It
is a great honour for me to write a word of welcome in this first issue
of the brand new newsletter "IAALD News for Central and Eastern Europe".
It
is a great honour for me to write a word of welcome in this first issue
of the brand new newsletter "IAALD News for Central and Eastern Europe".
In January 1995, during the 9th IAALD World Congress in Melbourne, Australia, I met Michal Demes for the first time in person. At that time IAALD had only few members in Central and East-European countries. When we met again, at the very successful AGROINFOS '96 workshop that Michal organized in November 1996 in his hometown Nitra in the Slovak Republic, in cooperation with FAO, this picture had already changed drastically. There proved to be a vivid interest among the participants to join IAALD and we thought the best thing to do then to institutionalize matters by the creation of an official IAALD chapter for Central and Eastern Europe. In the meantime the membership has increased even further.
As the pinnacle of these efforts, an international workshop for agricultural information experts from Central and Eastern European countries is planned to take place in September of this year in Nitra, as a joint activity of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information for Agriculture (ISTIA), FAO's sub-regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe, and IAALD. Where will this successful story end? I don't know, but I hope it will continue for at least my term as President of IAALD. It is my strong belief that active chapters represent the only valid structure for IAALD to give its philosophy a high profile and to successfully support agricultural information activities.
I am therefore saying to all members of IAALD's chapter for Central and Eastern Europe: Welcome aboard and here's to you all as we strengthen this fruitful cooperation. Let's have a great time together.
Cheers!