FIG General Assembly

Minutes

45th General Assembly - 2022

Sunday 4 September - online,
Sunday 11 September and 15 September 2022 on site in Warsaw Poland (with online broadcast)

INTRODUCTION

This online version of the minutes includes link to all appendices in .pdf.

To download the agenda in .pdf please click here: 

Agenda  (pdf, 35 pages)

To download the minutes in .pdf please click here:

Minutes  (pdf, 31 pages)

PLEASE NOTE: The minutes have been sent by email to all members.

The following sesions were held (time shown in Central European Summer Time CEST):

Sunday, 4 September 2022
10:00-12:00 CEST online General Assembly Session 1:
Regular agenda items and reports

This first General Assembly session included the Presidents report, the Financial Report, FIG Foundation, membership matters and other General Agenda items.
Link to the video recording: https://youtu.be/BRFkONSTxeQ
   

Voting on the adoption of the general agenda items started after this General Assembly session. Voting results

Sunday, 11 September 2022
13:00-15:00 CEST Warsaw
with broadcast		 General Assembly Session 2:
Get to know your candidates

This second General Assembly session focused on the elections for President and two Vice Presidents and to get to know the candidates better.Link to the video recording:
https://youtu.be/qnY0WNTo7p4

  online

Voting for Vice President candidates started shortly after thissession (CEST) and for President on Tuesday 13 September
Results of the elections

 

Wednesday, 14 September 2022
16:30-18:00 CEST Warsaw Presidents meeting
by invitation only (no online attendance or broadcast and no recording)

Thursday, 15 September 2022
10:00-13:00 CEST Warsaw
with broadcast		 General Assembly Session 3: Results of the elections, follow up on the Congress activities and what to expect in the coming years

Results of the elections, follow up on the Congress activities, and Closing Ceremony
Video recording of the session: https://youtu.be/HIMYkSWLnkk

FURTHER READING

List of Agenda Items

  1. OPENING PROCEEDINGS
  2. ROLL CALL
  3. APPOINTMENT OF TELLERS
  4. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA
  5. ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES OF THE 43rd AND 44th GENERAL ASSEMBLY
  6. MEMBERSHIP
  7. PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2022
  8. APPOINTMENT OF HONORARY MEMBERS
  9. CO-OPERATION WITH THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE WORLD BANK
  10. LIAISON WITH INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONS
  11. FIG ACCOUNTS FOR 2021 AUDITOR'S REPORTS AND BUDGETS 2022-2025
  12. SUBSCRIPTION RATES FOR 2024
  13. FIG FOUNDATION
  14. FIG COMMISISONS
  15. FIG NETWORKS AND PERMANENT INSTITUTIONS
  16. TASK FORCE ON FIG AND THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
  17. NEW PUBLICATIONS
  18. FIG WORKING WEEK 2028
  19. APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSION CHAIRS FOR THE TERM 2023-2026
  20. REPORT OF THE ENGAGMENT COMMITTEE
  21. ROLL CALL
  22. ELECTION OF PRESIDENT FOR 2023-2026 - PRESENTATION OF CANDIDATES
  23. ELECTION OF TWO VICE PRESIDENTS FOR 2023-2026 - PRESENTATION OF CANDIDATES
  24. FIG PRESIDENTS MEETING
  25. ROLL CALL
  26. ELECTION OF PRESIDENT - RESULT
  27. ELECTION OF TWO VICE PRESIDENTS - RESULT
  28. ADOPTION OF ALL AGENDA ITEMS
  29. APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSION CHAIRS
  30. MEMBERSHIP
  31. REPORTS FROM ASSOCIATION, AFFILIATE, ACADEMIC AND CORPORATE MEMBERS FORUM
  32. REPORTS FROM COMMISSIONS
  33. REPORTS FROM NETWORKS, TASK FORCES, PERMANENT INSTITUTIONS, FIG FOUNDATION AND OTHER CONGRESS ACTIVITIES
  34. OTHER ISSUES
  35. REPORT ON THE FIG CONGRESS 2026 IN CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
  36. REPORT ON THE FIG WORKING WEEK 2025 IN BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
  37. REPORT ON THE FIG WORKING WEEK 2024 IN ACCRA, GHANA
  38. REPORT ON THE FIG WORKING WEEK 2023 IN ORLANDO FLORIDA, USA
  39. PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION AND CLOSING CEREMONY

Video recording of session 1 - 4 September 2022

1. OPENING PROCEEDINGS

President Rudolf Staiger opened the 45th General Assembly at the online session 1 on 4 September 2022.
Agenda items 1-20 (apart from 16) were included in General Assembly session 1 – online 4 September 2022
Agenda items 21-23 were included in General Assembly session 2 – 11 September 2022 in Warsaw, Poland
Agenda items 16, 25-39 were included in General Assembly session 3 – 15 September 2022 in Warsaw Poland

President Rudolf Staiger informed the sad news that Jim Smith passed away on 12 August 2021 – unfortunately before the remarkable collection of the History of Surveying, 7 volumes covering Three Millenniums of Measurement of Earth were finally printed and published, so he never saw the final version. They were promoted at the General Assembly in June 2021 by Jim Smith and Jan De Graeve. Rudolf Staiger reminded that only a 100 Special Edition Sets of the seven volumes have been printed (and are available for purchase).
https://www.fig.net/news/news_2021/08_History-of-Surveying.asp

The two daughters of Jim Smith encouraged a donation to FIG to the help of the work of the Permanent Institution of History, IIHS&M instead of flowers for the funeral. More than 700 EUR were collected. A very big thanks to Jim’s daughters for this kind and helpful thought.

Rudolf Staiger also informed about the council decision in February after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to not expel the Russian members of FIG based on the FIG statutes that FIG is a non-political organisation, but that Russian participants were not welcome at the FIG Congress in Poland, being a neighbouring country to Ukraine.

