President Magel made a visit to China from 23rd October to 3rd November 2006, where he was guest of Wuhan University and new Chinese member of FIG, CIREA in Beijing. In addition he travelled to Hong Kong, where he had several official meetings.

Wuhan

On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of former WTUSM and the 14th Geoinformatics 2006 in Wuhan, Prof. Magel delivered a welcoming address to thousands of dignitaries, professors and students and a keynote speech entitled, ‘From Surveying to Geomatics and Land Management: About Future Perspect-ives of a Changing Discipline and Profession’. Prof. Magel invited Wuhan University to join FIG in coping with huge challenges such as the Millennium Development Goals, especially poverty reduction, shaping rural-urban migration, Agenda 21, sustainable development, particularly in urban and rural areas by comprehensive land-use planning and land management. There were the challenges posed by integrated rural development, a top priority in China, for which surveyors should be well or even better prepared. Other challenges included secure tenure and reliable land administration, disaster preparedness and risk management, establishment of well-balanced land markets and related valuation systems, gender equality and climate change.

Prof. Magel also underlined the relevance of good governance and decentralisation campaigns, and the fight against corruption. Classical and modern geodetic work, survey engineering and satellite positioning, land management and modern GIS techniques and implementation were not only needed but even essential! Unfortunately, most politicians were not really aware of how our professions and contributions have changed and evolved. And, above all, the public in particular did not know and appreciate enough what we are doing. What we have to do is to bridge the information and communication gap between surveyors and politicians by getting the latter to join our conferences and speaking to them in more simple words. We needed to aim at more active implementation of political and social goals and programmes. This meant moving on to a much broader range of activities and education, as so often outlined and underlined in Prof Magel’s messages to the FIG community.

Beijing

Holger Magel had meetings with the president and full board of new FIG Chinese member CIREA in Beijing. Prof. Magel encouraged the leaders of CIREA to play a crucial role in FIG, especially in Commission 9 ‘Valuation and the Management of Real Estate’. CIREA president and former vice-minister Song Chun Hua expressed his great gratitude for positive voting in by Council and General Assembly of a second member from China. He pointed out that his association, with its about sixty thousand members, could bring remarkable new energy to this growing field of surveyor activity, thus broadening the professional profile.

On the occasion of his visit to the State Ministry of Lands and Resources Prof. Magel was awarded a title given for the first time to a foreign expert, that of ‘Senior Advisor of Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Centre, Ministry of Lands and Resources’. Vice-Minister Lu Xin She, also director-general of the State Bureau of Mapping and Surveying, expressed deep thanks to Prof. Magel for decades of support to the Chinese government and people. He told his audience that the joint project of comprehensive village renewal and land consolidation in the village Nan Zhang Lou, Shandong province, had become a pilot and model for Chinese rural development initiatives, especially in the western region.

Prof. Magel also held an official meeting with a possible new applicant for FIG membership from the Peoples’ Republic of China: CREVA, the Chinese Real Estate Valuers Association, which has about 27,000 members and is chaired by Vice-Minister Lu Xin She. In contrast to CIREA members, CREVA experts are specialists in valuation of land but not of buildings! They are deeply involved in rural and urban development and are eager to join FIG, a thing not formerly possible due to the policy of ‘members only of NGOs’.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong Prof. Magel had meetings with the board of FIG member Hong Kong Institute of Surveying, at its headquarters. He also visited the venue of Working Week 2007, the Kowloon Shangri La Hotel, and gave a luncheon speech on FIG activities, especially addressing the very broad range of disciplines and interests, thus underlining that FIG members are not only land surveyors. Those colleagues of HKIS working in the field of valuation and real estate management were particularly satisfied with this speech. HKIS president Wong Chung Hang thanked Prof. Magel for his vision and outline strategies. The last part of his Hong Kong visit was devoted to a meeting with new member (the hundredth!) the Hong Kong Institution of Engineering Surveyors (HKInstES). Here he spoke with honorary president Mannars T.C. Chan. The FIG president also held a meeting with FIG academic member, the Department of Land Surveying and Geoinformatics of Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Hand-over Ceremony

The visit to Hong Kong and China was one of Prof. Magel’s last activities as FIG President. In a hand-over ceremony held on 2nd December 2006 in Münster, Germany, Stig Enemark from Denmark assumed the presidency, see the interview in the December 2006 issue of GIM International.