Staff Departures
Although the past year included great achievements, it was sadly also a year when SITPRO had to say goodbye to a number of members of staff:
Andy Walker, left to return to Customs after a two-year secondment. Andy worked on a number of projects including research into export barriers faced by SMEs and the Single Window. As the interface between SITPRO and Customs, attending Blueprint working groups. He also had significant input into SITPRO’s work with the WCO.
Michèle Barker, who for a number of years had led SITPRO’s work on e-business and paperless trade left in the summer to join DTI’s Standards and Technical Regulations Directorate. However, she will continue to be involved with SITPRO’s work, as a member of the eBSPG.
Deputy Chief Executive, David Arathoon, retired in August. His involvement with SITPRO began while he was still at the DTI and his work to ensure the effective administration of SITPRO was invaluable. His expertise has not been lost as he is continuing to act as Board & Company Secretary.
Finally, at the beginning of January, SITPRO’s Director of Trade Procedures Michelle Walden left. Michelle was one of the longest serving members of staff remaining at SITPRO. In recent years she had been working to develop SITPRO’s benchmarking methodology (Interact) and to coordinate SITPRO’s wide range of trade procedures projects.
All of these colleagues will be greatly missed, both professionally because of the knowledge and experience that has left with them and personnally in their absence from our office.
More Farewells
In addition to the staff departures mentioned above there have been a number of other changes amongst those involved with SITPRO.
Firstly, SITPRO’s Chairman Lord Bhatia decided to step down from his position and Norman Rose has taken over as Acting-Chairman. In addition to all the work he has done for SITPRO, Lord Bhatia is involved with a wide range of voluntary and charitable work and is particularly associated with his work on ethnic minority issues. We wish him all the best in his continuing work within and outside the House of Lords.
Another two board directors also left their posts at the conclusion of their terms. Maria McCaffery and Francoise Joyce made valuable contributions to SITPRO’s work during their tenures and although they have left the Board we look forward to working closely with them in the future.
Finally, SITPRO wishes Robert Crowhurst well in his retirement. Robert worked in European and World Trade, who sponsor SITPRO, and his support from within the DTI was invaluable and will be missed.
New Year News
Regular readers of SITPRO News might have noticed that they have not heard from us for a while. As you will see from this issue, we have not been idle in our absence and over the course of 2005, SITPRO News will continue to update you on the latest progress in all our projects.
Thank you for your continued support for international trade facilitation.
Money Matters
The issue of getting paid is one of the critical concerns for any business and, when your customer is in another country, arranging payment can seem daunting. However, help is at hand in some of the latest briefings on the SITPRO website at www.sitpro.org.uk/trade.
Methods of Payment in International Trade provides an introduction to the methods of payment covering the full range of risks from Open Account to Advance Payment. In addition to basic details about documentary credits and money transfers, which can help you make an informed decision about your trading terms, there are details of UK organisations that can provide details about country risks.
The Foreign Exchange Market deals with the complicated issue of dealing with and in foreign currencies. It provides an introduction to concepts such as the ‘Spot’ and ‘Forward’ markets and offers advice on the risks involved with different types of currency transactions.
Return to SITPRO News: Issue 51, Winter 2004/2005