All general agenda items were included in a voting that started on 4 September 2022 12:00 CET – right after the first session and ended on 7 September 2022 at 10:00. 73 out of 86 electors voted in this ballot which is 84.9%.
Certified results

2. ROLL CALL

The General Assembly was open for all interested participants. Member Associations were asked in advance to register their official delegate. With the appointment of an official delegate, FIG considered the members as “present” at the General Assembly.
This delegate was furthermore the representative who received the voting emails.

For sessions 2 and 3 there were roll call for the attendees being present in Warsaw however not for the online participants. The official registered number are based on the registrations for voting.

After the online session and before the other voting rounds started several members registered their official delegate. This meant that out of the in total 101 member associations (representing 104 votes in total counting in those with more than one vote and deducting the members that are not allowed to vote) 78 associations had registered an official delegate, and this amounted to in total 94 votes.
At session 2 on 11 September, 49 member associations were represented, and 52 member associations were represented at the final session on 15 September.

Appendix to item 2, 21 & 25: Roll Call including memers that were registered for voting and members that were present at sessions 2 and 3.

Motion: Those members who have assigned an official delegate are recorded in the minutes as present for all sessions. In addition we make a roll call for those who are represented in person in Warsaw on 11 and 15 September.

Decision: The motion was adopted.

3. APPOINTMENT OF TELLERS

 

 

FIG Council suggested to appoint the two representatives nominated for honorary membership:

  •  Stephen Djaba, Ghana
  • Volker Schwieger, Germany

Since voting will take place online through a secure voting system, SimplyVoting, a certified report from SimplyVoting with the results will be published.

The voting sheets were prepared by FIG-Office and the two appointed tellers together with FIG Director had access to the SimplyVoting system.

The voting system allows the tellers to see who has cast a vote and when this has been done, but they cannot see any details on what each delegate has voted, nor can they see any results until the voting is finalised and a report has been created by SimplyVoting. Once the voting is over the overall result will be available through a certified report from SimplyVoting.

Motion: That the General Assembly appoints two tellers:

  • Stephen Djaba, Ghana
  • Volker Schwieger, Germany

Decision: The motion was adopted

4. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

The General Assembly was announced through the newsletter and on FIG web site, and the Agenda for the General Assembly was published in July on the web site and sent by email to all members.

Motion: That the agenda for 2022 will be adopted

Decision: The motion was adopted

5. ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES OF THE 43rd AND 44th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The minutes from 2020/2021 have been circulated previously. The General Assembly 2020 was held together with the General Assembly 2021, hence the agendas and minutes of these two assemblies are merged.

Appendix to item 5: The minutes of the General Assembly held online in June 2021

Motion: That the minutes are adopted as recorded.

Decision: The motion was adopted.

6. MEMBERSHIP

6.1 Admittance of new Member Associations

FIG has received no new applications for membership since the 44th General Assembly.

Motion: That the General Assembly notes that there are no new applications.

Decision: The motion was adopted

6.2 Other Member Association Issues

There are no other Member Association issues

Motion: That the General Assembly notes the update.

Decision: The motion was adopted

6.3 Expulsion of member associations

The General Assembly has power to expel from the Federation any member association whose fees are in arrears and shall under normal circumstances expel any member association whose fees are three years in arrears. (Article 4.3 of the Statutes).

  • Lithuanian Association of Surveyors LMA, Lithuania, MA-10053
  • Ordre des Géomètres du Togo (OGT), MA-10084
  • Ordre Des Geometres Experts du Benin, MA-10113
  • Association of Professional Land Surveyors of Liberia, MA-10119
  • Ordre des Géomètres Experts de Côte d’Ivoire (OGECI), MA-10129
  • Society Of Engineers - UAE, United Arab Emirates, MA-10131

FIG received payment from Association of Professional Land Surveyors of Liberia and from Ordre des Géomètres Experts de Côte d’Ivoire and these two associations will therefore not be expelled.

After expulsions, the number of FIG member associations is 98 from 83 countries.

Motion: That the General Assembly notes that at this General Assembly there are two members to expel unless FIG office receives payment from the associations:

  • Lithuanian Association of Surveyors LMA, Lithuania, MA-10053
  • Ordre des Géomètres du Togo (OGT), MA-10084
  • Ordre des Geometres Experts du Benin, MA-10113
  • Ordre des Géomètres Experts de Côte d’Ivoire (OGECI), MA-10129
  • Society of Engineers - UAE, United Arab Emirates, MA-10131

Decision: The motion was adopted

6.4 Suspended status 2022

In accordance with its administrative measures, FIG Council, has deferred to continue for 2022 the issuance of a membership subscription invoice to the following members and FIG Council deem their membership to be in suspension:

  • the Order of Syrian Engineers and Architects, OSEA as all efforts to maintain contact with them has not yielded results and will deem their membership in suspension giving due consideration to its internal situation.

  • Licensed Surveyors Association in Palestine

  • Iranian Society of Surveyors (ISS) (international ban makes it impossible for them to transfer the registration fee)

to suspended status as again an international ban makes it impossible for them to transfer the registration fee.

The situation with these associations will be reconsidered by Council again in 2023.

Motion: That the General Assembly notes the members in suspension.

Decision: The motion was adopted.

6.5 Other membership issues

6.5.1 Affiliate members

There has been one application for affiliate membership since the General Assembly 2021.

  • National Agency of Public Registry, Georgia, AF-20072

Two affiliate members have been expelled:

  • Cambodia: Ministry of Land Management AF-20004
  • Albania Central Office of Immovable Property Registration (IPRO) AF-20049

After these changes the number of Affiliate members is 43 from 42 countries.

