On 12 October 2010, Union Fleurs, the International Floricultural Trade Association, gathering 18 member countries involved in the import and export of cut flowers, greens and pot plants, elected a new Board on the occasion of its 2010 General Assembly, held in Miami (USA).

The new Union Fleurs Board of Directors will work for the next two years under the leadership of
Lennart Loven (Spain), new President of Union Fleurs and successor to Sandro Cepollina (Italy), with
the close support of Ralph Ruckstuhl (Switzerland) as Vice-President, who will assume the
responsibility previously held by Osman Bagdatlioglu (Turkey). The secretariat of Union Fleurs will be
transferred from the Netherlands to the SACAR office in Brussels, with Sylvie Mamias as new
secretary general of Union Fleurs on behalf of the Netherlands.
The General Assembly also approved the creation of a new Committee for the Americas and adopted
a new set of statutes for Union Fleurs.
The new Board will be composed of the following representatives:

• Lennart Loven, President (FEPEX / Spain)

• Ralph Ruckstuhl, Vice-President (Association of Swiss Flower Wholesale Trade)

• Jan Roelofs, Chairman EU Section (BGI / Germany)

• Richard Fox, Chairman World Trade Committee (Kenya Flower Council)

• Ignacio Perez, Chairman Committee for the Americas ( Expoflores / Ecuador)

• John Nevado, Relationships Manager (Expoflores / Ecuador)

• Sylvie Mamias, Secretary General (representing HBAG-VGB / The Netherlands)

The new team will build on the excellent work carried out by the previous Board of Directors and will
concentrate its efforts on a number of priority areas for the international floricultural trade, amongst
others phytosanitary measures, import tariffs and market access, VAT rates and trade promotion in
general.
The ultimate objective of Union Fleurs as a trade association is to secure, through the active
involvement of its members, a favourable international trading environment and a sustainable future
for the international floricultural trade. “In turbulent economic times, the floricultural industry needs
Union Fleurs even more: we need to stick together and cooperate as much as we can to overcome
boundaries and dismantle barriers to trade” said Lennart Loven. “One of the main values of Union
Fleurs is in the networking platform it offers to its members”, added Ralph Ruckstuhl. “We will aim at
seizing every opportunity to increase even more the benefits our members gain from our international
organisation.”
In this perspective, Union Fleurs also aims at enlarging in the near future its membership to new
member countries in importing and exporting countries throughout the world. Attracting new
members is one of the priority goals of the new Board of Directors, in order to increase its weight and
become even more influential in its efforts to defend the interests of its global membership. „We
need to expand the reach of Union Fleurs even more and include new players in the floricultural
industry such as the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) to speak with one voice and
increase cooperation worldwide“ explained John Nevado, the new relationship manager.

Note to the editors:
Union Fleurs is the International Floricultural Trade Association and officially represents the interests
of traders in cut flowers & greens and pot plants. Union Fleurs was founded in 1959 in Brussels and
has members in 18 countries worldwide.
The total value of exports of cut flowers and pot plants amounted to 10 billion EUR worldwide in
2009*. Union Fleurs membership accounts for around 80% of this value and most major players in the
worldwide export & import trade are represented in the organisation (e.g. the Netherlands,
Colombia, Kenya, Ecuador, Germany and Italy)

Lennart Loven is the President of ASOCAN (the Association of Growers & Exporters of Plants and
Flowers from the Canary Islands) since 1999 and a member of the committee for flowers & plants
within FEPEX (Spanish Federation of Associations of Producers and Exporters of Fruits, Vegetables,
Flowers and Live Plants). He has been for 40 years an active grower & exporter of cut flowers and
plants from the Canary Islands.

Ralph Ruckstuhl is the President of the Association of Swiss Flower Wholesale Trade (Vereinigung des
Schweizerischen Blumengrosshandels) and CEO & owner of Sunflor AG based in Glattbrugg,
Switzerland (importing cutflowers and greens for the Swiss wholesale market). He is also owner of
Sunflor Germany GmbH, based in Kelsterbach, Germany (importing cutflowers & greens for the
German wholesale market) and a shareholder of Sunflor Ecuador (in partnership with the Dutch
Flower Group) and Picasso Roses Ltda in Ecuador and of Golden Rose Agrofarms in Ethiopia.