posted 24 November 1999 12:27            

Vancouver, Canada - 12th September 1999

Present to the meeting:

Mr. Raymond Borneck, President
Mr. Asger Søgård Jørgensen, Vice-President
Mr. Riccardo Jannoni-Sebastianini, Secretary-General
Prof. Octaaf Van Laere, President of Standing Commission
Dr. Nicola Bradbear, President of Standing Commission
Mr. Hideo Watanabe, President of Standing Commission
Dr. Wolfgang Ritter, President of Standing Commission
Dr. Marinus Sommeijer, President of Standing Commission
Dr. Theodore Cherbuliez, President of Standing Commission
Mr. Gilles Ratia, President a.i. of Standing Commission
Mr. Karl Wyder, Member of Auditing Commission
Mr. Karel Gladines, Member of Auditing Commission

Invited:

Mr. Cristian constantinescu, director IITEA
Ms. Erika Dumitrascu, Editor in Chief of Apiacta, IITEA
Ms. Marta Giogia, Chief Accountant, IITEA
Mr. Don Dixon, President of 36th Apimondia
Prof. Mark Winston, Member of 36th Apimondia Congress Committee
Dr. Cynthia Scott-Dupree, Member of 36th Apimondia Congress Committee

AGENDA OF THE MEETING

1. Adoption of the agenda

2. Reports of the President, Vice-President and Secretary-General

3. Reports of the other members

4. Report of the Auditing Commission on the accounting reports for the period 1997-98.
Presentation and review of the draft budget for the next biennium

5. Evaluation of the amendments to the Statutes and other issues to be discussed and approved at the General Assembly

6. Discussion on any outstanding issues pertaining to the 36th Apimondia congress

7. Renewal of the management positions due to expire

8. Endorsement of the proposals of new honorary members of Apimondia

9. Admission of new members (Associations, Institutions and Individual Correspondents)

10. Financial situation relating to the settlement of membership fees

11. Endorsement of the exclusion of non-paid-up members

12. Calendar of future international congresses and symposia

13. Definition of the preliminary induction meetings and forthcoming engagements with future congress organising committees

14. Report on the activity of IITEA. Endorsement of the minutes of the last IITEA Managing Committee meeting

15. Others:

a) Apimondia Srl (Limited company)

b) Protocol on the organisation of future congresses

c) Follow-up on the resolutions of the 35th Apimondia congress

d) Any other business

* * * * * * * * * * *

The President opened the meeting inviting the Secretary-General to proceed with the adoption of the agenda

- Adoption of the agenda (point 1)

After approving the minutes of the previous meeting held in May 1999 in Rome and conveying the apologies of Messrs. Lear and Peroutka who were unable to attend the meeting, the agenda was approved.

- Reports of the President, Vice-President and Secretary-General (point 2)

The President took the floor to report on the ongoing collaboration with the Codex Alimentarius and the preparation of a forthcoming meeting on these issues to take place in Dijon France.

The Vice-President reported on the audit meeting held in Rome in August with one of the auditors, Mr. Wyder, to review the Federation' s accounts for the period 1997-98. He also mentioned the travel to IITEA in Bucharest to visit the premises and the facilities of the Institute.

The Secretary-General in turn also referred to the audit meeting to illustrate the work carried out in preparing the accounts and reported on the developments of the works being carried out on the house in Castel Porziano.

- Reports of the other members (point 3)

The Presidents of the Standing Commission intervened to give a brief account on their commissions' activities and on the preparatory work leading to the congress sessions.

- Report of the Auditing Commission on the accounting reports for the period 1997-98. Presentation and review of the draft budget for the next biennium (point 4)

Mr. Wyder took the floor to read the audit report ensuing from his inspection of the accounts carried out in August. He stated that the documentation reviewed proved to be in good order and the figures reported in line with the bank statements and the previous financial statements. He concluded making a recommendation for the General Assembly to give the Secretary-General discharge for the management of the Federation's accounts for the years 1993- 98 as a result of the audits carried out by the Autditing commission in 1998 and 1999.

As for the draft budget, this would be reviewed with the concurrence of the Executive Council and the auditors to match the resources available with the current operational and institutional commitments before submission to the General Assembly.