6.5.2 Corporate members

FIG Council has admitted one application for corporate membership:

  • Construction Technological Services Private Limited, Sri Lanka, CM-30076

The following member has resigned its membership of FIG:

  • AlmatyGeoCenter, Kazakhstan CM-30075 – Category F, due to the financial unstable situation

FIG Council has expelled the following members due to lack of payment of membership fee:

  • Geo-Plus Canada CM-30071 – category E
  • Dynamic Vision, Afghanistan, CM-30073 – category D

After these changes, the number of corporate members is now 20.

6.5.3 Academic members

FIG Council has admitted three new Academic members since the General Assembly 2021:

  • Ankara University Faculty of Applied Sciences, Turkey, AC-40156
  • Escuela de Ingenieros Militares, Colombia, AC-40157
  • Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM, Malaysia, AC-40041 (reinstalled)

The payment structure of the Academic Members was changed in 2013 so that Academic Members would be invoiced every 4 years instead of every year. The four-year payment will reward the members with a 50% discount. Academic members were invoiced in 2014, 2018 and again in 2022.

In 2021 FIG Council expelled all academic members who had not paid their arrears from 2018:

  • University of Technology Sydney, Australia AC-40006      
  • Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos – UNISINOS, Brazil AC-40011    
  • University of Technology Jamaica Jamaica, AC-40037       
  • University of South Pacific, Fiji AC-40053  
  • Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico, AC-40056      
  • Department of Real Estate Science at Lund University, Sweden, AC-40006
  • Land Management Training Centre, Nepal, AC-40089        
  • Palestine Polytechnic University, State of Palestine,  AC-40099     
  • Agronomic And Veterinary Institute Hassan II Moroc, AC-40118  
  • Makerere University, Uganda, AC-40119    
  • The University of Nottingham, China, AC-40126    
  • Universidad de los Andes, Colombia, AC-40128     
  • The University of Thies, UFR Science of engineering, Senegal, AC-40133
  • Institute of Surveying and mapping, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka, AC-40146        

The number of Academic Members after these changes is 78 from 49 countries.

6.5.4 Correspondents

The number of correspondent members are five. The current correspondents are coming from Maldives, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tonga and Venezuela.

Motion: That the General Assembly notes the actions that the Council has taken with other membership matters.

Decision: The motion was adopted.

7. PRESIDENT’S REPORT

President Rudolf Staiger has prepared the President’s report on the activities of the Federation since the General Assembly in 2021 that was held online (from the Netherlands).  

Appendix to item 7:

Motion: That the General Assembly accepts the President’s report 2022.

Decision: The motion was adopted

8. APPOINTMENT OF HONORARY MEMBERS

The Council has received two nominations for Honorary Members:

  • The German Association for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land Management, DVW, has nominated Prof. Volker Schwieger
  • The Licenced Surveyors Association of Ghana, LISAGH has nominated Mr Stephen Djaba

Appendix to agenda item 8: The nomination letters for:

According to the Statutes paragraph 3.1.7 an individual who has materially assisted the development and promotion of the surveying profession at the international level can be appointed as an honorary member. Nomination for this appointment shall be made by a member association or the Council, which will consider it and submit it to a vote of the General Assembly.

The Council has considered both proposals and decided to propose to the General Assembly that it appoints Prof. Volker Schwieger and Mr Stephne Djaba as Honorary Members of the Federation for the outstanding services they have provided to the Federation in different positions and functions.

Motion: That FIG Council appoints Prof Volker Schwieger and Mr Stephen Djaba as Honorary Members of FIG.

Decision: The motion was adopted and at the third general assembly session the new honorary members received their certificate and pin by FIG President

9. COOPERATION WITH THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE WORLD BANK

Update 2020-2021

FIG has continued to collaborate with the World Bank and various agencies and structures within the United Nations.

The main activities in the co-operation with the United Nations and the World Bank during this period have been:

Participation to FAO and the Voluntary Guidelines, VGGT
Under a Letter of Agreement, several sessions were included in the technical programme of FIG e-Working Week 2021 including a keynote presentation. Again in 2022 a letter of Agreement has been signed for FAO activities during the FIG Congress 2022. Included is a session organised in cooperation with FIG Commission 8 on Multi-purpose land consolidation and the Academic Members Forum organised together with FIG Commission 2 on: VGGT & UNCCD COP 14.

Two joint FAO, FIG and UN-ECE-WPLA publications are being produced, of which one of them will be published in the FIG Publication series and the second in the FAO series, Knowledge for Investment:

  • Publication (in the FIG Publication series: Digital Transformation and the future role of Land Administration - Good Practices from UN-ECE Region and Beyond
  • FAO Knowledge for Investment Brief: Guidance for preparing Action Plans in support of Digital Transformation in Land Administration

A special joint FAO, FIG, UNECE/WPLA session dedicated to these publications was held during the congress.
 
The publications were furthermore presented at the third General Assembly session by Chair of FIG Commission 3, Hartmut Müller: Handouts of the FAO, UN, FIG study and publications

Participation to Global Land Tool Network GLTN:

  • Co-lead of Global Land Tool Network Professional Cluster 2021-2022, together with Arab Union
  • Support of the GLTN strategy phase 3
  • Co-Lead on three activities:
    • Creating awareness and promoting the adoption of GLTN’s manual on valuation of unregistered land in the land sector
    • Creating awareness and promoting the development of a Fit-For-Purpose implementation framework in Anambra and Katsina States in Nigeria
    • Scaling up in-country deployments of young surveyors through the Volunteer Community Surveyor Program (VCSP)
  • Participation in the GLTN Steering Committee
  • Special sessions in the FIG Congress technical programme

Participation to the work of UN-GGIM

  • UN-GGIM-Geospatial Societies – FIG has the chairmanship of UN-GGIM Geospatial Societies for the term 2020-2022.
  • Expert Group on Land Administration
  • Associate member of Sub-committee on Geodesy
  • Participation online at the eleventh Session of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management in New York, USA

Participation to the work of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG)
Participation to UN-OOSA, Co-chairing WG-D

Motion: That the General Assembly adopts the report on the co-operation between FIG and the United Nations, its agencies and the World Bank and records its thanks to all those who have contributed to this co-operation.

