Letter from the President

In a remarkable and extraordinary year where we are now used to the daily phrase, ‘You are on mute’, I am honoured to be your President for 2020-2021. With the assistance of the other 23 board members and the Secretariat we will plot a path through these testing times for our association, aiming to remain as the pinnacle strength of the international pipeline construction scene.

I would like to thank Iosif Panchak who has steered us through the challenging year of 2020. We welcome six new members to the 2020-2021 Board who will provide new energy and enthusiasm to supplement the existing board members. The commitment and forethought of previous boards prepared our association for this period of uncertainty. We maintain a solid financial position thanks to us ensuring IPLOCA would be “fit for the future”. We still have, however, a lot of hard work ahead of us to maintain a sustainable association well into the coming decades. Our main priorities are to launch the revised RTS (“The Road to Success”) application, ensure the Technology Catalogue is populated, and look for better ways to improve communication with you, our members, to make sure we deliver value for your membership.

I would particularly like to thank and pay recognition to the outgoing directors, some of whom have been loyal members of the IPLOCA Board of Directors for many years: Daniel Fernandez, Yasar Giregiz, Najib Khoury (Past President), Paul Andrews, Andrew Ball (Past President) and Fatih Can.

Normally this edition of the newsletter is full of pictorial memories of the Annual Convention; however, this year is an exception. As we all deal with the impacts that the global COVID-19 pandemic has thrown at us we are optimistic that we can all meet in Prague in 2021.

We do have a busy year ahead to ensure we remain relevant and continue to offer our members the benefits that they expect. We welcome your participation to assist the board and the committees in completing the numerous tasks and activities which make our association the success that has kept it active for the past 54 years.

Please feel free at any time to contact a director if you have suggestions or wish to provide feedback on where we can improve. We assure you that the current board will make every effort to maintain the value of our association.

I look forward to meeting and working with many of our members during this coming year.

With best regards,

Leon Richards

IPLOCA President 2020-2021