IIW History 1990-2015

from developing countries, International Congresses in different regions were to feature prominently over the period from 2006-2010, creating great interest by the nations in these regions in the benefits of becoming a member of IIW. Some of these new members, including Nigeria (2006), Tunisia (2007) and Morocco (2009), were to increase significantly the representation from the African continent, while the Republic of Korea (South Korea) (2007), Turkey (2008) and Lithuania (2008) strengthened IIW’s bloodlines even further, making it truly representative of the world at large. Despite the GFC, the three years from 2008 to 2010 were most productive in producing highly successful International Congresses, with three in 2008 including Tianjin in China, two in 2009 including Ajuba in Nigeria, and four in 2010, with Hammamet in Tunisia being one of the more exotic places for such a Congress to take place. To further stimulate interest in Middle Eastern countries, IIW also supported a successful conference in Damascus, Syria, entitled Development of Welding Technology in the Arab World in January 2009 unaware that the dawn of the ‘Arab Spring’ was not too far away. The ‘Arab Spring’ did, in fact, lead to Tunisia suspending its membership of the IAB temporarily in 2011 and the IIW membership of Libya becoming increasingly uncertain in the same year. One of the important aspects in attracting new members and the promotion of the benefits of IIW was the development and implementation of the ‘WeldCare’ programme by WG-RA in 1996. The programme, utilising the knowledge and experience of WG members, supported technology diffusion and training in developing countries, including the promotion and support of networks of national and regional Technology Support and Education and Training Support Centres. The growth of the South Eastern European Network (SEENet)

IIW Member Countries 2015 shown in red, prospective member countries in grey

LINKING PEOPLE, JOINING NATIONS