A new venue for the combined chambers of commerce Sundowner, which was held at the Courtyard by Marriott, and organized by the Australian Chamber of Commerce (AustCham).
The event was postponed owing to the flooding in Pattaya the previous week, which did mean that some regular attenders found themselves torn between the chambers at the Courtyard and the Movers and Shakers in the Amari, which goes a long way towards explaining a less than stellar turnout, despite 10 chambers being invited.
Courtyard by Marriott owner Jaspal Singh Champi and his wife pose on either side of H.E. Paul Robilliard, Australian Ambassador to Thailand.
The chambers were the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand (AMCHAM), the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT), German-Thai Chamber of Commerce (GTCC), South African Chamber (SATCC), Belgian-Luxembourg/Thai Chamber of Commerce (BeluThai), Netherlands – Thai Chamber of Commerce (NTCC), Thai – Canadian Chamber of Commerce (TCCC), Mexican – Thai Chamber of Commerce (MexCham) and the Singapore – Thai Chamber of Commerce (STCC).
(L to R) Greg Watkins, Executive Director of BCCT, Pratheep S. Malhotra, Managing Director of Pattaya Mail and Dr. Iain Corness from Pattaya Mail.
Being an AustCham arranged event it was natural for the Australian Ambassador HE Paul Robilliard to be present along with the new AustCham President Brenton Mauriello, and the principal sponsor was Capital Television Group formed by Aussie expats Raine Grady and Les Nyerges, represented by presenter William Vaughan.
In keeping with the Aussie theme, the bottle of wine was from an Australian vineyard, won in the raffle by Carl Duggan, the Group GM with Centara Grand Phratamnak his major property.
RLC General Manager Richard Jackson, Alain Deurwaerder, Vice President of the Belgian-Luxembourg Thai Chamber of Commerce, and Marcus Wehrhahn from RLC.
The new venue, the Courtyard by Marriott, and owned by Jaspal Singh Champi, has an interesting layout, with a couple of members being caught out by the central swimming pool. Their new MoMo restaurant supplied the food for the evening, with some excellent Indian curries and an interesting herb soup.
Frank Holzer, Executive General Manager of MHG Thailand Co., Ltd., and Grover Preston from The PAC Group.
Amongst those networking were RLC General Manager Richard Jackson, Alain Deurwaerder, Vice President of the Belgian-Luxembourg/Thai Chamber of Commerce, Greg Watkins, Executive Director of BCCT, Frank Holzer, Executive General Manager of MHG Thailand and also the President of the Automotive Focus Group, and Grover Preston from The PAC Group. Others exchanging business cards were David Gell, Managing Director of Crestcom, and Peter Fagan, General Manager Thailand of Futuris Automotive (Thailand), another company that exported itself from Australia.
Hopefully, the wet season will be over before the next Joint Chambers event and the normal routine will return.
AustCham President Brenton Mauriello addresses the audience.
Principal sponsor Capital Television Group was represented by presenter William Vaughan.
