On Wednesday 7th November, the NBCC Brexit Forum Event, in partnership with GroetenFruit Huis, regarding the flower, vegetables and fruit sector took place.
It was fantastic to see the impressive turnout of members and non-members alike, highlighting the importance that we all attach to the minimal disruption to the flow of goods between our two countries despite turbulent political times.
The objective of this event was to demystify as much of the current ambiguity as possible, hence all participants were given the opportunity to ask their questions to leading expert representatives ranging from the government to customs. We aimed to prepare attendees for the impacts that Brexit will have on business in the flower, vegetables and fruit sector in order to mitigate the day to day impact that the UK’s exit from the EU will bring.
During the event, Hillefien Strijland, who was also the event’s moderator, began by updating us on the current state of play of Article 50 negotiations. Leon Kanters followed this up with the impact that Brexit is likely to have on the flower, vegetables and fruit sector.
We then heard from Matthijs Mesken on the practical consequences of Brexit and from Ian Koster on administration and tariffs. Our final two speakers were Gert Mulder, on inspections and maintaining logistic flow, and Marty van Pelt on how to minimise delays and congestion.
We were thrilled that our attendees came up with so many well thought out questions for our esteemed speakers during the Q&A portion, giving them the opportunity to hear valuable insights from the experts.
The event was a great success and we are proud to have given both members and non-members alike a platform to be inspired by the rigorous exchange of ideas and to feel more prepared than they did before attending. This event was organized by the Netherlands-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) in conjunction with GroetenFruit Huis.