On 2 September 2026, INSULEUR participated in the EUROCHAMBRES Affiliated and Correspondent Members Meeting, held in Istanbul, Tรผrkiye, with Gaetano Nastasi, 3rd Vice President of INSULEUR, representing the Network.
The meeting was hosted at the headquarters of TOBB โ the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Tรผrkiye, at the invitation of EUROCHAMBRES President Vladimir Dlouhy and Vice President M. Rifat Hisarcฤฑklฤฑoฤlu.
The meeting brought together representatives of Chambers from countries involved in the EU enlargement process and the EUโs Eastern Neighbourhood, as well as representatives of INSULEUR and the AIC โ Forum of Adriatic and Ionian Chambers of Commerce.
Discussions focused on major developments that are increasingly shaping the environment in which European businesses operate and trade, including EU enlargement, the ongoing war in Ukraine and its consequences for security, transport and economic relations, and the growing strategic importance of the Black Sea region for trade, energy, critical raw materials and connections between the European Union and Central Asia through Tรผrkiye and the South Caucasus.
The meeting underlined the importance of strong cooperation among Chambers of Commerce across Europe and its wider neighbourhood. As businesses face an increasingly complex economic and geopolitical environment, well-connected Chamber networks have an important role to play in facilitating dialogue, sharing knowledge and ensuring that the needs of businesses and territories are effectively represented.
Bringing the voice of European islands to the discussion
During the roundtable discussion with the member delegations, Gaetano Nastasi highlighted the key points of INSULEURโs Position Paper on the EU Strategy for Islands, already submitted to the European Commission.
His intervention aimed at promoting closer cooperation with EUROCHAMBRES and strengthening the capacity of the network of European Chambers of Commerce to act collectively in the face of shared challenges and opportunities.
INSULEURโs participation provided an important opportunity to bring the specific perspective of European island economies and their business communities into the wider discussion. Island businesses face many of the same economic and geopolitical challenges affecting businesses across Europe, while also dealing with structural constraints linked to insularity, connectivity, accessibility, energy, demographic pressures and access to markets.
By strengthening cooperation with EUROCHAMBRES and fellow Chamber networks, INSULEUR seeks to ensure that these specific realities are reflected in the broader European debate and that island Chambers and businesses remain actively connected to developments shaping Europeโs economic future.
The Istanbul meeting once again demonstrated the value of cooperation across borders: the better connected the European Chamber network is, the better equipped it is to support businesses in navigating a changing European economy.
