Dear WAB members,
I am honored to be the 6th Secretary General of the World Association for Buiatrics (WAB), especially when considering those distinguished buiatricians who are my predecessors: Gustav Rosenberger, Matthaeus Stoeber, Pierre Lekeux, Otto Szenci, and Arcangelo Gentile. Each one of these distinguished buiatricians has contributed greatly to the development and advancement of the WAB. With his election to President Elect, Dr. Gentile was in the position of Secretary General for a short time. Prior to Dr. Gentile, Dr. Otto Szenci served as Secretary General and is my close friend and role model. It was very gratifying that the WAB Executive Committee approved the status of Honorary Secretary General for Dr. Szenci.
Currently there are 71 WAB members with the three categories of membership represented as follows: 62 of them being full members (national Buiatrics associations) and 4 associate members (multi-national associations or federations) and 5 observers.
The WAB General Assembly approved Full WAB membership for the Emirates Veterinary Association and the Large Animal Group Zimbabwe Veterinary Association. FEMESPRUM, the Mediterranean Federation for Health and Production of Ruminants was approved for Associate WAB membership and Prof. Berihu Gebrekidan (Ethiopia) and Dott. Mohammed Sanusi (Nigeria) were granted Observer memberships
The WAB Executive Committee (EXCO) met during the WBC2018 in Sapporo and two new members, Drs. Thomas Wittek (Austria) and Inhyung Lee (South Korea), were added to the EXCO. The members of the EXCO can be viewed on the WAB website. The Executive Committee also nominated Drs. Johanna Rheinberger and Juan Vicente Gonzales Martin as the two members of the WAB Auditing Committee for the period of 2018-2022. The General Assembly approved the nominations to the EXCO and Auditing Committee.
Two amendments to the WAB statutes were approved by the WAB Executive Committee and the General Assembly.
• Paragraph 8.5: The Executive Committee will elect the following officers from its current and former membership. (“current and former” is the additional approved wording)
• Paragraph 23: The attendance fee of 15 € (increased from 10 €) for each full registration and 5€ for each one day registration.
One of the primary roles of the WAB Secretary General is to promote communication among the current members of the WAB. During the next few months, each WAB member will receive an email request from me. The following information requires annual verification or updating: website address and the names and email addresses of the current association President, Secretary or other contact persons. If convenient, it would be appreciated if the contact person for each WAB member would reach out to me at secretary@buiatrics.com to facilitate communications.
Gatz Riddell
Secretary General
secretary@buiatrics.com |
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