Four months to go:

Preparations Well Under Way for FIG Working Week 2011

Rabat and Marrakech Morocco, 11-14 January 2011

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:

• FIG Working Week 2011 web site: www.fig.net/fig2011 in English
• FIG Working Week 2011 web site: www.onigt.ma/fig2011 in French and Arabic
• Register online: https://www.fig.net/registrations/regform.asp?eventid=74
  Deadline for early bird registration closes 16 February 2011

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.
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...	... 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.	Tea break at the Menara reservoir during the check of venues for social events: Prof. Moha Elayachi and Prof. Dalal Alnaggar.

20 January 2011