FIG Council and Commission Officers meet during the 7th FIG Regional Conference

Hanoi, Vietnam, 17-18 October 2009

The FIG Council and Commission Officers had their administrative meetings during the 7th FIG Regional Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam. At the ACCO meetings on 17th and 18th October the focus was in commission co-operation issues. Commission chairs used lot of time for planning the technical programme for FIG Congress in Sydney in April 2010. Almost 800 papers including 120 papers for peer review offer an opportunity to create the biggest and high profile programme ever at an FIG Congress. The draft programme will be published in late November 2009. Commission Chairs Elect started preparations for the draft work plans so that they have material to discuss with their national delegates in Sydney.

The FIG Council used also most of the time for preparations for the General Assembly and Congress in Sydney. The programme at the General Assembly will include several important reports and statements. This is natural as the congress will summarise the work of the Council and Commissions over the last four years. The Council is currently also waiting for nominations for the election of the President and Vice Presidents as well as bids for hosting the FIG Congress 2014.

The Council approved the new policy for organising FIG events in the future and confirmed dates for the Working Weeks 2011 and 2012.

New member associations were approved from Cyprus (Cyprus Association of Valuers and Property Consultants) and Nepal (Nepal Institution of Chartered Surveyors). In addition the member association from Australia has been changed from ISA to SSSI (Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute).

New affiliate members were adopted from Afghanistan (Afghan Land Consulting Organization, ALCO),  Italy (Italian Society of Photogrammetry and Topography, SIFET) and Switzerland (- Swiss Federal Office of Topography, Swisstopo). Also three academic members were confirmed from Egypt (National Research Institute of Astronomy & Geophysics), Czech Republic (Brno University of Technology) and United Kingdom (The College of Estate Management). Correspondents were appointed from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Peru to the end of 2010. Geotrilho Topografia Engenharia e Projecto lda from Portugal was adopted as new corporate member.

The Council discussed also the finances and the FIG Office development plan.