AALEP SIGNS PROTOCOL OF COOPERATION WITH LEADING EUROPEAN BUSINESS ORGANIZATION IN INDIA

AALEP has entered into a Protocol of Cooperation with the European Business Group in India (EBGI) Country Council, whereby AALEP joins EBGI as an Associate Member and reciprocally EBGI joins AALEP as an Associate Member. It should be pointed out that Associate Membership does not confer any right for either organization to vote at annual meetings but it does provide entitlement to participate in meetings, events, projects and programmes.

The EBGI network spans India and is made up of 400 successful executives located in India's major cities: Delhi, Bengalore and Mumbai, in a wide range of industries (Aviation, Aerospace, Defence and Marine; Alcohol and Beverages; Banking and Financial Services; Healthcare; Infrastructure; Telecom; and Services.

Membership distribution is the following: Germany (19%), the UK (18%), France (16%), other EU companies (27%) and Associate Members (20%).

Under the Protocol of Cooperation, AALEP will help co-ordinate and promote the representation of EBGI to the EU institutions and act as EBGI's Brussels antenna/liaison office to optimize the communication channel to EU political and economic institutions. In particular AALEP will reinforce EBGI's issues through direct lobbying efforts at the EU and Member State level as well as lobby for free trade between the EU and India. Conversely, EBGI will help co-ordinate and promote the representation of AALEP to the Indian authorities and Indian companies and act as AALEP's Indian antenna/liaison office to optimize the communication channel to the Indian political and economic institutions. EBGI will be AALEP's sole official representative for any activities, interactions and projects in India, however, both organizations will remain fully independent entities.