IPC Conference and General Assembly in Seoul, Korea
Countries from all over the world were together from November 22nd to 25th in Seoul, Korea for the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Conference and General Assembly.
The Opening Ceremony of the Conference was held in the Grand Intercontinental Hotel with speeches from the Prime Minister of Korea, Han Duck-Soo, IPC President Sir Philip Craven and the Korean NPC President, Jang Hyang-Sook. Besides the speeches, the 250 participants were able to see traditional Korean singing and dancing on stage. During two days of meeting and break-out sessions, the delegates covered several agenda items, such as Communication and Stakeholder Relations, Organizational Development Initiative (ODI), Anti-Doping and Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE), Paralympic Day, Paralympic School Day and Youth Round Table.
The IPC Conference is an opportunity for members of the Paralympic Movement to get together before the IPC General Assembly and exchange views and thoughts on various topics. In regards to the Conference and General Assembly, the President of Americas Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons, said: "throughout the conferences, very important topics for the development of the Paralympic Movement are discussed such as anti-doping, youth sport, Paralympic Games, ODI, communication and so on. The NPCs received a lot of information and the opportunity to debate and exchange experiences, which are crucial for the short and long term planning."
During the two days of IPC General Assembly (GA), not only National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) attended, as well as disability specific sport federations (IOSDs), regions and sports. The GA was presented with an overview of IPC activities of the last two years as well as approved the Financial Budget for 2008 and the framework for 2009. Three countries were ratified as members of IPC, including Panama from the Americas Region. Furthermore, four International Sports Federations joined IPC as a member. The IPC Classification Code was approved and now the members will be invited to sign for the acceptance before the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. The three organizing committees for the Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 gave report on the status of their preparations for the games.
During the Gala Dinner on the 24th November, the IPC Membership honored the winners of the Paralympic Awards 2007: Paralympic Sport Awards, Paralympic Media Awards, Paralympic Scientific Award, Paralympic Order.
For further information, specially about the IPC GA, Paralympic Awards and the
award winners, please visit the IPC website at:
www.paralympic.org