AIR SPORTS INTERNATIONAL

   World events tend to be dominated by the Northern Hemisphere calendar: the months of June, July and August are the holiday months, people are out and about and air sport competitions abound; all at the same time as the Southern Hemisphere is in mid-winter. The Soccer World Cup in France, however, drew the attention of everyone equally on both sides on the Equator and fascinated the public to the exclusion of everything else.

   Coming out from under this media deluge on surprisingly finds that some things get done in between. In our own field, the FAI administration is now well into the process of relocating to Lausanne, which is a more complex task than would appear on the surface. We need to settle matters with our host country for the past 93 years and re-establish i a new country; all in a legally and financially correct manner. The target date for the move has been tentatively set to December 15th.

   The preparations for the 2001 World Air Games in Spain have also been proceeding well, and FAI has been approached by several major media organisations who are interested in broadcasting the Games. In what was probably the most important event of the past month, the meeting of FAI and FAE officials with the King of Spain, Juan Carlos, the King agreed to be President of Honour of the WAG 2001 Organising Committee. This gracious gesture is a tremendous boost to to the Spanish organisers and will facilitate their work in many areas.

   All in all, things are moving and we are on the right path towards a different future. There will always be diverging views and differences of opinion as to exactly where we should go and how we should get there. There are, however, some things on which we seem to be agreeing more and more: that we, the people of the air, need to secure for ourselves a place in the sun and a financially sound basis on which to develop, and that the only way we can achieve this is by working together.

   Let us not lose sight of that.

Eilif J Ness
President FAI

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