Europe are American companies. US companies pay salaries to 25,000 Luxembourg workers every month. Equally importantly, there is an integrated supply chain which links US and European companies together at many levels and does so sharing employment, technology and profits across borders for the benefit of both the United States and Europe. When you listen to conversations about military arms sales, please understand that these weapon systems are also produced via an integrated supply management system which is largely composed of US and European companies each contributing the components and spare parts that they are best capable to make. We have an integrated supply chain for most all military weapon system pieces of equipment and spare parts are sourced from suppliers around the world. Here in Luxembourg, the NATO Supply and Procurement Agency (NSPA) in Capellen functions based on industrial balancing, with countries getting contracts for their companies based on reciprocity for their NATO financial investments and the US providing technology access without any payment costs.
Tomorrow evening, the AmCham family and guests will gather together at the DoubleTree Hilton for our third annual Carnival Gala Dance party with a SOLD OUT event!!
We look forward to sharing wonderful food, drinks, dancing, musical entertainment, and (most of all) wonderful fellowship and laughs with you all. Thanks for joining us!
And join us soon thereafter for our International Women’s Day celebration on the 4th of March at the Crystal Palace with PwC and Baker McKenzie!
All my respect and very kindest regards,
Paul Schonenberg
Chairman and CEO
Amcham.lu
