4/1/2020 A message from the FIDIC president and CEO on coronavirus (COVID-19) | International Federation of Consulting Engineers

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A message from the FIDIC president and CEO on coronavirus (COVID-19)

17 Mar 2020

On 16 March 2020, the FIDIC board held an extraordinary meeting via Zoom to discuss the
rami cations of the growing coronavirus crisis and how FIDIC should respond in the light of the
developing international events.

In responding to the current crisis, FIDIC will ensure that it communicates around three key priority
areas affecting its member associations, their member rms and the organisation. 

That the safety of our industry’s people is paramount

The need to safeguard business continuity
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4/1/2020 A message from the FIDIC president and CEO on coronavirus (COVID-19) | International Federation of Consulting Engineers

After some discussion, the board has decided to postpone the FIDIC International Infrastructure
Conference due to take place from 13-15 September 2020 and look to rearrange this around the
same dates in 2021. However, the board has asked the secretariat to consider having some type of
modi ed ‘remote online’ conference at the same time. We will be exploring the viability of the ‘online’
approach over the next few months and will keep you posted reading our ndings.

The board is also recommending to FIDIC member associations that the statutory FIDIC General
Assembly Meeting, currently scheduled for September 2020, should be held remotely using Zoom or
some other appropriate online meeting platform. The board has made this decision and
recommendation as it considers that the health and safety of FIDIC members and stakeholders to be
of paramount importance. The board has also given strong consideration of the need to minimise the
substantial nancial risks FIDIC would be exposed to during these dif cult times.

Unless we hear otherwise from a majority of FIDIC member associations by 10 April 2020, we will
proceed with planning an online FIDIC GAM in September 2020.

The board also reviewed FIDIC’s current and future operations and activities and considered the
rami cations of some and possibly all future events not taking place or being scaled back. The board
expects that the forthcoming major regional FIDIC meetings in Europe, Africa and Asia will or may
not take place and it is also clear that we will need to have discussions with FIDIC’s conference and
meetings partners on what we do next in respect of FIDIC Contract Users Conferences organised
(/COVID-19)
with them. We expect to report back to member associations on the results of those discussions in
the next two weeks.

We will write again to all member associations with more on the above, offering leadership and
guidance to the industry. We will also introduce a regular business guideline update to MAs from the
FIDIC CEO on the current crisis and update the industry more widely in articles on the FIDIC website
and across all FIDIC social media platforms.

We will also use the international construction news media as well as our own social media and
news channels to update the wider sector on what FIDIC is doing and how it is assisting members.

We will update our stakeholders further over the next few weeks. In the meantime, thank you for
your continued support of FIDIC which is always appreciated and we wish you, your families and all
your staff, well.
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4/1/2020 A message from the FIDIC president and CEO on coronavirus (COVID-19) | International Federation of Consulting Engineers

Bill Howard, FIDIC President

Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE, FIDIC Chief Executive

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