Dear Colleagues, distinguished guests, officers, friends, ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure and honour to open IFATSEA’s 45th General Assembly in Berlin.

First of all, on behalf of the all the delegates I wish to thank Thorsten Wehe, his organizing committee and his trade union GdF for hosting this assembly and in particular for choosing Berlin. As a first time visitor to Berlin, I am awestruck by the architecture in this wonderfully modern city so rich in history.

Thorsten and his team have worked tremendously hard to prepare for this assembly. I’m confident you will find this meeting productive and exciting. The underlying goal of this assembly is to educate and build new relationships and we hope you will take the opportunity to do that.

We have a very exciting program prepared for you.  In addition to hearing from the leadership of both DFS and GdF, our keynote speech on cyber-security will help frame your discussions for the rest of the week. You will think differently about your work, the importance of security and have an opportunity to reflect on qualifications required for the future.

This assembly marks the first time IFATSEA formally provides an educational component. As you know, ATSEPs have long sought professional recognition in the form of a licence. This remains an important goal and a first step to achieving this goal is to develop a formal competency program. So with thanks to the generous sponsorship of CANSO, GdF, NAV CANADA and IBEW, IFATSEA will be holding workshops on the jointly developed CANSO-IFATSEA ATSEP competency framework. I encourage you to register for these workshops in advance as space may be limited.

Just as generous are the exhibitors for having invested in this assembly.  I encourage all delegates to visit their booths, engage in conversation and take advantage of the networking opportunities.

You will also be dealing with important business and see how the Executive Board is evolving its practices to become more efficient, productive and transparent.  IFATSEA is a volunteer organization and as such must take advantage of every opportunity to eliminate obstacles and unnecessary processes.

One of our new initiatives is to measure the contributions received from many of the affiliates and individuals who donate their financial resources to further IFATSEA’s objectives. IFATSEA is also moving to a web-based accounting system which will allow us to produce reports (and results) in a format that more closely matches general accounting standards.

Finally, and most excitingly, we will be presenting credentials to our newest affiliate, Pakistan as well as considering applications for membership from Bolivia, Cameron, Ethiopia and the Netherlands.

Just a few days ago, on November 12, we celebrated the International Day of the ATSEP.  On this day, many of you took the time to reflect on your profession, the importance of your work and how you can increase IFATSEA’s visibility.

So all this is evidence that IFATSEA is growing, IFATSEA is modernizing, and IFATSEA is raising the standard for ATSEPs around the world.

Have a great Assembly!