Tightening Links

Chairman Castro Alfaro, president of the Costa Rican Colegio, emphasised the need for tightening links of friendship and collaboration among national associations and expressed his full support for the FIG proposal to create such an association for Latin America. 

Professor Cavero, FIG ambassador for the region, predicted the initiative would find support with the United Nations and the World Bank and provide a platform for demonstrating the relevant role, importance and need for survey professionals, and organising educational opportunities for students.

Future Direction

Leoncio Olvera, former president of CITAC (México, now a FIG member association) said most of his country's more than 300,000 survey professionals belonged to no association. Although pessimistic of the outcome, he urged universities in Mexico to teach something more than "push button" courses and to offer integrated education in fields like land management, rural and urban planning, valuation etc.
This was the future direction for the profession, plus turning students into excellent "thinkers" rather than simply "makers".

Strasbourg Conferences

FIG president Stig Enemark attended the 39th Conference of the French Chartered Surveyors and First Conference of European Surveyors in Strasbourg, France, held from 17th
to 19th September 2008 and organised by the Ordre des Geométrès-Experts (the French Association of Chartered Surveyors) in co-operation with the CLGE (Council of European Geodetic Surveyors) and GE (Geométrès Europas).

Raise Awareness

The main goal of this conference was to raise awareness of the surveying profession and increase
its exposure among various European institutions and EU consumers generally, both in France and across Europe. Presentations were based on three themes:

• The Surveyor and Advances in Technology: making sustainable development part of the equation.
• The Law, the Surveyor and Property: what areas of expertise for what guarantees?
• The Surveyor and the Consumer: matching services to requirements.

Strong Participation

The conference was attended by more than a thousand participants, at least a hundred from outside France; Francophone Africa was strongly represented. The presidents of OGE, CLGE, and GE co-signed a document of recommendations focused on the role and professional status of the European surveyor and adopted at the close of conference.