Decision: The motion was adopted

10. LIAISON WITH INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONS

The Joint Board of Spatial Information Societies JB-GIS was formally established during the FIG Working Week in Cairo in 2005. The name was in 2017 changed to UN-GGIM-Geospatial Societies. The Geospatial Societies meet annually during the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management meetings.
The meeting of UN-GGIM-GS in 2021 was held online.
FIG has been in the lead of UN-GGIM-GS for the two year term 08.2020-08.2022
FIG has collaborative MoUs with several organizations who are part of the Geospatial Societies.IG has further bilateral agreements of co-operation with several other international associations like ECCE, ISM, IFHP, CIB, IAO, IHO, ION, ICEC, FIABCI, IFHS, PAIGH, PAQS, and UIA.

FIG has entered a Memorandum of Understanding with Stand for Her Land Campaign (S4HL) https://fig.net/news/news_2022/01_stand-for-her-land.asp

With the MoU FIG and S4HL agree to work together to:

  • Support understanding of S4HL and issues related to women’s land rights
  • Support connections and collaborative efforts to achieve mutually agreeable outcomes.
  • Jointly promote the work of S4HL and FIG

FIG Chair of Commission 10, Alan Muse, is chair of the International Construction Measurement Standards Standard Setting Committee. FIG is represented on the ICMS Trustee Board by the President.

FIG is represented in International Land Measurement Standard Coalition by Mr. Maurice Barbieri.

FIG is member of the Ethics Standard Committee.

FIG is a member of the International Council for Science (ICSU) and is working together with ISO and International Valuation Standards Committee (IVSC) on land and surveying related standards.

Again in 2022 there were various activities around the world celebrating Global Surveyors day on and around 21 March 2022

Motion: That the General Assembly records the report on the liaison with other international associations.

Decision:

11. FIG ACCOUNTS FOR 2021, AUDITOR'S REPORTS AND BUDGETS 2022-2025

The financial report was presented to the General Assembly by FIG Director Louise Friis-Hansen. The report includes the auditor’s report from 2021, official accounts (income statement 2021) and balance sheet at 31 December 2021, an updated budget for 2022 and proposals for budgets 2023-2025 and proposal for membership fees for member associations in 2024.

Appendix to item 11:

Report on Financial Issues  (including 2020 accounts and budgets 2021-2024)

Presentation handouts

Annexes:

  • 11A Auditor's Report, Income Statement for 2021 and Balance Sheet at 31 December 2021.
  • 11B FIG Result 2021 and FIG Budgets 2022-2025
  • 11C List of member associations whose membership fees are in arrears for 2021 and earlier and that are not allowed to vote - to be published on the FIG web site 25 August 2022 (in roll call).

Motion: That the General Assembly:

  • adopts the audited accounts for 2021,
  • adopts the Finance Reports from 2021, and
  •  adopts budgets for 2022–2025

Decision: The motion was adopted.

12. SUBSCRIPTION RATES FOR 2024

The General Assembly has to set levels of fees for member associations two years in advance of the year in which they become payable. Fees are payable in respect of each individual member up to a maximum of 5,500 members. Membership fees have been discussed as part of the finance report, appendix to item 11.

The 2021 General Assembly approved membership fees for 2023 as follows:

  Per capita fee Minimum fee Maximum fee
2023 € 4.80 per member up to a maximum of 5,500 members
Member associations from countries listed by the World Bank as low-income economies or lower-middle-income economies shall pay € 2.40 member up to a maximum of 5,500 members.		 25 members or € 50 (whichever is greater) 5,500 members (€ 26,400)

The World Bank lists of the low-income economies and the lower-middle-income economies are available at: http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-classifications/country-and-lending-groups   

The General Assembly decided in 2017 to increase subscription fees with 8% for 2019 after subscription fees have been kept at the same level for the years 2012-2018. This level has been kept in the following years. FIG Council has discussed the fees in the light of the current inflation. Even though this will affect the budget Council suggest keeping this same rate for 2024.

It must be noted that in 2021 FIG Council granted a 20% reduction of fee to all members due to the difficulties during the Covid19 Pandemic.

  Motion: That the General Assembly adopts following membership fees payable by member associations in 2024:

  Per capita fee Minimum fee Maximum fee
2024 € 4.80 per member up to a maximum of 5,500 members
Member associations from countries listed by the World Bank as low-income economies or lower-middle-income economies shall pay € 2.40 member up to a maximum of 5,500 members.		 25 members or € 50 (whichever is greater) 5,500 members (€ 26,400)

Decision: The motion was adopted.

13. FIG FOUNDATION

Mr. John Hohol, President of the FIG Foundation has prepared a written report and presented an oral report at the first general assembly session.

During the past year two Directors have resigned from their posts:

David Mitchell has been Director of FIG Foundation representing Commission 2 during his term of commission chair. He has earlier expressed his wish to resign from this post due to a too large workload and he stepped out in 2021. His profile has been scientific/academic.

Mike Barry has been on the board since 2006 and has decided due to personal circumstances to step down. He has secured the scientific/academic line of the Foundation over the years. Mike Barry was in 2021 appointed Honorary Member of FIG for his longstanding involvement to FIG.

FIG Council has appointed two new Directors:

  •  Jennifer Whittal, South Africa who has a strong academic/scientific profile
  • Bryn Fosburgh, USA, bringing in corporate expertise, senior leadership, and experiences with foundations

FIG Council thanks the two outgoing Directors for their valuable contributions over the years and welcomes the two new directors.

Appendix to item 13:

Presentation - handouts

Motion: That the General Assembly adopts the written report of the President of the FIG Foundation and records its thanks to the President and members of the Board of Directors of the FIG Foundation for their past year’s work

Decision: The motion was adopted.

