General Meeting and Keynote Univ.-Prof. Dr. Harald Oberhofer

The club's biennial General Meeting was held on 10 February 2026 and started with a warm welcome and opening by President Ron Willis and Deputy Secretary-General Mag. Herbert Kovar, who hosted the meeting in the premises of Deloitte.

For the functional period March 2024 to March 2026 there had been a number of very fruitful events: Secretary-General Mag. Georg Krauchenberg gave an overview of the various visits to well-known Austrian companies and other hidden champions such as research institutes and universities. Right after the last General Meeting in 2024 we had a visit to APA - Austrian Press Agency, followed by Siemens Mobility Austria GmbH, BOKU River Lab,.AT%S Advanced Technologies and Solutions, Pankl Racing Systems AG, APG - the National Control Centre of Austrian Power Grid and WIIW - The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies. The first event in 2025 was the visit to ECG - E-Contol, the independent electricity and gas regulatory authority of Austria, followed by a visit to VIG, the Vienna Insurance Group, to ORF, the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, to OeKB, the Austrian central financial services provider and to WIFO, Austria's leading institute for applied empirical economic research. In autumn 2025 we visited TSA - Traktionssysteme Austria, followed by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) - Technische Services GmbH, the Technology Centre Seestadt of Vienna Business Agency and another time WIIW - The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies. In February 2026 we were invited by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Gottfried Haber to Erste Group Bank AG.

Secretary General Krauchenberg then gave an outlook to the visits planned for the months after the General Meeting such as the visit to Frequentis AG followed by a day trip to Carnthia via the new Koralm Railway Line visiting the leading chips producer Infineon Technologies Austria AG in Villach and the Lakeside Science & Technology Park in Klagenfurt.

Please find more information about our events in the chronicle-section of our website.

The presentation of the activities of CdH were followed by the positive reports of the treasurer and the consistent discharge of the Board. The next activity was the reelection of the President as well as the reelection/election of the Board Members. All members of the Board got unanimously re-elected.  Deputy Auditor Dkfm. Dr. Hanns-Werner Schmoll changed to Deputy Auditor and was followed by Auditor and Tax Consultant Mag. Werner Lenzhofer.  The list of the current Board Members can be seen on our website under the section "Board". The Association Authority was informed accordingly.

The Club for Trade Delegates serves as a contact platform between accredited trade and economic delegates and the Austrian business and political community. The club offers its members a closer and personal contact to Austrian companies and institutions. Renowned experts give their views on the state of the Austrian as well as the Regional economy and outlook, thus offering an additional value to the economic representatives of foreign embassies and official institutions. At the same time it is promoting additional business contacts for the Austrian side through the numerous visits being organized by the Club.

The GA ended with a keynote speach by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Harald Oberhofer, Professor of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business, on "One Year of America First 2.0: The Impact of US Trade Policies" followed by a reception.