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About AICC

Mission

The MISSION of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce is to encourage business-to-business networking within Australia and bilateral trade between Australia and Israel, which it has successfully been doing since 1970.

About Us

The Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) is Australia's pre-eminent international Chamber of Commerce and one of the country's most prestigious and active national business organisations. The AICC's national membership exceeds 1,000 leading Australian companies across a broad range of industry sectors. Fifteen of the top 25 companies in Australia are currently members or sponsors of the AICC.

The AICC has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, as well as in Auckland and Tel Aviv. Each of these offices manages an extensive and impressive member network and events program to enhance non-partisan, cross-cultural business networking at senior levels and vigorously promotes bilateral trade through inbound and outbound trade missions.

The AICC enjoys a unique position in the Australian business community through its ability to attract the nation's most prominent business and political leaders as both speakers and event attendees, representing a diverse multicultural base. The AICC leverages this extraordinary business network to deliver its speakers, sponsors and members a strong commercial return - both in terms of targeted business promotion and personal access to relevant decision-makers. The longevity of the AICC's relationships with its major business partners is testament to the success of its approach - and an exceptional achievement in today's increasingly competitive market for speakership, sponsorship, membership and attendance at events.

Patron

His Excellency Yuval Rotem
Ambassador of Israel to Australia

Governors

The AICC is honoured to have as its Governors these outstanding individuals who have each made a significant contribution to the Australian business, political, philanthropic, academic and cultural communities, and who are all great supporters and friends of the AICC and Israel:

Mr Chris Anderson
Mr Anthony Berg AM
Professor Adrienne Clarke AC
Mr Victor Fonda AO
Mr Charles Goode AC
Mr John Gough AO CBE
Ms Margaret Jackson AC
Mr Graham Laitt
Mr Paul O'Sullivan
  Mr Isi Leibler AO CBE
Mr Mark Leibler AO
Mr Bob Mansfield AO
Mr David Mortimer AO
Mr Phillip Scanlan AM
Dr Paul Simons AM
Mr Stan Wallis AC
The Hon Neville Wran AC QC

 

State Presidents and Chief Executive Officers


  Mr Leon Kempler OAM
National Chairman
leon@aicc.org.au
 
  Mr Marcus Mandie
Chief Executive Officer Victoria
marcus@aicc.org.au
 
  Mr Kim Jacobs
President New South Wales
kjacobs@inteq.com.au
 
  Mr Anthony Hollis
Chief Executive Officer New South Wales
anthony@aicc.org.au
 
  Mr Allen Bolaffi
President South Australia & Northern Territory
allen@uhyhn.com.au
 
  Ms Alisha Fisher
Chief Executive Officer
South Australia & Northern Territory
National Coordinator
alisha@aicc.org.au
 
  Mr Bob Bishop
President Queensland
bob.bishop@ttgroup.biz
 
  Mr Simon White
Chief Executive Officer Queensland
simon@aicc.org.au
 
  Mr Graham Laitt
President Western Australia
laittg@milne.com.au
 
  Mr John Cluer
Chief Executive Officer  Western Australia
perth@aicc.org.au
 
  Mr Gurion Meltzer AO
President Israel
gurion@zahav.net.il
 
  Mr Paul Israel
Executive Director Tel Aviv, Israel
anztrade@netvision.net.il

History

The Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce was established in the mid 1950's by a dedicated group of Australian business leaders in Melbourne and Sydney who sought to promote the export of Israeli goods and services to Australia.

Among the pioneers were Syd Field, Kalman Bar-On, Harry Castle, Ben Cohen, Gerald Falk, Stanley and Bernard Ferster, Max Freilich, Gerald Goldsmith, Sir Asher Joel, Louis Klein, Arnold Newhouse, Shyr Redelman, Eli Tal and Paul Ungar.

The early pioneers had much to show for the voluntary efforts, with the opening of the Israeli Trade Commission, Israeli Government Tourism Office, and the arrival of Zim, Koor and other Israeli companies to our shores and the opening of the Australian Trade Commission in Tel Aviv.

Since its formal registration in 1970, trade between the two countries has continued to grow and the range of items traded has dramatically expanded. Both Australia and Israel have learnt much from each other and the work of the Chamber has allowed much of this potential to be realised. An entrepreneurial and talented leadership and staff have ensured the continued growth of the organisation, and have established the Chamber as one of Australia's leading business organisations with a strong brand and reputation in the marketplace.

In the 1980's a new strategic direction for the Chamber was set which saw the Chamber transformed from an organisation of committed volunteers to a professional business organisation that promoted Australia-Israel business ties using a contemporary marketing formula.

The Chamber has grown to be a national organisation with professionally staffed offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Tel Aviv.