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NewsICOMAM NEWSWelcomePiet De GryseSenior Curator, Royal MilitaryMuseum, BrusselsICOMAM ChairmanDear reader, We hope that when leafing through this newnumber of The Magazine you already signed up for ourannual conference later this year. It promises to be anunusual experience, with a good mix of lectures, visits tomuseums and possibilities for networking. Our localcontact, dr. Christopher Roads, does his utmost to make thecongress as attractive as possible. All necessary informationis to be found on our website, where you also can register online (a first!) for both the congress and the post-congresstour: http://icomam.icom.museum. We are very pleased andhonoured to be able to announce that dr. Hans-Martin Hinz,president of ICOM, will be with us for the conference. Thepresence of the president of a 30,000 strong associationindicates that our congress is important to ICOM as well.ICOM has for some time now been trying to create a closerrelationship with the various Arab countries. AnInternational Committee conference in one of those targetcountries therefore of course is an occasion par excellenceto network. For ICOMAM it undoubtedly is both a specialhonour and a challenge.On June 4, 5 and 6 the annual ICOM meeting took placein Paris. Just as last year ICOMAM sent a threefolddelegation: Eva-Sofi Ernstell (Stockholm, Sweden), MathieuWillemsen, secretary (Delft, The Netherlands) and yourstruly. Our upcoming congress made for most pleasantconversations with the members of the National ICOMCommittee – Oman, present in Paris for the first time.During a working luncheon with the complete Omani andICOMAM delegations and in the presence of ICOM presidentdr. Hans-Martin Hinz and ICOM Director general JuliusAnfruns the provisional program was discussed, and it wasagreed to amend and alter it wherever necessary.Shortly before the meetings in Paris ICOM HQ toldICOMAM that we were to receive a 3,215 euro grant for theyear 2012. This subsidy is based on the 2011 annual reportwe submitted ICOM HQ at the end of January 2012. Theallowance is slightly lower than in 2011 (3,333 euro).However, we also receive a supplementary subsidy in theframework of the ICOM program Support to young membersto attend IC meetings 2012, which will allow us to send ayoung scholar to the conference. This makes the overall2012 balance supporting our actions quite positive.August 10 to 17, 2013: these are the dates for theupcoming ICOM congress to be organized in Rio de Janeiro(Brazil). Be sure to take the dates down, because we will atthe same time hold our annual ICOMAM conference. The2013 conference will gather at the Cidade des Artes (City ofArts) situated in Barra da Tijuca in the southwest of Rio,where the 2012 United Nations Rio +20 Earth Summitrecently took place and where the 2016 Olympic Games willbe held. I would explicitly like to thank our Vice ChairmanArmando de Senna Bittencourt for the follow-up on this fileand the communication of all necessary information toICOM Brazil. Details not only on the ICOM program but alsoon our own meetings, as well as the specific ICOMAMtheme will be featured in a next issue of The Magazine.Right now, you just have to jot down the dates.Some months ago a specific task force within theExecutive Board started working on the revision of ourstatutes. The existing statutes, dating back to 2003, indeedwere in need of updating, amongst other reasons to matchthe ICOM guidelines. The study was first transmitted toICOM HQ and last year in Graz, once the ICOM suggestionshad been incorporated, put in front of the completeExecutive Board. The new statutes are now of course to bepresented to all voting members. Our secretary MathieuWillemsen will shortly activate this consultative process.For quite some years now ICOMAM has been trying toparticipate in the discussions of the Arms Trade TreatyPreparatory Committee, as well as in the discussions of theSmall Arms and Light Weapons Committee at UN level. Ourboard member Kenneth Smith-Christmas, and our localcontact Tom Mason as specialist for the World Forum on theFuture of Sport Shooting Activities have been involved inseveral meetings at UN level. An important meeting isplanned in New York at the beginning of July where they willadvocate our point of view in this matter (read our policy forSafeguarding the World Heritage of Small Arms and LightWeapons on our website!).Finally, I wish to thank the editors of this Magazine, Boband Ruth Smith-Brown, and the many contributing authorsfor their collaboration. They once more succeeded in puttingtogether an exciting issue.See you in Nizwa in the beautiful and surprising Oman!4 MAGAZINE ISSUE 09