IARU Region 1 Virtual General Conference closes

[IK0ZCW]

Oct 16, 2020 - General Conference - Alex, IV3KKW

After six days of hard work the IARU Region 1 Virtual General Conference closed this afternoon.

During the week, discussions on papers submitted by Member Societies, the Executive Committee and other parts of IARU resulted in some 50 Recommendations to the Final Plenary Meeting in areas of finance, HF, VHF, EMC, youth and on issues concerning the governance of IARU Region 1.

The Final Plenary was opened by Region 1 President Don Beattie, G3BJ, and some 120 delegates were present. Heads of national delegations considered and voted on the recommendations, which will result in actions and policy changes in IARU Region 1.

The Final Plenary meeting also agreed some new appointments in the Region, to succeed people who were retiring from their roles. The new appointments were:

Chair, IARU Region 1 VHF Committee: Dick Harms, PA2DW

Chair, IARU Region 1 EMC Committee: Dr Wolf Mahr, OE1MHZ

Chair, IARU Spectrum and Regulatory Liaison Committee: Barry Lewis, G4SJH

Chair, IARU Region 1 Youth Working Group: Philipp Springer, DK6SP

IARU Region 1 Monitoring System Coordinator: Gaspar Miró, EA6AMM

After agreeing the appointments, Don Beattie thanked those retiring – Tore Worren, LA9QL (EMC), Jacques Verleijen, ON4AVJ (VHF+), Dave Court, EI3IO (SRLC), Lisa Leenders, PA2LS (Youth WG) and Peter Jost, HB9CET, (IARUMS ad-interim). Don recognised the significant contribution each had made in their particular field and wished them well for the future.

In closing the meeting, The Region 1 President looked forward to the planned in-person workshop on the future of amateur radio, to be held in 2021, and expressed the hope that the COVID situation would allow the event to go ahead as early as possible. He challenged member societies before then, to increase their focus on “tomorrow” issues – tomorrow’s people, tomorrow’s technologies, tomorrow’s activities and tomorrow’s ways of communicating with those we represent. He asked societies to speak to their younger members and take account of their views to help reshape their societies for the future.

Looking back on our first Virtual General Conference delegates agreed that it was different from General Conferences held in the past. Although we did not have opportunities for social interaction between delegates, we can look back on a successful and very effective meeting. We are already looking forward to our hopefully in-person workshop in Novi Sad in 2021.