At the third General Assembly session the six FIG Foundation Grant recipients were called to the stage.
The President of FIG Foundation, John Hohol, handed out plaques to:

  • Trimble
  • Ripro Corporation
  • SURCON
  • Stig Enemark
  • Kengo Okada

For their substantial donations to the FIG Foundation.

Finally, President Rudolf Staiger handed over the last original plaque to John Hohol, dated back to 2002, because the original plaque was lost in his attempt to order new plaques.

14. FIG COMMISSIONS

The Commission Chairs have prepared a written report for each commission which are attached to this agenda item. At the first General Assembly session each Commission Chair gave short oral report on the commission work.

The Chairs will be ready during general assembly session 1 to respond to questions and comments from the delegates.

Appendix to item 14: Commission reports:

Commission 1 Report video presentation
Commission 2 Report  
Commission 3 Report  
Commission 4 Report
Commission 5 Report video presentation
Commission 6 Report  
Commission 7 Report  
Commission 8 Report  
Commission 9 Report  
Commission 10 Report  

 

Motion: That the General Assembly adopts the reports of the Commission Chairs and records its thanks to the chairs and other officers of the Commissions for their ongoing contributions.

Decision: The motion was adopted

15. FIG NETWORKS AND PERMANENT INSTITUTIONS

15.1 Young Surveyors Network

FIG Young Surveyors Network is for the term 2021-22 chaired by Kwabena Asiama who made an oral report to the General Assembly.

Presentation handouts for all commissions and networks

Motion: that the General Assembly adopts the written report, and thanks all the many active Young Surveyors.

Decision: The motion was adopted.

15.2 Standards Network

The Chair of the network is David Martin who made an oral report to the General Assembly.  

Presentation handouts for all commissions and networks

Motion: That the General Assembly adopts the report from the Network and records its thanks to the Chair of the Network and its members.

Decision: The motion was adopted

15.3 FIG Regional Capacity Development Networks

The chairs of the two networks have prepared a written report on the status of the networks.

The Chair of the Asia/Pacific Network, Rob Sarib is willing to continue as chair for the coming term (2023-26). FIG Council has agreed to this decision.

Prof. Jennifer Whittal had expressed her interest to continue as chair of the FIG Africa Regional Network (ARN) for the coming term, however with her academic profile FIG Foundation and FIG Council wished to see her as Director of the FIG Foundation. It is not possible to continue in both positions at the same time. Jennifer has kindly accepted to become one of the FIG Foundation Directors, although she also expresses her sorrow to leave ARN.

Instead, FIG Council has appointed Surv. Mohmmed Mamman Kabir from Nigeria as new chair of ARN for the coming term gradually taking over from Jennifer Whittal so that she could finalise some of the current activities that she had started, and with full effect after the General Assembly 2022.

More information. https://www.fig.net/news/news_2022/03_africa_regional_network.asp

Appendix to item 15.3

  • Africa Network (Jennifer Whittal): Report
  • Asia/Pacific Network (Rob Sarib): Report and presentation

Presentation handouts for all commissions and networks

Motion:That the General Assembly adopts the reports from the networks, notes the update and appointments made by FIG Council, and records its thanks to the Chair of the Network and its members.

Decision: The motion was adopted.

115.4 International Office of Cadastre and Land Records (Office International du Cadastre et du Régime Foncier) OICRF

Prof. Dr. Christiaan Lemmen, Director of OICRF has prepared a written report on the OICRF activities. In the report OICRF has proposed that the General Assembly appoints Dr Eva-Maria Unger as the new Director of OICRF. Ms Pauline van Elsland will continue her activities as secretary of OICRF. FIG Council supports this change.
Dr. Eva-Maria Unger will precede Prof. Christiaan Lemmen who will retire from OICRF after leading the institution for 12 years.

At the first General Assembly session FIG President Rudolf Staiger presented the change that is supported by FIG Council

At the third General Assembly session Christiaan Lemmen and Eva-Maria Unger had each prepared a video greeting

Appendix to item 15.4:

OICRF report - 2021-August 2022

Motion: That the General Assembly adopts the report and appoints Dr. Eva-Maria Unger as the new OICRF Director. Ms. Pauline van Elsland will continue her activities as OICRF Secretary and that the General Assembly records its thanks to the members of OICRF for their past year’s work and sincere thanks to Prof. Christiaan Lemmen for his long and outstanding work in OICRF.

Decision: The motion was adopted

115.5 International Institution for the History of Surveying and Measurement, Permanent Institution of FIG

Mr. Jan de Graeve, Director of the IIHSM and Mr. John Brock have prepared a report on the IIHSM.

Motion:That the General Assembly adopts the report and records its thanks to the Director and the members of the permanent institution for their past year’s work and contribution. 

Decision: The motion was adopted.


16. TASK FORCE ON FIG AND THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

In 2019 FIG Council established a Task Force that will focus on FIG and the Sustainable Development Goals. This Task Force is chaired by Ms. Paula Dijkstra from the Netherlands. The Task Force has organised a special session in the technical programme at the Congress. Over the past six months the Task Force has published a news item each month with focus on a commission or network chair and their approach to the SDG’s. With this work done, and still more areas to focus on in regard to FIG and the SDG's the Task Force recommends that the Task Force will continue during the next term.The Chair of the Task Force will be ready during general assembly session 1 to respond to questions and comments from the delegates.

This agenda item was moved General Assembly session 3 due to the fact that this would then also include a summary of the activities during the Congress.

Paula Dijkstra, Chair of the Task Force, presented the oral report.

Handouts of the report

Appendix to item 16:

Motion: That the General Assembly records the report and notes the recommendations and updates.

Decision: The motion was adopted

17. NEW PUBLICATIONS

The History of Surveying - 7 volumes covering Three Millenniums of Measurement of Earth. These seven books include a life-long research and work of Jim Smith and Jan De Graeve on the History of Surveying. Only a 100 Special Edition Sets of the seven volumes have been printed.

