Dear readers,
The holiday Season is approaching! All of us are looking forward to warm gatherings
with our family and loved ones. Yet another year is almost gone, and what a year!
The expansion of the FCI Offices in Thuin, whose construction started in 2014, was
inaugurated on March 20th, 2015. On this occasion, the statue of a Belgian Shepherd
Dog casted by the Belgian artist Luc Deblick was offered to the city of Thuin to
commemorate the city which has been hosting the FCI headquarters since 1954 and
which was proclaimed the World Capital of Dogs in 2011. The very well-planned extension
will serve the FCI with state-of-the-art technology and infrastructure for the future
of the FCI, the FCI Dog Museum and many of our initiatives.
During the World Dog Show 2014 in Helsinki (Finland), the FCI launched its most
important initiative in years: FCI Youth. This initiative was created to insure
the future of our organisation, encouraging future generations to get involved in
our hobby. Through 2015, the FCI Youth team has been busy developing initiatives
towards the youth community. It could be seen on several FCI canine events, organising
activities for children, teens, young adults and young professionals: Existing National
Youth Organisations are vital for the future of cynology!
Further to the community movement which reached a climax after the FCI General Assembly
Meeting in June, the FCI General Committee decided to create a new working group
entrusted with the reflexion about and the drafting of the bases for a reorganisation
of the FCI. In this context, the FCI General Committee wants to reaffirm their
confidence in all the stakeholders of the FCI big family: the FCI General Secretariat,
the national canine organisations, the FCI commissions, the FCI judges, as well
as the huge community of FCI followers, be it breeders, exhibitors, participants
in all the events organised around the FCI disciplines, dog lovers all over the
world who work with dogs, enjoy their company and unconditionally care for dog welfare.
In this perspective, cooperation is the key-word: the FCI is the federation hosting
91 member-countries, each with its own cultural characteristics and to be part of
the FCI is about acting within this concert of nations, in the strict respect of
the common denominator which unites us all and which is described in the statutes,
missions and values of the FCI. It is all about inspiring each other to reach our
objectives in a dog-friendly society.
Let me wish you, on behalf of the FCI General Committee and of the FCI General Secretariat,
a
Happy Holiday and a prosperous New Year!
Rafael de Santiago
FCI President