The FEI held its annual General Assembly at the invitation of the American Horse Shows Association on 26 and 27 April 2001 in San Francisco. The Belgian Mrs Mariette Whitages was elected Chairman of the Dressage Committee replacing Eric Lette (SWE), who was made Honorary Bureau Member. In connection with the General Assembly, both the Bureau and the Executive Board met twice. The four days of meetings were extremely well organised by the host federation and were held in an very cooperative and friendly atmosphere.
On Thursday 26 April The FEI President, Her Royal Highness the Infanta Doña Pilar de Borbón and Mr Il-Hyung Chang, Senior Vice President of Samsung Electronics signed the prolongation of the Samsung sponsorship agreement during a signing ceremony and press conference, hosted by Mr Hay Keong Yang, Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics. Samsung extend its title sponsorship of the Nations Cup Series for an additional three years, from 2003 to 2005. The decision to invest an additional $7 million demonstrates the company’s strong and ongoing commitment to international equestrian sport. Out of the 126 member National Federations, 90 were present: 80 were represented by delegates and 10 by proxy.
The day before the Assembly, a very successful Forum was organised. The first part of the Forum was dedicated to a presentation of the International Paralympic Equestrian Committee (IPEC) by Jonquil Solt, President. This was followed by the first Eventing Open Forum of the year, which brought very interesting discussions on the statement developed by the Eventing Committee. The second Forum will be organised in Lexington next week. In her opening speech, the FEI President, HRH the Infanta Doña Pilar de Borbón, paid tribute to the many volunteers involved in equestrian sport around the world and briefly explained the Olympic programme for 2001, International Year of the Volunteers.
Image copyrighted: Dirk Caremans