The printing of these Special Editions has been made possible by Trimble, and all income from the books are donated in full to FIG Foundation.

Read more

Motion: That the General Assembly notes the new publications.

Decision: The motion was adopted

18. FIG WORKING WEEK 2028

2028 is a special year as it is the 150th anniversary of FIG. Already in 2019 the two French associations OGE and AFT expressed their interest at the presidents meeting to host the FIG Working Week in 2028. The two associations have already done a quite extensive work to prepare a bidding material.

On one hand, Council wants to respect the power and constitutional role of the General Assembly. On the other hand, Council supports the idea of celebrating our 150th anniversary in Paris with the Working Week 2028. Paris is the natural and obvious place because FIG was founded 150 years ago exactly there.

With this background, FIG Council would like to see the Working Week 2028 taking place in Paris but will be open for discussion and listen whether GA is supporting this idea or if there are any objections or concerns.

Appendix to Agenda item 18:

Letter of interest from OEG and ATF, France

Presentations:

Motion: That the General Assembly gives FIG Council the power to select the destination for the anniversary year 2028.

Decision: The motion was adopted. At the election, 71 out of 73 voted yes, 1 voted no and 1 abstained from voting. All voting results

FIG General Assembly voted yes to give FIG Council the power to choose the destination for 2028. At the third General Assembly session on 15 September 2022 FIG Council announced that they have decided the destination for the FIG Working Week 2028 to be Paris, France and that this Working Week would also mark the 150th anniversary of FIG. FIG President Rudolf Staiger expressed thanks from Council to the General Assembly for giving this opportunity to the two French associations and to bring FIG Working Week 2028 back to the birth city of FIG.

19. APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSION CHAIRS FOR THE TERM 2023-2026

According to the FIG Statutes and Internal Rules the General Assembly appoints Commission Chairs at its meeting two years prior to the Congress. In 2020 it was suggested to postpone this election to 2021. These Chairs Elects will then become Chairs of the Commissions for the next term of office. Thus, the General Assembly shall appoint at this meeting Commission Chairs for term of office 1.17.2023-31.12.2026.

Nominations from 2021:

Commission 1: Timothy W. Burch   Nomination NSPS USA
Commission 2: Dimo Todorovski  Nomination GIN Netherlands
Commission 3: Sagi Daylot    Nomination ALSI Israel
Commission 4: Malavige Don Eranda Kanachana Gunathilaka
Nomination SISL Sri Lanka
Commission 5: Ryan Keenan Nomination SSSI Australia
Commission 6: Werner Lienhart  Nomination OVG Austria
Commission 7: Rohan Bennett  Nomination SSSI/GIN Australia/Netherlands
Commission 8: Kwabena Asiama 
 Nomination GhIS Ghana
Commission 9: Peter Ache  Nomination DVW Germany
Commission 10: Anil Sawhney  Nomination RICS United Kingdom

 

 Motion: That the General Assembly appoints the above mentioned commission chairs for term of office 1.1.2023-31.12.2026

Decision: The motion was adopted. At General Assembly session 3 all incoming chairs were called to the stage to receive a certificate of appointment by the current president.

20. REPORT OF THE ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE

At the General Assembly in 2021 an Engagement Committee was installed for a trial period. The main idea for the Engagement Committee was to encourage a number of potential candidates for the various positions in FIG. The Engagement Committee started its work right after the General Assembly 2021. A report from the committee has been submitted on their experience and recommendation. The trial period continues during the coming 2-3 years with a specific focus on new potential Chairs Elects.
https://fig.net/news/news_2021/10_engagement_committee.asp
 
Appendix to agenda item 20: Evaluation report from the Engagement Committee

Presentation handouts

Motion: that the General Assembly adopts the report from the Engagement Committee and that FIG Council will evaluate the recommendations in the report for the future work of the Engagement Committee.

Decision: The motion was adopted

First voting round - election of general items

The first election took place Sunday 4 – Wednesday 7 September 2022.
 
Certified report
 
Recording of General Assembly session 1

FIG GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION 2
11 September 2022, 13:00-15:30 in Warsaw Poland

Video recording of Session 2 - Get to know your candidates

21. ROLL CALL

All members who have appointed an official delegate will be listed in the roll call as present during all sessions.
In addition there was a new roll call for members attending in person in Warsaw, Poland.

Appendix to item 2, 21 & 25: Roll Call including including Session 2 on 11 September and Session 3 on 15 September 2022.

Motion: That the General Assembly notes the members who are present in person in this session 2 of the General Assembly.

Decision: The motion was adopted.

22. ELECTION OF PRESIDENT FOR 2023-2026 - PRESENTATION OF CANDIDATES

The Council has received three nominations for the post of FIG President (mentioned in the alphabetic order of the first name):

  • Abbas Rajabifard, Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute SSSI, Australia
  • Diane Dumashie, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors RICS, UK
  • Orhan Ercan, Turkish Chamber of Survey and Cadastre Engineers HKMO, Türkiye

The profile templates and introduction videos are attached to the minutes.

General Assembly session 2 included a Q&A session with the three candidates interviewed by FIG President Rudolf Staiger in which they were given time to elaborate on their ideas and goals for developing the FIG agenda.

The election took place online starting Tuesday 13 September and ended on Thursday 15 September.

Appendix to item 22 and 26: Profile templates and promotion material of the candidates for FIG President 2023-26

Motion: That the General Assembly notes the presentations of the candidates, makes its careful consideration for the online election and elects a new President for the term 2023-2026.

Decision: The motion was adopted.

