Participation of the official delegation of Ukraine in the XIX Apislavia Congress.Part 1. Events. Results. Plans.

The XIX Apislavia Congress was held in a picturesque Polish town Pszczela Wola near Lublin on September 19-23, 2012. The Congress was held under the honorary patronage of the President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski.

Members of the official delegation of Ukraine participated in the Apislavia Congress - Ukrainian beekeepers and beekeeping experts from different parts of our country: Kurochka Oleksiy, Cherepov Stepan, Gromovyi Vasyl, Gromova Lyudmyla, Rybalka Oleksiy, Klochko Mykola, Malykhin Volodymyr, Lokhov Valeriy, Ovsyanik Viktor, Kozhemyako Serhiy, Grechanyi Vladyslav, Chukhrai Tetyana, Sanin Yuriy, Romanchenko Mykola, Shevchuk Volodymyr, Matsiyevska Nataliya, Baranovskyi Andriy, Yanchuk Vadym.

Members of the Organizing Committee of the XXXXIII International Apimondia Congress participated in the Apislavia Congress: the President of Apimondia 2013 in Kyiv TetyanaVasylkivska, members of the Organizing Committee SerhiyPidmohylnyi, SerhiyShmulia, interpreter and a member of the Volunteer Program working team of the Organizing Committee KaterynaIdyartova.

The All-Ukrainian NGO “Brotherhood of Beekeepers of Ukraine”, a member of the Federation Apislavia since April 2012 (official membership registered in Ankara, Turkey, the General Assembly Apislavia in April 2012) was officially represented at the XIX Apislavia Congress by executives — President of the Board of All-Ukrainian NGO “Brotherhood of Ukrainian beekeepers” TetyanaVasylkivska and the Deputy Chairman SerhiyShmulia.

At the XIX Apislavia Congress, the All-Ukrainian nongovernmental organization “Brotherhood of Beekeepers of Ukraine”, member of the Federation Apislavia since April 2012 (official membership was registered in Ankara, Turkey, at the General Assembly of Apislavia in April 2012) was represented by the leaders — Chairman of the Board of the All-Ukrainian nongovernmental organization “Brotherhood of Beekeepers of Ukraine” Tetyana Y. Vasylkivska and the Deputy Chairman of the organization SerhiyShmulia.

The trip to Poland was organized by the travel company “Terra Incognita,” which is an official partner of the Organizing Committee of the XXXXIII International Apimondia Congress. The company’s director SerhiyPidmohylnyi is the Tour Coordinator at the Organizing Committee.

Trip program also included visiting tourist sites in Poland. On September 18, the Ukrainian delegation visited an impressive Polish town Zamość. Its unique architectural ensembleon a world scale is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, a real “pearl of the Renaissance.”

On September 19, after official registration at the Apislavia Congress, the delegation went on the excursion to Sandomierz — a historical town, which preserved the atmosphere of ancient times due to its monuments and to Krakow — “the cradle of the old Rzeczpospolita”, a picturesque city with an extremely rich cultural and architectural heritage. The delegation visited the historical center of Krakow, which is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, the Wawel Castle and other historical and cultural monuments of the ancient and very beautiful city in Poland.

Certainly, the delegates have got acquainted with the city of Lublin — one of the oldest cities in Poland. Visiting the Old Town and the main historical monuments — the Lublin Castle, the Cracow Gate and the Grodzka Gate, churches have left members of the Ukrainian delegation with wonderful memories. A wonderful hotel “Focus”, where the Ukrainian delegation was accomodated, was located in picturesque Lublin.

Apislavia is the European Federation of beekeeping organizations, the successor of the All Slavic Beekeeping Union founded in Bulgaria in June 1910. Apislavia is the oldest forum for discussion of common problems of beekeeping in Eastern and Central Europe.

Members of Apislavia are the organizations from the following countries — Belarus, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Czech Republic and the Apimondia Institute of beekeeping in Bucharest (FIITEA). Every two years, the Congesses of Apisalvia are held. The place of the next Congress is determined by the heads of beekeeping organizations, members of the Federation at the Apislavia Assembly.The members of Apislavia discuss the most important issues for their national beekeeping at the Congresses, regional conferences and symposia. Nongovernmental beekeeping organizations — members of Apislavia, are members of the International Federation of Beekeeping Associations Apimondia. Most of the countries-members of Apislavia are the members of the European Union and are guided by the EU regulations on the main aspects of beekeeping, receive subsidies for the beekeeping development of their countries from the EU budget and export most of the honey produced to the EU partners.

On September 20, the XIX Apislavia Congress started to work at the College of beekeeping in PszczelaWola. The apiarian educational institution in itself is a unique one as it prepares professional beekeepers for households and businesses in Poland and other countries.

The Ukrainian official delegation was present in full strength at the opening ceremony of the Congress. It was the most numerous among the delegations from other countries, members of Apislavia: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovenia.

The President of ApislaviaTadeuszSabat made a brilliant Congress opening speech.

