posted 30 November 2005 11:53            

Mr. A.S. Jørgensen, President
Mr. R. Jannoni-Sebastianini, Secretary-General
Dr. T. Cherbuliez, President of Standing Commission
Prof. Dr. O. Van Laere, acting President of Standing Commission
Dr. N. Bradbear, President of Standing Commission
Mr. D.Q. Tam, President of Standing Commission
Dr. W. Ritter, President of Standing Commission
Dr. M.J. Sommeijer, President of Standing Commission
Mr. G. Ratia, President of Standing Commission

Invited:

Mr. C. Constantinescu, Director of FIITEA
Ms. M. Giogia, Chief Accountant, FIITEA
Prof. R. Domerego, Vice-President of Standing Commission
Mr. P. McCabe, President of 39th Apimondia Congress
Mr. Graham Hall, Irish Organising Committee
Mr. David Shirley, Irish Organising Committee
Mr. Michael Gleeson, Irish Organising Committee
Prof. K. Crailsheim

Agenda of the meeting

a) Adoption of the agenda
b) Reports by the President and Secretary-General
c) Reports by the other members of the Executive Council
d) Presentation and review of the draft budget for the next biennium. Review of the financial situation relating to the settlement of membership fees
e) Review of the amendments to the Statutes and other issues to be discussed and approved at the General Assembly
f) Discussion on any outstanding issues pertaining to the 39th Apimondia Congress
g) Renewal of the management positions
h) Endorsement of the proposals of new honorary members of Apimondia
i) Admission of new members (Associations, Institutions and Individual Correspondents)
j) Endorsement of the exclusion of non-paid-up members
k) Calendar of future international congresses and symposia
l) Definition of the preliminary induction meetings and forthcoming engagements with future congress organising committees
m) Report on the activity of FIITEA. Endorsement of the minutes of the last FIITEA Managing Committee meeting
n) Others:
a) Apimondia Srl (Limited company)
b) Protocol on the organisation of future congresses
c) Follow-up on the resolutions of the 38th Apimondia Congress
d) Any other business

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

a) Adoption of the agenda (point 1)

After approving the minutes of the previous meeting held in Dublin in May 2005, conveying the apologies of the members Dr. E. Schieferstein and Prof. R. Crewe who were unable to attend the meeting and introducing Prof. K. Crailsheim, the agenda is approved with minor changes concerning the order of discussion of the various points as reflected in the sequence of the items addressed and reported in this document.

• Discussion on any outstanding issues pertaining to the 39th Apimondia Congress (point 6)

Mr. McCabe, President of the 39th Apimondia Congress, takes the floor and illustrates the progress of the congress organisation, stressing on the fact that everything is in place for the opening of the event, although there have been some problems with the rejection of the issuance of visas to prospective attendees. This was due to the large numbers of visas requested in this period of time, to some mistakes made by applicants as well as to the fact that some applicants, after a check made by the Authorities, resulted in having nothing to do with beekeeping. However, the majority of the applications were positively cleared.
The members agree on the fact that for the future Apimondia and the Local Organising Committee must find effective ways to help prospective attendees in the visa application process and to work more closely with the relevant authorities. It is decided that this issue as well as the need to lower the registration fees and inform the delegates more in detail on the voting procedures will be dealt with in depth at the next internal workshop of Apimondia on "Congress organisation issues" due to take place in May 2006.
Mr. McCabe then illustrates in detail the programme and schedule of the events that will take place during the Congress, namely the arrangements of the meetings, time schedules, participation of invited speakers as well as institutional ceremonies and social events. A discussion follows on amending some details in order to provide the definitive programme.
Mr. McCabe reports on the number of registered participants and, as for the financial situation, underlines that the cash flow is still low but other transfers are still to come.

• Reports by the President and Secretary-General (point 2)

The President and the Secretary-General take the floor to briefly illustrate the institutional activities carried over the last 3 months which focussed on visiting the venues which placed a bid for the 2009 Congress and signing a Letter of Agreement with FAO for the organisation of a workshop on "Transdisciplinary Issues for Rural Development in Eastern Europe", due to take place in Italy in September 2005; for this initiative, Apimondia will seek the involvement of FIITEA in the printing of the relevant proceedings. A copy of the reports of the President and Secretary-General are attached to these minutes.

