President's Corner June 2002

The holiday season is coming closer and the FIAT Board is totally occupied by the preparations for the General Assembly, where a new President and part of the Board has to be elected. So for me it's time to look back to the last 4 years and summarize my activities together with all those who are necessary to make an organization like FIAT go forward.

When I think back to Florence where you had to choose between 4 candidates, the main target of my FIAT program was very simple: I wanted to continue the very successful development of FIAT - to integrate and enlarge the group of Supporting Members and also to help the endangered archives with the money of the IT industry by intensifying the regional seminars.

After almost 4 years I can say the result is impressive. FIAT is steadily growing, the support of the IT industry was enormous before 9/11 and the success of the regional seminars in Sarajevo, Tallinn, Moscow, Mexico City and Tunis is evident and without the money of the IT industry impossible.

By all the delight that my concept more or less totally came to ends - for which I not only want thank the Board but also especially the Commissions and the seminar hosts - the development of the last months troubles me. The majority of our Supporting Members were taken over, mergered or have great financial problems, i.e. it will be hard for FIAT to continue its pursued direction. But where there's a will, there's also a chance. Still, we again have various candidates for presidency. Still, there are new applicants from the IT industry. And the good cooperation of FIAT with IASA, FIAF, ICA and UNESCO also makes me optimistic.

In this sense I want to again say thank you to all FIAT members, especially to those who in the past 4 years have supported our federation through their exceptional activities, because an umbrella organization like FIAT can only be as strong and lively as their members, who take advantage of their rights.

Looking forward to a further excellent future with FIAT says someone who will now step back into the second row,

yours Peter Dusek
FIAT/IFTA President