Letter from CEIR's President, Carlos Velazquez

Dear Readers,

Never in our lives have we experienced an event with such a profound and traumatic impact on our way of living, working and relating to each other as this horrible pandemic brought about by the COVID-19 coronavirus.

This pandemic is affecting every part of the world, disrupting the lives of millions of people, causing heavy casualties and causing immeasurable economic damage.

I wish with all my heart that you, your families, friends and colleagues are and continue being well.

At CEIR, we have been reflecting from the beginning of the pandemic on the adverse effects related to COVID-19, both in the short and the long term, but always with a positive, proactive and brave approach towards the future.

We focused from day zero in keeping in touch with all the members and stakeholders to make sure that -by being more united than ever- we had first-hand information from the different sectors and countries, best-practices to share, pilot tests to follow and to apply and a unique voice in front of the COVID-19 crisis.

We also reacted to the new normality very quickly, making sure that we adapted our way of work so we could follow our agenda with the maximum normality. Therefore, it is with pride that I can say that all our Working Groups continued its course and that all our lobby actions reached the planned targets in spite of the slow-down and the delays caused by the unexpected situation brought by the coronavirus.

We are now entering the last part of this 2020 with a lot of uncertainty but with an intact spirit that will allow us to set the basis for to achieve our 2021 goals, as stated below: 

• Grow stronger, adding new members (bringing in their resources, know-how and talent)
• Build a long-lasting sustainable muscle as an organization (from the expertise of our Working Groups)
• Get more recognition and attention by the relevant stakeholders (in Brussels and beyond)
• Build a reliable and effective network (thru proven confidence and profitable alliances)
• Lobby to defend our Industry (in a fair and sustainable way)

Goals, above, that will survive the COVID-19 and will lead our actions in the next years so our Industry can detect the opportunities that this crises will lay in front of us and benefit from them.

Yours truly,

Carlos Velazquez
CEIR President