IIW History 1990-2015

Inspection Personnel according to IIW guidelines. This resulted in a significant contribution to welding in Vietnam and a corresponding attractiveness of welding as a career choice. 27 Vietnamsubsequently became amember of IIWin 2007 throughHwCas theMember Society. The role of international congresses during the period 2008-2012 must not be overlooked in the overall scheme of things. The Asia-Pacific IIW International Congress at Tianjin University in China heralded a greater interest and participation in IIW’s qualification and personnel and company certification schemes by countries in SE Asia, more particularly China and its fast expanding economy. Similarly, in India, one of the largest attendances ever to take place at a regional event was at the International Congress conducted by India when over 700 delegates attended in Chennai in January 2008. This represented a growing resurgence in interest from the Indian sub-continent as its economy powered forwards in common with other nations across the world. This attendance was eventually surpassed at the 63rd IIW Annual Assembly in Istanbul, Turkey in 2010 when almost 900 participants attended. IIW CEO Dr-Ing. Cécile Mayer expressed the feelings of most who took part, particularly since Turkey, after only becoming an IIW member in 2008, had taken on the Annual Assembly at short notice. ‘The Assembly in Turkey will remain one of the most amazing moments of the last 15 years. IIW delegates were treated as honoured guests and the festivities were just outstanding.’ 28 In terms of a developing interest in the Middle East, IIW supported a welding conference in Damascus, Syria, entitled Development of Welding Technology in the Arab World which focused on the need to develop welding skills in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Its impact was not immediately apparent but nevertheless important in terms of encouraging such countries to join IIW and share the benefits that membership of IIW could bring. The membership of IIW from the African continent, as a result of a number of events and initiatives, would eventually swell to a core membership of Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia by 2015, including, of course, South Africa, an original foundation member of IIW. This, perhaps, was one of the most important initiatives in expanding the beneficial influence of IIW in the provision of technical knowledge and technology transfer to countries of growing global importance on the African continent. The linkages through IIW as a global institution were to grow even further with the signing of a MOU with WorldSkills International in 2006 and, as reported in Chapter 3, this provided the means for young vocational welders to show their skills at an international level in competition. Also, a core group of participating countries within IIW, championed by Dr Zhenying Liu (China), set up an ‘Arc Cup’ International Welding Competition in 2008 for professional welders with a view to improving the technical skills and strengthen

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