• Reports of the other Executive Council Members (point 3)

The other members of the Executive Council deliver in turn their own reports which illustrate the activities carried out in the specific field of each Commission, the copies of which are attached to these minutes.

All the above-mentioned reports will be circulated on the occasion of the forthcoming General Assembly of Apimondia.

• Presentation and review of the draft budget for the next biennium. Review of the financial situation relating to the settlement of membership fees (point 4)

The draft budget for the 2006-2007 biennium is presented, discussed and approved. As for the situation pertaining to the settlement of membership fees, it is agreed that the Apimondia Members in arrear that wish to vote in the General Assembly will be able to clear their situation by 12:00 hrs of 22nd August 2005.

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

The President illustrates the amendments that will be submitted to the General Assembly for its endorsement pertaining to the Apimondia Statutes: rewording of the objectives of the Federation (Art. 3), addition of two paragraphs so that, in case the Secretary-General or other members of the Executive Council are not able to fulfil their duties, the President can take over their responsibility (Art. 18), renaming of the former Standing Commission on Bee Pathology into "Standing Commission on Bee Health" (Art. 20) and to the By-laws: rewording of the mission of Apimondia, change of the currency for the membership fees from the US$ to the Euro, appointment of an Editor for the official digital version of Apiacta.
The Executive Council then discusses, upon the proposal submitted by the Honey International Packers' Association and the International Honey Commission, on the feasibility to establish a new Standing Commission on honey quality. All members agree to turn this proposal into the creation of a Permanent Working Group on "Honey Quality" within the Standing Commission on Beekeeping Technology and Equipment.
The proposal submitted by the Federación Red Nacional Apícola (Chile), Socieded Argentina de Apicultores (Argentina), Federación Argentina de Cooperativas Apícolas (Argentina) and Sociedad Apícola Uruguaya (Uruguay) to establish a Permanent Working Group on "Associativism, production and local and environmental development" within the Standing Commission on Beekeeping for Rural Development is also approved.
Finally, Mr. Ratia anticipates that also for his Commission they are contemplating a title change in order to include a focus on quality issues. It is agreed that this proposal will have to be submitted for discussion in the next Executive Council meeting and eventually to the General Assembly due to convene in September 2007.

• Renewal of the management positions (point 7)

The Secretary-General reads the list of the positions expiring this year. Due to the resignation of Dr. E. Schieferstien as Vice-President, two proposals have officially been submitted for this position: Mr. P. McCabe (Ireland) and Mr. L. Martinez (Argentina). As for the position of President of the Standing Commission on Bee Biology, Prof. K. Crailsheim is proposed to replace Prof. R. Crewe, the latter being unable to retain this position due to new commitments with his University. All the other incumbent members, Mr. R. Jannoni-Sebastianini, Dr. N. Bradbear, Dr. M. Sommeijer and Mr. D.Q. Tam, confirm their availability to be re-appointed for another term of office.

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

The Executive Council endorses the proposal to nominate Dr. Erich Schieferstein (Germany) and Mr. Philip McCabe (Ireland) Honorary Members of Apimondia on account of their dedicated work done for Apimondia.

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

The Secretary-General reads the list of the Associations, Institutions and Individual Correspondents that have applied for membership in the past biennium respectively as Full Members: Natsionalyen Branshovi Pcelarski Soyuz (Bulgaria), Union nationale des apiculteurs du Burkina Faso (Burkina Faso), Association pour le développement de l'apiculture au Congo (Congo D.R.), Agricultural Producers' Association (Nigeria), Federação Nacional dos Apicultores de Portugal (Portugal), Asociación Provincial de Apicultores de Granada (Spain), Asociación de Apicultores Sierra-Norte de la Comunidad de Madrid (Spain), Türkiye Ari Yetistiricileri Merkez Birligi (Turkey), Uludag Aricilik Dernegi (Turkey), Samarkandskaya Oblastnaya Assotsiatsiya Asalchilar (Uzbekistan); Associate Members: European Federation of Honey Packers and Distributors (Germany), Goldmart Commercials Ltd. (Ghana), Epistimoniko Kentro Melissotherapeias (Greece), Al-Owaid Honey Centre for Apitherapy (Kuwait), Honey International Packers' Association (United Kingdom) and Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Apícolas (Venezuela) and Individual Members: Messrs. Al-Qalawi (Jordan), Schaer (Switzerland), Danylevsky (Ukraine), Flottum (USA) and Pepe (USA). These applications will be presented to the General Assembly for the official endorsement.