23. ELECTION OF TWO VICE PRESIDENTS FOR 2023-2026 - PRESENTATION OF CANDIDATES

FIG Council has received four proposals for the two open posts of FIG Vice President for the term 2023 to 2026 (mentioned in the alphabetic order of the first name):

  • Brian Davies, Canadian Institute of Geomatics CIG, Canada
  • Daniel Steudler, GEOSUISSE, Switzerland
  • Qin Yan, Chinese Society for Geodesy Photogrammetry and Cartography CSGPC, China 
  • Winnie Shiu, National Society of Professional Surveyors NSPS, USA

The profile templates and video presentations of each candidate are attached to the minutes.

In this second session of the General Assembly on 11 September 2022 each candidate got 10 minutes for a presentation based on three questions which they had received in advance. 

The election took place online from Sunday 11 September and until Thursday 15 September.

Appendix to item 23 and 27: Profiles of the candidates

Motion: That the General Assembly notes the presentations of the candidates, makes its careful consideration for the online election and elects two Vice Presidents for the term 2023-2026.

Decision: The motion was adopted

FIG President's meeting

WEDNESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2022 - 16:30 - 18:00, WARSAW POLAND

24. PRESIDENTS MEETING

The Presidents Meeting is convened by the FIG President and is reserved for Presidents or Heads of delegations of Member Associations (or their representatives).

The meeting is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 14 September 2022 at 16:30 – 18:00.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION 3, WARSAW, POLAND
15 SEPTEMBER 2022

Video recording of Session 3 - Results of the elections and outcome of the congress incl closing ceremony

25. ROLL CALL

All members who have appointed an official delegate will be listed in the roll call.
In addition there was a new roll call for members attending in person in Warsaw, Poland.

Appendix to item 2, 21 & 25: Roll Call including Session 2 on 11 September and Session 3 on 15 September 2022.

Motion: That the General Assembly notes the members who are present in person in this session 3 of the General Assembly.

Decision: The motion was adopted.

26. ELECTION OF PRESIDENT - RESULT

The General Assembly has been presented to the nominations, information material and presentations in session 2, and the voting took place online 13-15 September.
The result of the online voting was presented by FIG Council.

Motion: That the General Assembly notes and adopts the voting result.

Decision: The motion was adopted. In the first round no candidate got more than 50% of the votes. Diane Dumashie and Orhan Ercan received the most votes and continued to the second round.

In the second round Diane Dumashie was elected President for the term 2023-2026 with 45 votes (51.7%).

Election results

Voting results
FIG President - first round

The first round for the voting for President started Tuesday 13 September at 18:00 and ended on Wednesday 14 September at 12:00 (noon) CET

94 (100.00%) of 94 electors voted in this ballot.

Diane Dumashie, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors RICS, UK 36 (39.1%)
Orhan Ercan, Turkish Chamber of Survey and Cadastre Engineers HKMO, Turkey 29 (31.5%)
Abbas Rajabifard, Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute SSSI, Australia 27 (29.3%)
Abstain 2 (2.1%)

FIG President - second round

he second round for the voting for President started Wednesday 14:00 and ended on 15 September on 08:00 CET

88 (93.6%) of 94 electors voted in this ballot.

Diane Dumashie, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors RICS, UK 45 (51.7%)
Orhan Ercan, Turkish Chamber of Survey and Cadastre Engineers HKMO, Turkey 42 (48.3%)
Abstain 1 (1.1%)

27. ELECTION OF TWO VICE PRESIDENTS - RESULT

The General Assembly has been presented to the nominations, information material and presentations in session 2, and the voting took place online 11-15 September.

The result of the online voting was presented by FIG Council.

Motion: That the General Assembly notes and adopts the voting result.

Decision: The motion was adopted.

Elected were:

  • Daniel Steudler
  • Winnie Shiu

Vice President 1: In the first round Daniel Steudler and Qin Yan got the most votes and continued to the second round which Daniel Steudler won with 52 votes (57.8%)

Vice President 2: In the second round Qin Yan and Winnie Shiu got the most votes and continued to the second round which Winnie Shiu won with 40 votes (50.6%)

Election results

Voting results
FIG Vice President: First round first voting

The first round for the first post started on Monday 13 September at 18:00 and ended on 13 September at 08:00

90 (96.8%) of 93 electors voted in this ballot.

Daniel Steudler, GEOSUISSE, Switzerland 33 (40.7%)
Qin Yan, Chinese Society for Geodesy Photogrammetry and Cartography CSGPC, China 30 (37.0%)
Winnie Shiu, National Society of Professional Surveyors NSPS, USA 17 (21.0%)
Brian Davies, Canadian Institute of Geomatics CIG, Canada 1 (1.2%)
Abstain 0 (0.0%)
FIG Vice President: First round second voting

The second round for the first post started Tuesday 13 September at 09:00 and ended at 13 September 23:00 CET

92 (97.9%) of 94 electors voted in this ballot.

Daniel Steudler, GEOSUISSE, Switzerland 52 (57.8%)
Qin Yan, Chinese Society for Geodesy Photogrammetry and Cartography CSGPC, China 38 (42.2%)
FIG Vice President: Second election first voting

The first round for the second post started Wednesday 14 September at 00:00 (midnight) and ended on 14 September14:00 CET

Winnie Shiu, National Society of Professional Surveyors NSPS, USA 42 (47.2%)
Qin Yan, Chinese Society for Geodesy Photogrammetry and Cartography CSGPC, China 39 (43.8%)
Brian Davies, Canadian Institute of Geomatics CIG, Canada 8 (9.0%)
Abstain 3 (3.3%)
FIG Vice President: Second election second voting

The second round for the second post started on 14 September at 15:00 and ended on 15 September at 05:00 CST

81 (86.2%) of 94 electors voted in this ballot.

Winnie Shiu, National Society of Professional Surveyors NSPS, USA 40 (50.6%)
Qin Yan, Chinese Society for Geodesy Photogrammetry and Cartography CSGPC, China 39 (49.4%)
Abstain 2 (2.5%)

 28. ADOPTION OF ALL GENERAL AGENDA ITEMS

The voting on all other agenda items took place right after the first General Assembly session on 4 September. The result of the online voting was presented by FIG Council.

