Stakeholder Reception
Skinners’ Hall in London will be the venue for SITPRO’s Stakeholder Reception on 16 February 2006. This is our opportunity to thank all the people who support SITPRO’s work in our wide range of policy areas. We will also be using the event to introduce some of the new faces on our Board of Directors and to explain our plans for the future of SITPRO, which Malcolm McKinnon hints at in his CEO Perspective column this issue.
In addition to hearing from SITPRO, we are delighted to announce that Ian Pearson, Minister for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs, will be taking the opportunity to address our guests.
If you would be interested in joining us for what promises to be an enjoyable and informative event, please contact Roisin Healy by email at reception@sitpro.org.uk 
, no later than 8 February 2006.
Single Window Trade Forum
On 1 December 2005, SITPRO held the first successful meeting of its new consultation group on the UK International Trade Single Window (ITSW). Over a dozen trade representatives were joined by government representatives, including Johan Hogsander from Business.gov’s Single Window Project Team, where they engaged in a frank discussion on the benefits and potential complications that a UK Single Window would introduce.
Following the success of this meeting SITPRO will continue to run this group in order to allow traders to engage in this fast moving project. If you would like to join the debate, please email paul.hiscock@sitpro.org.uk .
Visiting SWEPRO
In November, SITPRO went to Sweden to meet its Swedish counterpart SWEPRO to discuss matters of common interest. SWEPRO and SITPRO are the oldest and internationally most active “PRO” organisations in the world.
Discussions included trade facilitation priorities, areas suitable for cooperation between SWEPRO and SITPRO on WTO negotiations, future EUROPRO activities and technical assistance to other countries in Customs matters.
One of the highlights of the visit was the presentation of the Swedish Single Window Concept at Swedish Customs by Mr Mats Wicktor, Head of the Customs Future Centre, and Cecilia Wiestål, Head of Centre of Excellence.
New Arrival
In January, SITPRO was joined by a new Director of Policy, Graham Bartlett. Graham has come to SITPRO from the DTI where he was most recently dealing with consumer safety issues. He has long trade policy experience going back to the Uruguay Round where he was dealing with the safeguards and subsidies negotiations and more recently he dealt with the GATS in the Doha Round.
Return to SITPRO News: Issue 55, Winter 2005/2006