The O.P.C.E. was created in 1989 in order to provide a connection between Businessmen's Organisations of Capital Cities that are in member states of the European Union. The main objective of the Association is to encourage information exchange and mutual technical assistance between the business organizations of the capitals in the member states as well as to promote partnerships in addition to economic, social and cultural exchanges. It helps with Networking, Benchmarking and Lobbying!

Work meetings, are regularly organised to allow the parties to meet each other. The goal is to exchange experiences related to problems common to capital city managers and to directly or indirectly propose recommendations to their respective governments as well as to European institutions.

OPCE now regroups 12 strong member organizations and will continue to grow! Join us in working for economic development, sharing opinions and experience and offering exchanges for young entrepreneurs in the new EU capitals!


How does it work?

OPCE members meet several times a year in different capital cities:

• for 3 or 4 Board of Directors’ meetings and 1 regular General meeting
• for technical meetings for special work groups
• for an annual Conference, organised by one of the member organizations, for sharing experiences with other European entrepreneurs, to meet political and economic players from different countries, and to propose solutions to their local governments and the European Authorities.

OPCE operates throughout the year thanks to its Private Intranet Platform! (The OPCE Community)


The historical outline of OPCE

The historical outline of OPCE, by Francesco Morabito - Download PDF

 

OPCE promotes partnerships as well as economic, social and cultural exchanges among European capital cities!

Thanks to its exceptional network of 12 business organisations from different European capitals, members can share their experiences and concerns directly with their counterpart or by organising work groups!

Creating connections, finding information and helping your projects succeed—that is the key advantage of OPCE!

For example, an organisation may request that another organisation host a delegation’s official visit with the local political authorities.

 

OPCE uses studies to compare the experiences in the different capital cities with the goal of bringing about improvement!

OPCE created a benchmarking group in order to exchange opinions and share experiences on key issues that directly affect the economic development of capital cities.

For instance, in March 2005, the benchmarking group worked on Urban development and traffic issues and presented its conclusions to Rodi Kratsa, member of the European Parliament in charge of transport and tourism.

 

OPCE makes the “voice of European entrepreneurs” better listened to by both the European authorities, and the respective Governments of each OPCE member, resulting in resolutions regarding the capital cities!

Thanks to networking and Benchmarking, you can add focus to your lobbying efforts on a European level!

For example, the OPCE submitted common proposals for ending the economic crisis affecting our European capitals.