IAESTE Review Cover 01

Conference Report
The 56th IAESTE Annual Conference took place in Vienna, Austria from 17-24 January 2004.
223 delegates, observers and accompanying persons from 72 countries attended the Conference
which was held in the Penta Vienna Renaissance Hotel.
At the opening ceremony the National
Secretary of IAESTE Austria, Ms Monika
Kümmel, invited the Conference Honorary
President, Mr Rolf Kratochvil to address
the delegates. As a former IAESTE General
Secretary from 1968-1974, he was known
to many of the members present and he
had also served in every official role in the
Association. He was Conference
Chairperson in Vienna in 1955, in Haifa in 1965
and in Budapest in 1987. He was also a member
of the Advisory Committee in 1951-52 and
1962-63. He spoke to the delegates about his
times in IAESTE, the growth of the Association
and his hopes for the future of IAESTE.
The guest speaker was Sergio Gardelliano from
the Vienna International Centre of UNIDO. He
spoke of the work of UNIDO and the possible
areas of contact between UNIDO and IAESTE.
The General Secretary then gave his report and
welcomed invited guests from FISITA,
Norsk Hydro, SACE, IAPS and the
Technische Universität Wien.
The delegates and guests were entertained
during the opening ceremony by three
pieces of music played by a quintet from
the Vienna School of Music. Ms Monika
Kümmel then concluded the proceedings
by welcoming everyone to Vienna and wishing
them a successful Conference.
A total of 6290 offers were made available during
the exchange sessions and mentors were
assigned to new member countries and new
delegates to help them throughout the
Conference when necessary. A successful Meet
and Greet session organised by SID ( Seminar on
IAESTE Development) prior to the official
opening ceremony enabled newcomers to
IAESTE to feel welcome and to meet
experienced IAESTE members before the
Conference started in earnest.
During the Conference the IDT (Internet
Development Team) successfully launched
Phase 3 of the IAESTE IntraWeb and were
very pleased to report that nearly 90% of the
Conference participants attended their training
sessions. Mr Nicholas Leonard, the IAESTE
Ombudsman presented his second report to the
members, while Mr Tobias Wittmann, a great
servant over the years to IAESTE, informed the
General Conference that he was standing down
from his position as FoIN (Friends of IAESTE
network) co-ordinator. The General Conference
approved the appointment of Peter Merrild as
the new FoIN co-ordinator and Kim Jensen
continues as the IDT co-ordinator.
The SID co-ordinator, Mrs Pauline Ferguson,
presented her report on the work which
followed the 18th SID which was held in Skopje,
Macedonia, in May 2003. Mr Jeff Lange,
National Secretary, IAESTE United States, was
elected as the SID co-ordinator for 2004.
As required under the IAESTE statutes, Dr Adam
Rylski, National Secretary, IAESTE Poland, retired
as a member of the Advisory Committee, having
completed his term of office. The General
Conference elected Professor Chikaosa
Tanimoto, National Secretary, IAESTE Japan to
the vacant position for the period 2004-2007. Ms
Gabriella Rácz, IAESTE Hungary, was elected to
the Advisory Committee for 2004.
Professor Goran Radnovic, National Secretary,
Serbia & Montenegro was elected as Chairperson
of the 57th Annual Conference to be held in
Cartagena, Colombia from 22-28 January 2005
while Mr Jean-Michel Alaverdov, National
Secretary, IAESTE France was elected as Reserve
Chairperson.
The members then elected Malta as the host
venue for the 58th Annual Conference to be
held from 21-27 January 2006.
IAESTE Austria provided a range of social events
during the conference. Special events included a
dinner at Heurigen “Fuhrgassl-Huber” and a
memorable evening at the Leopoldsberg Castle.
The farewell dinner was sponsored by Mobilkom
Austria and was a celebration of a very well
organised conference and an acknowledgement
of the completion of the third and final term of
office for the General Secretary Jim Reid and a
welcome to the incoming General Secretary
Pauline Ferguson.
The National Secretary of IAESTE Germany and
AC member, Günter Muller-Graetschel, made a
presentation to Jim Reid on behalf of all the
members. He spoke of the contribution which
the outgoing General Secretary had made to
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