FIG President visits IsraelIsrael, 24-28 May 2006
On invitation of FIG member Israel Association of Licensed Surveyors and Survey of Israel, whose Director General Haim Srebro will be the Congress Director of FIG Working Week 2009 in Eilat, FIG President Prof. Holger Magel and his wife Ansi have visited Israel from 24 May until 28 May. During his four-day visit, Prof. Magel has met the President of Israeli FIG member Joseph Kraus and members of the local organizing committee of Working Week 2009. President Kraus and Congress Director Srebro expressed their great engagement and confidence to guarantee a safe and unforgettable conference 2009 for the whole FIG community and for all participants from all parts of the world. At the General Assembly in Munich, October 2006, the Israeli delegation will inform about the topic, progress and the whole framework of the Working Week at an unique place at the Red Sea. FIG President was also informed about a letter from 21 May 2006 of the Ministry of Tourism to President J. Kraus in which the Director of International Relations Department pointed out “that there has never been an incident in Israel where tourists were targeted. Eilat, as Israel’s ‘landsend’, especially, has never suffered from terrorist incidents like some central cities in the country!” Finally, the State Ministry pointed out – and this can easily be confirmed by especially Europeans in view of fully booked flights to Israel (Austrian Airlines e.g. flies three times daily to Tel Aviv!) – that “in recent years international tourism is gradually returning to Israel at a rate of growth of 25 % per year. We view this growth as a vote of confidence in Israel and the Holy Land as a tourist and a pilgrimage destination.” President Magel expressed his hope and encouraged his hosts to send a strong Israeli delegation to the FIG Congress in Munich and to present according to the high quality and standard of geodetic education and practice in Israel a lot of papers. Hopefully, so said Prof. Magel, the Centre of Israeli Geodetic Education and Science, the famous Technion (Institute of Technology) in Haifa, which will host an ISPRS Commission VIII symposium in September 2006, could even apply for FIG academic membership before the FIG Congress. At the end of Prof. Magel’s visit, the Israeli hosts expressed their great satisfaction about FIG President’s visit and his decision to get personal impressions on site instead of trusting only in pictures in TV. President Magel promised to report on his positive impressions of his visit, which led him through many parts of the whole country, to the Council and the FIG members.
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