The Annual General Assembly of Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan was held in 2021 on April 7, for the first time online on Zoom. This was due the difficult coronavirus situation around the capital area which made holding a physical event risky, and considering everyone’s safety we decided to refrain from holding a physical assembly this year. 

The agenda for the general assembly was hold as is presented on the right side on this page. After opening the assembly, current chairman Erik Ullner was elected as the chairman of the meeting and executive director Antti Kunnas as the secretary for the meeting. With 47 member companies in Fiscal year 2020 and 25 % participancy of corporate members required for a quorum in Annual General Assembly, this was met with 13 corporate members present. 

At the beginning of the meeting, we also introduced all four Team Finland actors in Japan; the Embassy, Business Finland, Finnish Institute in Japan and FCCJ. Ambassador Pekka Orpana briefed the participants on coming Team Finland collaborations, the new country director of Business Finland, Kimmo Ojuva had the chance to introduce himself for many of the participants for the first time, and the director of Finnish Institute in Japan, Anna-Maria Wiljanen briefed on the activities of the Institute in the previous years and on the events in the near future. Antti Kunnas finished Team Finland introductions by stressing that FCCJ member companies are essential part of the local Team Finland network in Japan through their membership and the Team Finland parties are happy to help the companies in need for help.

 Reports from fiscal year 2020 covered the events held during the year, the financial figures and financial result of the past fiscal year. The accounts were audited and deemed correct by Timo Varhama and Aki Saarinen. 

One of the biggest issues on the agenda was the streamlining and updating of the chamber’s Articles of Association. These were originally drafted before official registration of the chamber in 1999 and had remained mostly the same with only minor changes during the years. Though many of the substance changes also this time were minor, the overall visual look of the articles went through a significant change. Biggest changes included defining the chambers membership categories, financial resources and objectives. New articles were passed and both old and new versions can be accessed from below.