FIG General Assembly 2010, Sydney, Australia, 11 and 16 April 2010

Teo CheeHai elected as the next FIG President (2011-2014) and Congress 2014 voted for Kuala Lumpur

The FIG General Assembly 2010 was held in conjunction to the FIG Congress 2010 in Sydney, Australia. The General Assembly took place in two sessions. The first session was attended by 54 member associations and the second one, in which the elections took place by 67 member associations (66 members were able to vote). Both sessions were attended by several other members (affiliates, academic members and corporate members), honorary members and observers so that the total number of participants was more than 300 in both sessions.

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The biggest interest in the agenda was election of the next FIG President and new Vice Presidents. In the election for the President the first vote took place between three strong candidates who were all current FIG Vice Presidents. In the first vote Teo CheeHai from Malaysia got 27 votes, Matthew Higgins from Australia 24 and Iain Greenway 15 votes. In the second round Teo CheeHai got 33 votes and Matt Higgins 32 votes. So Teo CheeHai was elected as the next FIG President in a very close race. It shall be mentioned that Teo CheeHai is the first FIG President from Asia. The term of the new President is four years starting 1st January 2011. A formal ceremony for the handover is planned to take place in Copenhagen by the end November.

The General Assembly further elected two new Vice Presidents for term of office 1.1.2011-31.12-2014. After Teo CheeHai was elected for the next President also a third post for Vice President for a two-year period was opened. The election took place between three candidates one post at a time. In the election for the first Vice President Dr. Chryssy Potsiou from Greece won over Prof. Rudolf Staiger on the second round. For the second Vice President Prof. Staiger got most votes. As result Dr. Potsiou and Prof. Staiger Germany were elected as new Vice Presidents for term of office 1.1.2011-31.12.2014 and Dr. Dalal S. Alnaggar from Egypt for term of office 1.1.2011-31.12.2012.

The General Assembly appointed new chairs for the ten FIG Commissions (2011-2014). All current chairs elect were appointed and because there were no further candidates the appointment took place by acclamation. The new chairs will be:

  • Commission 1: Ms. Leonie Newnham, SSSI, Australia
  • Commission 2: Prof. Dr. Steven Frank, ACSM, USA
  • Commission 3: Prof. Yerach Doytsher, ALSI, Israel
  • Commission 4: Dr. Michael Sutherland, CIG, Canada and Trinidad and Tobago
  • Commission 5: Mr. Mikael Lilje, ASPECT, Sweden
  • Commission 6: Dr. Gethin Wyn Roberts, ICES, United Kingdom
  • Commission 7: Mr. Daniel Roberge, CIG, Canada
  • Commission 8: Mr. Wafula Nabutola, ISK, Kenya
  • Commission 9: Prof. Frances Plimmer, RICS, United Kingdom
  • Commission 10: Mr. Robert Šinkner, CUSC, Czech Republic

The General Assembly appointed also a new chairperson for OICRF, FIG permanent institution where Mr. Christiaan Lemmen from the Netherlands replaced Prof. Paul van der Molen, who has been chairing OICRF for more than 15 years. Ms. Kate Fairlie from Australia was appointed as chair to the Young Surveyors Network and Mr. David Martin from France as chair to the Standards Network for 2011-2014.

Prof. Pedro Cavero from Spain, Prof. Paul van der Molen from the Netherlands and Mr. Helge Onsrud from Norway were all appointed as Honorary Members for the long term work in FIG. They have all been – among other duties – Commission chairs and have carried out key roles in task forces among other.

For the host of the next FIG Congress 2014 there was a tight competition between two very strong candidates. In the voting Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia got 35 votes while Istanbul, Turkey was able to collect 31 votes. The General Assembly thus admitted the next FIG Congress to PEJUTA to host it jointly with FIG in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It will be the first time when the FIG Congress will be organised in Asia. Earlier Asia has only been the host for Working Weeks and regional conferences.

