z ifatca annual conference
CONFERENCE UPDATE z from the ifatca executive board It is obviously in the interest of the Federation that we have a majority of member associations represented in Singapore, but the health and wellbeing of our attendees continues to be our main concern. IFATCA surveyed our member associations (MAs) and found that roughly half still intend to travel to Singapore to attend the 2020 Conference. Some eighteen member associations are still undecided on whether they will attend. We continue to closely monitor the situation and the advice of the local authorities. There is still a high degree of uncertainty on how the spread of the COVID-19 virus will evolve. At this time, we have not received any indication from the authorities in
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Singapore that justifies abandoning the 2020 Conference. In the absence of advice from the authorities in Singapore not to proceed, we will go ahead with the 2020 Conference as planned. The Singapore Ministry of Health will help coordinate additional precautions during the conference, such as temperature screening, masks, etc. Having said that, each member association and individual delegate needs to determine for themselves whether they can attend or not, taking advice from their local authorities and potential consequences into account. We do ask that you keep us (the Executive Board) informed of your decision, especially if you have registered and plan not to attend. In the (currently unlikely) event that we do not have a quorum, there are guidelines on how to proceed in our
administrative manual, which the board will diligently apply. For those still undecided whether they can/should attend our 2020 Conference: please be advised that the Marina Bay Sands Hotel will extend the cancellation deadline to March 4th. This extension will give MAs and delegates more time to evaluate the situation. The information in your reservation should be updated soon. If you want to book a room past this date, please contact the organising committee directly. We thank our member associations and other attendees for taking the time to complete our survey on their conference attendance. We also praise Singapore for its thorough and effective handling of the epidemic. y
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