Georgia companies will have more opportunities at lesser risk to conduct business in 10 countries approved to enter the European Union next year, George Handy, a Washington-based consultant, told GlobalFax last week.
Mr. Handy, director of international action commissions at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is to be the keynote speaker at a workshop to be held in Atlanta on Wednesday, Aug. 26, about investing in and developing trade with these countries.
The incoming EU members are Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Once the countries are admitted in May, a new phase in their development will begin, he said during a telephone interview, because an established structure of EU rules and regulations will govern their business transactions.
“The transformation process begun in the early 1990s continues,” he added. “There has been a movement to democracy and a private enterprise system, but a lot of work remains to be done.”
Georgia companies that either manufacture products or have services for markets in Europe or the Middle East should investigate developing a base of operations in these countries, he said.
Opportunities abound for companies in a wide array of business sectors, according to Mr. Handy. These include biotechnology, chemical, environmental and waste management, light industrial manufacturing, pharmaceutical, public utility and transportation companies.
The workshop is to begin at 7:30 a.m. at the Wardlaw Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Mr. Handy will speak at a luncheon that will begin at 12:30 p.m.
The workshop is being organized by the European Union Center of the University System of Georgia, Georgia Tech, the Polish-American Chamber of the Southeast U.S. and the Honorary Consulate General of the Czech Republic.
The cost is $45 for the program and $70 for the program and lunch. Visit HYPERLINK http://www.inta.gatech.edu/eucenter/home.html www.inta.gatech.edu/eucenter/home.html to download a registration form.