FIG membership is still increasing. The number of member associations is now 103 including following five new member associations:

  • Albania Association of Geodesy
  • Ordre des Géometrès Experts du Benin
  • Geodetic Association of Herceg-Bosnia (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
  • Cyprus Association of Valuers and Property Consultants;and
  • Nepal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

The Council has set a target to reach 50 affiliate members by the end of 2010. Ten new affiliate members were approved in Sydney and it is possible that the target of new members could be reached especially based on the good feed back from the Surveyor General Forum. The new affiliate members are:

  • Afghan Land Consulting Organization, ALCO, Afghanistan
  • Italian Society of Photogrammetry and Topography, SIFET, Italy
  • Swiss Federal Office of Topography, Swisstopo, Switzerland
  • National Cartographic Center, Iran
  • Afghanistan Information Management Services (AIMS), Afghanistan
  • Cadastral Survey Bureau of Land Management, Dept. of the Interior (BLM), USA
  • State Geodetic Administration of Republic of Croatia (DGU), Croatia
  • Survey of Israel, Israel
  • Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources, Fiji
  • Agency for Land Administration and Cadastre of Republic of Moldova

Further three corporate members were admitted FIG membership: Geotrilho Topografia Engenharia e Projecto lda, Portugal, Geoweb S.p.A., Italy, and Coordinates Magazine, India.

Number of academic members is now 89 after six new members:

  • The National Research Institute of Astronomy & Geophysics, Geodynamics Department, Egypt
  • The College of Estate Management, United Kingdom
  • Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic
  • College of Technology, University of Houston, USA
  • Center for Soil Protection and Land Use Policy (Zentrum für Bodenschutz und Flächenhaushaltspolitik am Umwelt), (ZBF-UCB), Germany
  • School of Rural Estate and Planning, Reading University, United Kingdom.

Three correspondents from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Peru were accepted to the end of 2010.

Other decisions of the General Assembly included the normal administrative issues like budget and reports from different institutions (permanent institutions, FIG Foundations and on co-operation with the United Nations and sister organisations.

Two new memorandum of understanding were signed between FIG and the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association (GSDI) and the Pan American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH).

The General Assembly agreed to establish the FIG members’ database by the end of 2010. This web based database will offer information on surveying and the profession in each FIG member country.

The end of the four-year administration means that many projects will come to an end by the end of this year. In Sydney eight major publications were launched and further the same number of publications will be launched by the end of 2010.

The General Assembly decided to accept that a congress declaration will be prepared and published as an outcome from the FIG Congress 2010. President Enemark presented a draft Sydney Declaration at the second General Assembly. It was decided that this draft will be circulated to FIG members for their comments. The members are requested to send their comments by 14 June 2010. After this deadline the FIG Council will decide on and publish the final version of the declaration.

More to Read:

Links to documents and reports of the FIG Congress 2010 and the XXXIII General Assembly in Sydney, Australia

  • Keynote presentations:

    Opening Ceremony

    Plenary Session 1 - FIG Achievements for 2007-2010

    • Stig Enemark, FIG President (Denmark): Building the Capacity - the FIG Agenda and Achievements 2007-2010 (4643)
      [handouts]

    Plenary Session 2 - Spatially Enabled Society

    • Abbas Rajabifard, GSDI President (Australia): Spatially Enabled Society (4644)
      [paper] [handouts]
    • Santiago Borrero, PAIGH President (Colombia): Spatially Enabled Society (4645)
      [abstract] [handouts]
    • Warwick Watkins, Surveyor General NSW (Australia): Spatially Enabled Society (4646)
      [paper] [handouts]

    Plenary Session 3 - The Big Challenges

    • Daniel Fitzpatrick (Australia): Climate Change, Disaster Management and Land Governance (4647)
    • Paul Munro-Faure, FAO (Italy): Good Land Governance (4648)
      [handouts]
    • Mohamed El-Sioufi, UN-HABITAT (Kenya): Climate Change and Sustainable Cities (4658)
      [paper] [handouts]

    Plenary Session 4 - Technological Futures 

    • Mary O’Kane (Australia): Technological Futures (4649)
      [handouts]
    • Ed Parsons (United Kingdom): Technological Futures (4650)
    • Matt Higgins FIG Vice President (Australia): Technological Futures (4653)
      [handouts]

    Closing Ceremony