The President of Apimondia Gilles Ratia, director of the Secondary Beekeeping School MyroslavVorobyk, representative of the President of the Republic of Poland, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland, scientists and representatives of government institutions and establishments spoke at the official opening ceremony of the Congress.

There were also speeches made by leading Polish scientists: Dr. MarekChmielewski, Prof. PawełChorbiński, Mgr. Tomasz Strojny, director of the company “Biowet” MirosławGrzęda. Scientists have expressed concern about the situation, when the death rate of bees in the European Union is 20% — 30%. Scientists’ reports concerned issues on veterinary support for beekeeping, production of veterinary products that are most acceptable for honey bee health in today’s conditions.

On September 20 and 22, during the XIX Apislavia Congress two meetings of the General Assembly of Apislavia attended by all heads of beekeeping associations—members of Apislavia were held in PszczelaWola. Issues concerning the work of the Federation Apislavia, amendments to the statute and governing changes of Apislavia membership were discussed at the meetings, proper decisions and resolutions were adopted. The President of Apislavia presented a report to the participants and all the members of the meeting made a speech under the agenda of the Assembly.

The Vice-President of Apislavia, Director of the Beekeeping Institute of Apimondia in Bucharest (FIITEA) Cristian Constantinescu proposed to discuss and pass the amendments to the Statute of Apislavia. A few months before the Apislavia Congress heads of the associations — members of the Federation Apislavia received a letter from the heads and secretariat of Apislavia with a request to make amendments to the Statute of the organization. These amendments are caused by new terms of cooperation between beekeeping organizations in European countries. All amendments were discussed at the Assembly. As a result of discussion, the Statute of the Federation was amended and the new Statute with amendments was approved.

The draft Resolution of the Apislavia Congress was moved by the heads of Apislavia at the General Assembly of Apislavia. According to procedure, amendments and recommendations to the Resolution of the Apislavia Congress must be approved after some discussion. And this document will be sent to the European Parliament, Presidents and Ministers of agro-industry of all member states after signing by the members of Apislavia. The Resolution of the Congress contains recommendations of the European beekeeping community on changes and improvements in beekeeping practice of European beekeepers.

A speech by TetyanaVasylkivska was dedicated to the activities of the All-Ukrainian NGO “Brotherhood of beekeepers of Ukraine” and preparation for the Apimondia Congress 2013 to be held in Ukraine in September-October 2013. Speeches made by the Vice-President of the National Union of Beekeepers of Kazakhstan Rukavitsyn Igor and the Chairman of the Beekeepers’ Union of Crimea KlochkoMykola were focused on joining the Federation Apislavia. Heads of the Turkish Beekeepers’ Association appealed to support their organization (Turkey’s candidacy) in autumn 2013 at the XXXXIII International Apimondia Congress in Ukraine in the process of struggling for the right to host Apimondia Congress 2017 in Turkey. According to the agenda, speeches were made by leaders of Belarusian, Czech, Slovak beekeepers’ associations and other participants of the meeting.New members’ admission procedure to the Federation Apislavia was held at the Assembly. The following organizations have become members of the Federation Apislavia: National Beekeepers’ Union of Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan), the Beekeepers’ Union of Crimea (AR Crimea, Ukraine) and the National Association of Manufacturers and Processors of Bee Products (NAViPP) (Russia).
We were sad at hearing the news about the final deprivation of Apislavia membership of the Russian National Beekeepers’ Union (Russia, leader — Butov O.A.) and the Beekeepers’ Association of Ukraine (Ukraine, Head — L.I. Bodnarchuk). These two NGOs actually lost their membership of the Federation Apislaviya in April 2012, when a meeting of the General Assembly of Apislavia was held in Ankara (Turkey). But the letters were sent to the heads of mentioned beekeeping organizations to renew their membership by at least paying 4-year debt of membership dues for 4-5 month. The two organizations mentioned above did not provide an answer regarding the desire to be members of the Federation and pay dues before the Assembly meeting of Apislavia in PszczelaWola. The result of inactivity of the Russian National Beekeepers’ Union and the Beekeepers’ Association of Ukraine within the Federation Apislavia and violation of financial discipline in the Federation was the decision by the General Assembly of Apislavia in PszczelaWola (Poland) to confirm the exclusion of these organizations from the Federation Apislavia. According to the Statute of Apislavia and its organizational rules, all the members of the Federation shall perform those functions in the organization of the Federation and pay membership dues. Those who do not comply with these rules and ignores them, find themselves outside the organization.

After the first meeting of the Apislavia Assembly all participants of the meeting were invited to a festive buffet table by the President of ApislaviaTadeuszSabat. The heads of beekeeping associations-members of Apislavia had a chance to have an informal talk with the President of Apimondia Gilles Ratia (France), the President of the Regional Commission for Europe Philip McCabe (Ireland), the Vice-President of ApislaviaCristian Constantinescu, scientists from around the world, scientists from Poland, directors of Polish beekeeping enterprises, leading beekeeping experts of Poland, public activists.