42nd Apimondia Congress 2011 is going to start in just a few days

Every two years beekeepers from around the world, leading scientists, experts and practitioners, leaders of the world’s largest commercial organizations and leaders of national beekeeping non-governmental organizations gather together at the Apimondia Congresses. Because it’s a unique opportunity for all representatives of beekeeping industry to share experiences and find solutions to key problems in the industry. It is a meeting venue for a large number of professionals and amateurs. It’s a place, where key achievements and developments are presented and business contracts and agreements are concluded.

So, the 42nd International Apicultural Apimondia Congress will be held from 21 to 25 September 2011 in Argentina. The venue of this “beekeeping event of the year” is the capital of Argentina, administrative, cultural and economic center of the country and one of the largest cities in South America — the city of Buenos Aires. The Apimondia Congress will be held at the International Conference Center “La Rural”, which has 100-year history of holding international events.

The 42nd International Apicultural Congress “Apimondia 2011” promises to be interesting and innovative in many aspects, both programme and cultural. The main innovations concern primarily the expansion of the standard scientific program of the Congress.

The Scientific Conference will be held under the title “Toward a sustainable apiculture that fosters development” as part of the 42^nd Apimondia Congress. 7 plenary sessions of the Standing Scientific Commissions and 16 scientific thematic symposia will be held as part of the conference. Poster presentations will be changed every day according to the theme. In addition, two-day pre and post symposia on individual topics will be held.

“Short courses” will be also added to the program. It’s kind of small educational training courses for professional beekeepers involving leading experts of the world level. They will be held simultaneously in all four halls after the scientific sessions, plenary sessions and thematic symposia. The main topics chosen by the organizers for “Short courses” are “Apiary Medical Management”, “Apiary Diversification”, “Apiary Management”, “GMP” and “Apiary Reproduction”. These courses promise to be not only informative but also interactive and dynamic.

Another interesting element of the 42nd Apimondia Congress in Argentina is going to be thematic roundtables to be held in a special “Fourth hall”. Discussions will be held with the participation of different members of beekeeping circuit (researchers, engineers, beekeepers and traders), whose thoughts and experience will contribute to the process of discussing key topics concerning environmental problems, organization, quality and markets management, and technological problems in development of new products for human health.

Significantly expanding the scientific part of the Congress, the organizers expect the event to be visited by more than ten thousand participants from over 70 countries. However, this is not everything that can be of interest to potential participants and delegates of the Congress. Anyone will be able to go sightseeing and after the Congress to choose one of the technical tours (three one-day and four two-day to choose from). The participants will have a chance to familiarize themselves with beekeeping of Argentina. But that’s not all, because for those who just want to visit Argentina, organizers proposed six incredibly interesting tourism programs in Argentina and one tour in Uruguay. Everyone can find exactly what he needs.

Certainly, the 42^nd Apimondia Congress can’t be held without Ukrainian delegation. Because the next 43^rd International Congress 2013 will be held in the Ukrainian capital — the city of Kyiv. And Ukraine will be officially represented in Argentina by members of the Organizing Committee of the XXXXIII International Apimondia Congress:

• Tetyana Vasylkivska — President of the Organizing Committee and Head of the Ukrainian delegation;

• Yuriy Riphyak — Communication Coordinator of the Organizing Committee;

• Mariya Riphyak — Administrative Manager of the Organizing Committee;

• Stepan Kerek — member of the Scientific Commission of the Organizing Committee;

• Volodymyr Shevchuk — Head of the Lviv regional organization of the NGO “Brotherhood of Ukrainian beekeepers”, member of the Organizing Committee.

It is a good opportunity for Ukrainian delegation not only to understand the level of organizational work, meet with old friends, share experiences, but also to present Ukraine at its stand and build business and partnership relations with potential participants and sponsors of the Congress in Ukraine.

For this purpose, at stand B21 at ApiExpo-2011 the Ukrainian delegation is going to present official promotional catalog of the 43^rd Congress and exclusive collection of favours. The representatives of the Ukrainian delegation will work at the stand providing all necessary information about preparation for the Congress in Ukraine. In addition, there will be early registration of participants at special price of 150 EUR and agreements on stands booking for the ApiEXPO-2013.

Representatives of Ukraine will take part in the meeting of the General Assembly of Apimondia, voting for important changes to the charter, the election of the President of Apimondia, first chairman of the Standing Commission for Europe and the heads of the standing scientific commissions. A voting for the next venue of the 44^th Apimondia Congress will be also held. Among the candidates: Beijing (China) and Daejeon (South Korea).

On September 23, our delegation prepared for guests of honor a reception in Ukrainian style. In addition to refreshments and food, guests will be entertained with dancing and folk songs to be performed by the Ukrainian Central Coordination in Argentina. Guests can enjoy a closer view to the national culture of our country.

On September 24, the most intense program will be held, because the delegation will participate in the discussion at the Round Table “World Beekeeping”. In addition, Yuriy Riphyak will report in the scientific section of Apitherapy "“Indicators of apitherapeutic means” with a work “Beekeeping and Apitherapy in Ukraine”. And Stepan Kerek will present a report in the scientific section of Bee Biology “Nutrition and Physiology / Biodiversity and Conservation” on the general topic "“Carpathian bees of Ukraine”.

On September 25, during the closing ceremony, the President of the 42nd International Apicultural Apimondia Congress will officially pass the baton to the President of the Organizing Committee of the XXXXIII International Apimondia Congress Mrs. Tetyana Vasylkivska. She is going to deliver a presentation about the future Apimondia Congress in Ukraine. All representatives of the Ukrainian delegation, representatives of the Embassy of Ukraine in Argentina, heads and members of the Ukrainian diaspora organizations of Argentina will help her.

After returning to Kyiv, the Ukrainian delegation will held a press conference to be a kind of report on the trip results. The media representatives will be informed about preparation stage of the Apimondia Congress.