• Endorsement of the exclusion of non-paid-up members (point 10)

Three Member Associations - Agricultural Bank (Libya), Beekeepers' Co-operative League (Libya) and Polski Zwiazek Pszczelarski (Poland) - have accrued four years of unpaid membership and are therefore in the process of being excluded from the Federation should they not pay within six months their respective outstanding dues.

• Calendar of future international congresses and symposia (point 11)

The Presidents of the Standing Commissions report on the international symposia and meetings that would be organised under the aegis of Apimondia in the coming biennium: "4th Caribbean Beekeeping Congress" (Trinidad and Tobago - November 2005), "Symposium on Reforestation and Beekeeping with Indigenous Bees" (El Salvador - December 2005), organisation and management of some sessions on diagnosis and on foraging behaviour within EurBee 2006 (Czechia - September 2006), "Treatment of Viruses and Bacteria with Natural Products" (Belgium - September/October 2006), follow-up on "Honey Trade Issues and Residues in Honey" (Asia, 2006).
As for the 41st Apimondia Congresses, the Letter of Agreement has been finalised and is ready to be signed during the Congress. A number of inspection visits have taken place to the venues that placed a bid.

• Definition of the preliminary induction meetings and forthcoming engagements with future congress organising committees (point 12)

The Letter of Agreement for the 40th Apimondia Congress will be signed during the present Congress. Furthermore, it is decided to meet all the bidders for the 2009 Congress after the appointment of the venue in order to discuss further joint activities.

• Report on the activity of FIITEA. Endorsement of the minutes of the last FIITEA Managing Committee meeting (point 13)

On 19th August 2005 an informal meeting has been held in Dublin to discuss some issues pertaining to FIITEA, during which the Foundation's Director illustrated the main editorial and commercial activities carried out. It is agreed to hold a formal meeting in Bucharest in the forthcoming months in order to analyse more in detail the aforementioned issues.

• Others (point 14)

- Apimondia Srl (point 14 a)

The Secretary-General reports on the situation of the company, confirming that, having all the restoration work been repaid, there is now a higher and steady income that will entail transfer of resources from Apimondia Srl to the Federation to gradually reduce and settle the liability accrued over the years when the Federation granted contributions to Apimondia Srl for various expenses and needs. The President and Secretary-General have regular meetings with the accountant of the company.

- Protocol on the organisation of future congresses (point 14 b)

Apimondia is working in order to improve the organisation as well as the management of future congresses. A specific meeting, due to take place in Rome in May 2006, is being organised.

- Follow-up on the resolutions of the 38th Apimondia Congress (point 14 c)

The President reports that most of the resolutions adopted in the 38th Apimondia Congress have been fulfilled, namely the increased communication to the members, the updating of the website, the co-operation with the Irish Organising Committee, the organisation of specialised symposia and seminars, the increased co-operation with international organisations such as FAO, the organisation of internal workshops for the future development of the Federation, the commitment in the field of indigenous bee races and pollinators. Still more has to be done in the field of the recognition of Apimondia as an international NGO.

- Any other business (point 14 d)

The Executive Council deliberates on convening the Apimondia internal workshop on "Congress and Symposia Organisation Issues" and the next Executive Council meeting in Rome, Italy, respectively on 12th May 2006 and from 13th to 14th May 2006.

Having covered all the agenda, the President calls the meeting to a close.

Rome, 19th September 2005

Asger Søgård Jørgensen
Apimondia President