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LINKING PEOPLE, JOINING NATIONS
qualification schemes, and the development of centres of excellence and technology transfer
in regions and emerging countries throughout the world.
18
The strong cooperation and networking between Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia
in SE Europe resulted in the 1st South-East European Welding Congress being held in
Timi oara, Romania in May 2006, with a theme
Welding and Joining Technologies for
Sustainable Development and Environment
. A workshop along similar lines to those earlier
was also held at this Congress and attracted additional representation from countries such
as Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Slovenia, Turkey, Moldavia and Macedonia.
Some of these, which were not members already, were to join IIW later and strengthen the
membership cause even further. A feature of this congress and the accompanying workshop
was the attendance of representatives of UNIDO, IAEA, EU and DFID who collectively
gave talks on how these agencies could provide assistance to aid developing countries and
economies in the region. The Timi oara workshop was to provide a representative model for
future networking of both educational and technology centres of excellence within a region,
promoted through the presentation of IIW Technology Innovation Workshops.
The 2nd South-East European IIW International Congress was held
in Sofia, Bulgaria, in October 2010. A key objective of this congress was
to provide practical solutions to challenges that the region faced, one of
which was the construction and diversification of gas pipelines in SE Europe
following the disruption of energy services to the EU during 2006-2008. The
congress, therefore, was aimed primarily at providing guidance to Balkan
countries on modern trends and recent advances in pipeline technology, more
particularly because a network of transnational pipelines were scheduled to
be built in the region in the foreseeable future.
19
With the support of IIW Sub-Commission XI-E
Transmission Pipelines
(C-XI-E)
and attendance of many of the world’s pipeline
experts who participated in networking
groups, the congress was considered to be an
outstanding success. Both Ass. Prof. Dr-Ing.
Petar Darjanov and Beloev from the Bulgarian
Welding Society played outstanding roles in
the organisation and the final outcomes of the
International Congress. Building further on
the holding of congresses in the region a very
successful 3rd International Congress was
held in Timi oara in 2015.
Mr Bertil Pekkari (Sweden), as
President of IIW 2002-2005, placed great
Bertil Pekkari welcoming Brazil to the
IIW family