President Magel visits China and Hong Kong SARLand management expert Prof. Magel honoured “Senior Advisor” to Chinese Government23 October - 3 November 2006
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary celebrations of former WTUSM and the 14th “Geoinformatics 2006” in Wuhan, where he delivered both, a welcome greeting to thousands of excellencies, professors and students and a keynote speech on “From Surveying to Geomatics and Land Management. About Future Perspectives of a Changing Discipline and Profession!” FIG President Holger Magel had meetings with the President and full board of the new FIG Chinese member CIREA in Beijing. President Magel encouraged the leaders of CIREA to play a crucial role in FIG, especially in Commission 9. CIREA President and former Vice Minister Song Chun Hua expressed his great gratitude for the positive voting of the Council and General Assembly on a second member from China. He pointed out that his association with about 60,000 members could bring remarkable new energy in this growing field of surveyors’ activities thus broadening the range of professional profile. On the occasion of his visit to the State Ministry of Lands and Resources Prof. Magel was awarded with the first time to foreign experts given title of “Senior Advisor of Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Centre, Ministry of Lands and Resources”. The Vice Minister of the Ministry Lu Xin She, who is simultaneously Director General of the State Bureau of Mapping and Surveying, expressed deep thanks to Prof. Magel for decades of support to Chinese government and people. He mentioned that the joint project of comprehensive village renewal and land consolidation in the village Nan Zhang Lou, Shandong province, has become pilot and model character for Chinese rural development initiatives, especially in the Western region. Lu congratulated Prof. Magel also to his very successful FIG presidency and – as it was reported to him – a highly appreciated FIG Congress in Munich. Before he left for the visit to Hong Kong, Prof. Magel had an official meeting with a possibly new applicant for FIG membership from Peoples’ Republic of China: It is CREVA, the Chinese Real Estate Valuers Association, which has about 27,000 members and which is chaired by Vice Minister Lu Xin She. Different to CIREA members the CREVA experts are specialists for valuation only of the land but not of the buildings! They are deeply involved in rural and urban development and are eager to join FIG which was in former times not possible due to the “only member policy to NGO”. After the permission of CIREA FIG membership, CREVA now hopes that it could apply very soon. Magel promised to bring the application immediately to the outgoing or new Council. In Hong Kong FIG President Magel had meetings with the Board of FIG member HKIS in its headquarters. He also visited the venue of Working Week 2007, The Kowloon Shangri La Hotel, and gave a luncheon speech on FIG activities, especially about the in fact very broad range of disciplines and interests, thus underlining that FIG members are not only land surveyors. Especially those colleagues of HKIS who are working in the field of valuation and real estate management were very satisfied about the speech of Prof. Magel. HKIS President Wong Chung Hang thanked President Magel for his impressive visions and strategies and described him as “one of the greatest surveyors in presence worldwide”. The lunch was attended by high officials of Hong Kong Government and functionaries and corporate members of FIG like Vice President TN Wong, former Commission 9 Chair Stephen Yip and Leica, Intergraph, ESRI and applicant Bentley. On the last part of his Hong Kong visit, FIG President had a meeting with new member (the 100th!), HKInstES Honorary President Mannars T.C. Chan. He was the driving force of his institution’s application for FIG membership. Together with Mannars T.C. Chan, who was a perfect guide to President Magel during his inspection tour through big infrastructure projects (bridges, cable cars, buildings etc.) in Hong Kong, where members of HKInstES were involved, FIG President had a meeting with FIG academic member, the Department of Land Surveying and Geoinformatics of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Prof. Chen Yong-Qi, Head of the Department, explained the goals of academic surveyors’ education at his university and his interest to contribute to FIG Working Week 2007 in Hong Kong. Prof. Magel encouraged HKInstES and the Polytechnic University to join actively the preparations of Working Week 2007 thus demonstrating the variety of surveyor’s profession in Hong Kong. Presentations of President Holger Magel:
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