On the 23rd of March at 11.00-13.00, CLS held its annual General Assembly. The General Assembly was, similarly to last year, held digitally due to the pandemic.
The President of the General Assembly and former Ambassador, Bengt Lundborg, opened the General Assembly and welcomed all participants. Following, the Ambassador of Sweden to Portugal, Helena Pilsas, held a brief presentation about the bilateral cooperation between the Embassy and the Chamber. The Ambassador discussed how the adaption to the covid-pandemic has colored the work of the Embassy during the past year. Sara Martins, Ambassador of Portugal to Sweden, then introduced the activities of the Portuguese Embassy in Stockholm and their current focus on the Portuguese EU Presidency.
The General Assembly continued with a presentation by the Chairwoman of the CLS Board of Directors, Jennifer Ekström. The CLS Annual Report for 2020 highlighted that there has been an overall positive member balance, despite previous concerns over the impact that the pandemic would have on the operations of CLS.
After the decisions taken on the GA 2020, there has also been an increase and change in the Board of Directors, now 13 members. Jennifer also announced that a new Secretary General, Roya Moghaddas, joined CLS last year.
Overall, CLS has performed above expectations despite the pandemic and the activities planned for 2021 will continue to take place in a digital format until restrictions are lifted. The Sustainability Initiative was introduced during the General Assembly, a long-term initiative which will commence during the spring of 2021 and continue throughout the whole year. CLS strives to continue the close cooperation with Team Sweden for 2021 and onwards as well as aims to maintain and further increase the value of the CLS community towards the members.
Carlos Oliveira, Treasurer of CLS, then gave a statement of the financial situation which demonstrated that the Chamber is in a healthy cash position and had an unexpectedly positive year in 2020 in terms of finances. A positive result was achieved in 2020, although a small loss was expected in the budget.
After the presentations, a voting commenced where the following items were approved:
· The Activity Report and Financial Report for 2020
· The Activity Plan and Budget for 2021
CLS would like to take this opportunity to send a big thank you to all the participants of the 2021 General Assembly. CLS wishes all our community a prosperous year and we look forward to engaging further with you all!