- Evaluation of the amendments to the Statutes and other issues to be discussed and approved at the General Assembly (point 5)

The two major issues regarding the proposal submitted by the German Beekeepers' Federation concerning a new version of the Statutes and the other presented by the Dutch Beekeepers' Association suggesting the provision of and external auditor to review independently the accounts were briefly summarised in view of the discussion to be taken up with the delegates at the General Assembly.

The two proposals had already been circulated to the members with the documentation relating to the General Assembly meeting and on this occasion the future steps to be taken would have been jointly assessed with the concurrence of the member associations.

The German Beekeepers' Federation offered to act as the focal secretariat in the review of the statutes and advocated the contribution of the members in the review committee.

- Discussion on any outstanding issues pertaining to the 36th Apimondia congress (point 6)

The representatives of the Canadian Congress Organising Committee were admitted to report on the latest developments and arrangements leading to the opening of the congress activities and the running of the various sessions on the congress programme.

The technical details of some presentations were discussed to check on the availability of facilities and also the protocol of the official ceremonies and relevant arrangments were briefly reviewed with the members of the Executive Council also to schedule the interventions of each.

- Renewal of the management positions due to expire (point 7)

A brief review of the positions undergoing renewal was carried out also in the light of the proposals received in the meantime from some member associations which indicated candidates for the presidency.

- Endorsement of the proposals of new honorary members of Apimondia (point 8)

The proposals already made in the previous Executive Council meeting for Prof. Morse, Mr. Spitznagel and Ms. Dumitrascu to be appointed honorary members were confirmed and recommended for endorsement by the General Assembly

- Admission of new members (Associations, Institutions and Individual Correspondents) (point 9)

The Secretary-General reported on the various applications for membership received and announced that a listing of same was available for the delegates attending the General Assembly organised by membership status.

- Financial situation relating to the settlement of membership fees (point 10)

The Secretary-General announced that the usual summary report on the membership fee situation had been prepared for the review at the General Assembly and once again stressed the negative impact on the Federation's activities deriving from the non- or delayed payment of the fees.

- Endorsement of the exclusion of non-paid-up members (point 11)

The Secretary-General reported on the four member associations that had not paid their dues for the past four-five years and that would have to be approached to check their continued intention to retain their membership status by settling the fees still outstanding.

- Calendar of future international congresses and symposia (point 12)

A round of the Executive Council members confirmed the experts' meeting on pollination coming up in the Netherlands in October 1999 and others events such as the one on control of varroa in Belgium in November 1999, the 2nd Carribbean Congress taking place in Nevis in August 2000 and the practical training course on pollination scheduled in September 2000 in South Africa.

- Definition of the preliminary induction meetings and forthcoming engagements with future congress organising committees (point 13)

The Vice-President and the Secretary-General announced that arrangements had been made with representatives of the South African and Slovenian Congress Organising Committees to meet and discuss on the organisation of their respective events. By means of these meetings it was intended to identify and lay down the key issues to be addressed in the preliminary stages of the congress organisation and to assess mutual needs, plans and expectations.

- Report on the activity of IITEA. Endorsement of the minutes of the last IITEA Managing Committee meeting (point 14)

The minutes of the meeting held in May 1999 were approved and Mr. Constatinescu reported on the visit to the Institute of the Vice-President in August to see the facilities available, meet the staff and assess the potential for future development.

- Apimondia Srl (Limited company) (point 15 a)

The Secretary-general briefly updated the Executive Council on the restoration work carried out at the house in castel Porziano and the installation of the tenant since August 1999. He added that there remained a few interventions to complete the refurbishing of the premises and that the office space reserved for Apimondia in the basement was in the process of being re-organised to become fully operational within the next few months.

- Protocol on the organisation of future congresses (point 15 b)

A new version of the protocol would be prepared to cater to the arrangements required for the forthcoming Apimondia congress in South Africa in 2001. The text would be reviewed and integrated with the collaboration of the South African Congress Organising Committee with a view to highlighting initiatives aimend at facilitating the participation in the congress of a larger proportion of participants from less developed countries.

- Follow-up on the resolutions of the 35th Apimondia congress (point 15 c)

The resolutions were reviewed and new recommendations were made to ensure that the new ones be as close as possible to the themes addressed by the congress and feasible in their implementation.

- Any other business (point 15 d)

No specific issue was raised under this point.