The crowd arriving at New York City’s landmarked Surrogate’s Courthouse for the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce’s World Trade Week Event featured a diverse array of political and financial backgrounds, as dignitaries from a host of US trading partners mingled with top NYC officials, corporate executives, and business leaders to celebrate World Trade Week. The Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, appointed by the US Department of Commerce as a World Trade Week NYC partner, hosted the prestigious event in conjunction with the NYC Mayor’s Office, the Greater NY Chamber of Commerce, and the Korean American Chamber of Commerce.
Navigating the sea of faces from the upper echelons of the business and political worlds, participants had a unique opportunity to network and forge relationships at the highest levels. Representing Bahrain, Peru, Thailand, Israel, Turkey, Morocco, Germany, Canada, and, of course, the US government in Washington, were an international assemblage of trade ministers. Presidents of banks, CEOs of large corporations, officials from the NYC Mayor's Office, D.C. officials from the Department of Commerce, Homeland Security, Customs, and Export-Import - these were just some of the prominent guests at the event. Introductions and new contacts that would not otherwise have occurred were here brought to fruition.
The Orthodox Jewish Chamber’s long-running and close relationship with the NYC Mayor’s Office - with their collaboration on this event adding to a considerable body of other achievements accomplished in unison - was reaffirmed at the event by a meaningful gesture on the part of NYC Mayor Eric Adams. The mayor conferred a citation on the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce in which he wrote eloquently about the positive impact the Chamber has wrought for the Jewish community in NYC and around the world and applauded them for their successes.
The Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce and Greater NY Chamber had the privilege of signing Memoranda of Understanding with the government of Gyeongsang, South Korea. Governor Cheol-Woo Lee wrote a warm letter extending his congratulations on the event and expressing his delight at the budding partnership.
The event included a panel discussion, an awards ceremony, and a reception, with Wall Street Grill sponsoring kosher food for the event. The panelists and awardees included Dilip Chauhan, Deputy Commissioner for Trade, Investment, and Innovation; Carmela Mammas, Director at U.S. Commercial Service; TenaVel T. Thomas, Port Director for the Port of Newark/NY;Molly Bauer, Director of External Affairs for NYC Empire State Development; and Richard Foy, Regional Director for Export-Import Bank of the US.
Duvi Honig, Founder and CEO of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce was joined at the event by his partners, Mark Jaffe, President and CEO of the Greater NY Chamber of Commerce, and James Kim, President and CEO of the Korean American Chamber of Commerce. Other notable guests included Senior Advisor to Mayor Eric Adams, Joel Eisdorfer; Commissioner of the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit, Fred Kreizman; Israeli Trade Minister, Anat Katz; Commanding Officer-Inspector Richie Taylor; Senior Advisor to the Commissioner of OATH, Rachel Amar; Actor Tony Danza; and General Manager Turkish Airways Emre Ismailoglu.