Motion: That the General Assembly notes and adopts the voting result.

Decision: The motion was adopted

29. APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSION CHAIRS

The General Assembly have been asked to appoint the nominated and elected commission chairs elects to commission chairs.

Motion: That the General Assembly notes and adopts the voting result

Decision: The motion was adopted.

30. MEMBERSHIP

The Land Reform Association, Belarus (MA-10007) has been a member of FIG for many years. They have unfortunately informed that in the summer of 2022, the association was liquidated, and ceased to exist.

Ordre des Géomètres Experts de Côte d’Ivoire (OGECI), MA-10129 has paid its membership fee and is now not being expelled.

There are now 96 member associations from 81 countries.

Motion: That the General Assembly decides on the membership issues based on the proposal of the Council.

Decision: The motion was adopted.
Certificates were handed out to the new members that were present in Warsaw.

31. REPORTS FROM ASSOCIATION, AFFILIATE, ACADEMIC AND CORPORATE MEMBERS FORUM

During the Congress there will be Member Association Forum, the Director General's/Affiliate Members Forum, Academic Members Forum, Regional Bodies Forum and Corporate Members Meeting.

Brent Jones, ESRI, reported back on behalf of FIG Corporate Members on the impressions of the congress and exhibition:

Motion: That the General Assembly records the report(s)

Decision: The motion was adopted

32. REPORTS FROM COMMISSIONS

FIG Commissions will have their annual meetings, administrative meetings and technical sessions during the Congress. They may report back to the General Assembly on any issues that may need the endorsement of or are of general interest to the General Assembly. Any other activities from the Congress may be reported back to the General Assembly on any issues that may need the endorsement of or are of general interest to the General Assembly.

Hartmut Müller, Chair of FIG Commission 3 and the commission representative to Council, reported back from all commissions and networks on behalf of all chairs:

Motion: That the General Assembly records the report(s).

Decision: The motion was adiopted

33. REPORTS FROM NETWORKS, TASK FORCES, PERMANENT INSTITUTIONS, FIG FOUNDATION AND OTHER CONGRESS ACTIVITIES

Networks, Task Forces, Permanent Institutions, FIG Foundation and others will have meetings and technical sessions in Warsaw. They may report back to the General Assembly on any issues that may need the endorsement of or are of general interest to the General Assembly. Any other activities from the Congress may be reported back to the General Assembly on any issues that may need the endorsement of or are of general interest to the General Assembly.

Paula Dijkstra reported from the Task Force on FIG and the Sustainable Development Goals, which was also agenda item 16. The report was made now because Paula Dijkstra was also key note speaker in the keynote session on:” Land Governance in Support of the 2030 Global Agenda”, together with FIG Honorary President Stig Enemark, in which she talked about FIG and the Sustainable Development Goals, and further to this she had a special roundtable session on the SDGs.

As reported in agenda item 15.4 FIG Council and OICRF suggested to hand over the presidency of OICRF from Christiaan Lemmen to Eva-Maria Unger.

Hartmut Müller, Chair of FIG Commission 3, reported back to the General Assembly about the session on Digital Transformation and Land Administration, organised in cooperation with UNFAO and UNECE. At this session two new publications were launched; one FIG Publication, no 80: Digital Transformation and Land Administration, a FIG Guide and a FAO Investment Brief: Funding Digital Transformation of Land Administration.
Read more:

Motion: That the General Assembly records the report(s).

Decision: The motion was adopted

34. OTHER ISSUES

Any other issues that the members want to raise for discussion.

Motion: That the discussion will be recorded and the Council will consider action that will be required.

Decision: No further issues were raised by members.

35. REPORT ON THE FIG CONGRESS 2026 IN CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA  / FIG WORKING WEEK 2028 IN PARIS, FRANCE

Representatives from the Local Organising Committee from South African Geomatics Institute (SAGI) will give a presentation on preparations of FIG Congress 2026.

Motion: That the General Assembly records the report.

Decision: The representatives from the Local Organising Committee were not able to attend in Poland and the report is postponed until the General Assembly 2023.

Instead, the Local Organising Committee for the FIG Working Week 2028 in Paris, France was called to stage to thank the General Assembly for the election to give FIG Council the power to choose the destination for 2028 and that the two French associations will work on a nice and special celebration of the 150th anniversary of FIG at the FIG Working Week 2028.

36. REPORT ON THE FIG WORKING WEEK 2025 IN BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

Paul Digney, President of SSSI, representing the Local Organising Committee from SSSI gave a presentation on preparations of FIG Working Week 2025.

Motion: That the General Assembly records the report.

Decision: The motion was adopted.

37. REPORT ON THE FIG WORKING WEEK 2024 IN ACCRA, GHANA

Representatives from the Local Organising Committee from GhIS and LISAG gave a presentation on preparations of FIG Working Week 2024.

Motion: That the General Assembly records the report.

Decision: The motion was adopted

38. REPORT ON THE FIG WORKING WEEK 2023 IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA, USA

John Hohol, Co-Conference Director, together with other representatives from the Local Organising Committee from NSPS gave a presentation on preparations of FIG Working Week 2023.

Motion: That the General Assembly records the report.

Decision: The motion was adopted.

39. CLOSING CEREMONY AND PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES

At the Closing ceremony, FIG President Rudolf Staiger held a closing speech whereafter he thanked the local organising committee for the outstanding work – with a Congress organised in less than a year and with several challenges. Still, they carried through with hard work and good spirit, and the result was fabulous.

Recordings of the General Assembly Sessions

Session 1 - General Agenda Items

Session 2 - Get to know your candidates

Session 3 - Results of the elections and outcome of the congress incl closing ceremony

 

 

Data supplied by the FIG Office. 

 

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that this data is accurate errors might exist. Requests for updates and corrections should be emailed to the FIG Office.