It was with a packed room that the IASIA Conference on the theme “Governance for Sustainable Development: implications for public administration education and practice” opened its doors.
After the traditionnal welcome by Prof. Bianor Cavalcanti, and the President Carlos Ivan Simonsen Leal, President of the Fundaçao Getulio Vargas, the Brazilian Minister of Toursim, Luiz Barretto Filho, gave a short speech followed by the keynote address by Minister of Planning, Budget and Management, Paulo Bernardo Silva. Finally, the welcome speeche Rolet Loretan, Director General of IIAS lead the way for Allan Rosenbaum, President of IASIA, to declare the IASIA Conference officialy open. But before, Minister Silva received, on behalf of the Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the O.P. Dwivedi Award for his leadership in working for government transparency and accountabilty.
The General Rapporteur, Valeria Termini, Dean of the Italian School of Public Administration then introduced the theme of the Conference.
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After these formalities, a coffee break was well needed. The opening day is always something quite special as old friends are meeting each others again and the opportunity to discuss many issues around a glass of watermelon juice or a slice of cake is indeed sweet. The first of many occasions for you all to meet, greet, discuss and network.
And it's in in a joyful mood that the plenary session and the workshops began.
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Because a IASIA Conference is not all about working hard, the Welcome cocktail kick started th evening. A quick enquiry during the the evening's welcome reception found out that most participants are satisfied with the quality of the papers and the presentations. You could pickout the attendees who presented their papers already by looking at those who seemed particulaly more relaxed than the others. We even met the youngest participant of the conference: the 3 year-old son of Mr. Hugo Silvestre.
The future of IASIA is already with us!
Have all a good and fruitful conference!
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