(L-R): Albert Barseghyan (President), Francis Hoogewerf (Vice-President), Alexandra Goncalves de Avila (Secretary); Credit: Chronicle.lu

On Wednesday 21 February 2024, the newly-established Armenia-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce held its first event on Rue Louvigny in Luxembourg city centre.

The business chamber has twelve members, half of whom are Armenian and the others Luxembourg residents of Luxembourgish and other nationalities.

The inaugural President, Albert Barseghyan, who arrived in Luxembourg four years ago works in a team on human rights advocacy to the United Nations. Together with Francis Hoogewerf (Vice-President), Alexandra Goncalves de Avila (Secretary) and Elizaveta Balabekyan (Treasurer), they make up the executive, with six more members on the board.

The evening started with Albert Barseghyan, in his role of President, welcoming the 20 or so attendees and explained that the main aim of the first meeting was to expand membership, both with Armenian nationals and also other Luxembourg residents - he confirmed to Chronicle.lu that the chamber aims to have 50 members by the end of 2024.

He also confirmed that the newly-formed chamber aims to be formally recognised by the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce as a bilateral chamber. During the year he explained that the chamber hopes to organise meetings and conferences about business opportunities in Armenia.

While there are around 100 Armenian families currently residing in Luxembourg, there are no Armenian companies operating here, at least not yet, although some are registered in the Grand Duchy. He also explained that this could be an opportunity for the chamber to help Luxembourg producers see export opportunities to Armenia going forward. To achieve this, he hopes that the chamber will help promote Armenia to Luxembourgish companies as well as bringing Armenian companies who wish to expand, to Luxembourg. The sectors involved include agriculture, pharmaceuticals, wine, IT and tourism.

Following the President's address, drinks and finger food were served over a networking cocktail.

While the chamber's website is not yet active, they can be contacted by email: armenialux@fidroyal.lu