 Four months to go:
Preparations Well Under Way for FIG Working Week 2011
Rabat and Marrakech Morocco, 11-14 January 2011
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Local organising committee members at the conference venue. |
The famous Djemaa el Fna square in Marrakech.
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FIG representatives visited Rabat and Marrakech 11-14 January to check
the final preparations of the FIG Working Week 2011 that will be held in
Marrakech 18-22 May 2011. The Working Week is a second FIG conference to be
held in Morocco as the FIG Regional Conference was held in Marrakech in
2003. Based on the excellent arrangements and feedback from the previous
event the General Assembly decided in Munich in 2006 to have the Working
Week in Morocco. It will be the second time that the Working Week will be
held in the Arabic countries. FIG representatives visited Rabat and
Marrakech to discuss and agree on final arrangements of the Working Week
with the Ordre National des Ingénieurs Géomètres Topographes (ONIGT) and the
local organising committee on practical arrangements. The team led by Dr. Dalal S. Alnaggar, FIG Vice President together with
Louise
Friis-Hansen, Office Manager and Markku Villikka, FIG Director
could see that the organising committee and local surveyors had put a lot of
effort to guarantee a big, professionally interesting and socially
unbeatable conference.
FIG 2011 under theme "Bridging the Gap between Cultures" seems to
become one of the biggest - if not the biggest - FIG Working Week in the
history. The organisers expect more than 1,000 participants from more than
80 countries to attend. More than 550 papers have been offered to the
technical and scientific programme. Totally there will be more than 90
sessions and forums in ten parallel sessions over the three conference days.
In the plenary sessions and at part of technical sessions there will be
simultaneous interpretation between English and French. This has attracted a
lot of speakers from Francophone speaking countries both from Africa and
from other continents. The conference will be held under patronage of
His Majesty King Mohammed VI.
Themes of the three plenary sessions will be "Knowledge and Technology
Bridging the Gap between Cultures"; "Governance and Regionalization"
that will at the same time be the 6th ONIGT Congress and "Environmental
Issues and Sustainable Development" with each session introducing top
level international, regional and Moroccan speakers.
As normally there will be an exhibition that with its fifty booths will
be the biggest at any Working Week. Several technical tours will offer an
interesting inside view on the work of Moroccan surveyors. The host city
Marrakech is unique for its history and the real crossroad of cultures. The
knot of all roads being the Djemaa el Fna Square with its thousands of
tales. And the social events is something that you must experience yourself.
Further a selection of pre- and post conference tours will be offered.
Please see the selection on the conference web site that is continuously
updated.
The draft technical programme will be available by the end of January and
at the same time authors will be informed about the acceptance of their
papers. Deadline for early bird
registration closes
16 February 2011. The technical programme
includes also already traditional Director General Forum, Corporate Members
Meeting and as new event Academic Members Forum. Several sessions and
workshops will be organised in co-operation with partner organisations like
UN-HABITAT, FAO and IAG. Preconference workshops have been offered to
platinum sponsors of the conference and ONIGT will also organise its
workshop for Moroccan surveyors. Further the Fédération Internationale des
Géomètres (FGF), the Arab Union of Surveyors (AUS) and the Union of
Mediterranean Surveyors (UMG) will have their administrative meetings during
the Working Week.
When you start planning your trip please notice
the offer from Royal
Air Maroc, Official Carrier of FIG 2011, offering up to 70 per cent
discount on air fares. The conference hotel is Mansour Eddahbi that is
directly connected to Palais des Congress the conference venue. See the
special rates and booking terms
on the web.
The conference is organised jointly by FIG and ONIGT who is responsible
for the arrangements in Morocco. The organising committee under Congress
Director Aziz Hilali, ONIGT President and Dr. Mohammed Ettarid, Chair of the
Organising Committee have made an outstanding work in the preparations and
are expecting to welcome all participants to Morocco in May.
More to read:
Djemaa el Fna square in Marrakech. |
City wall around the medina of Marrakech. |
Local Organising Committee members from Marrakech at the meeting
with FIG delegation. |
Meeting with ONIGT members in Rabat.
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Palais des Congress, venue for the Working Week that also hosts e.g.
the international film festival. |
Marrakech is safe and comfortable to move and all offered hotels are
within walking distance. |
Mansour Eddahbi Hotel is the main conference hotel...
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... offering excellent services and facilities for participants
including lunches and receptions. |
Dr. Dalal S. Alnaggar and
Louise Friis-Hansen during
the site inspection in Marrakech.
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Tea break at the Menara reservoir during the check of venues for
social events: Prof. Moha Elayachi and Prof. Dalal
Alnaggar. |
20 January 2011
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