Participants :

• Rafael de Santiago (PR)
• Ioanna Galanos (GR – Delegate of the European Section)
• Yossi Guy (IL)
• Imre Horvath (FR)
• Gerard Jipping (NL)
• Hiroshi Kamisato (JP)
• Annika Klang (SE)
• Marie Luna Durán (FCI)
• Miguel-Ángel Martínez (AR)
• Petru Muntean (RO)
• Paul Peeters (NL)
• Stefan Stefik (SK)
• Roberto Vélez-Picó (Delegate of the Americas and the Caribbean Section)

Invited :

• Brenda Bonnett (Consultant)

Excused :

• The delegates of the Africa Section, Norway, Germany, Russia, Hungary, the Asia and the Pacific Section, Slovakia, Finland and Austria could not attend, being on duty for the WDS or because of other professional obligations.

The third meeting of the FCI-NCO Joint Communication Forum (JCF) was the first to benefit from the presence of the delegates from the European and The Americas and the Caribbean FCI sections, respectively Mrs Galanos and Mr Vélez Picó. Some of the members of the FCI General Committee were also present: Rafael De Santiago (Vice-president), Gerard Jipping, Miguel-Ángel Martínez and Stefan Stefik (Treasurer). The “usual” participants were very honoured to be joined by the most welcome newcomers. The presence of the latter indubitably evidenced the growing interest in the activities of the JCF, its more and more international composition and the bigger and bigger support it has gained over the first months of its young existence (the first meeting was held in Paris, on July 7th, 2011).

The first point on the agenda was Bad press. The participants approved a procedure to publish official joint reactions to the negative press/to negative statements regarding the FCI and/or its members.

One good example of negative statements which can be read about the FCI and/or its members is the petition circulated on the internet about the European Dog Show 2012 to be held in October in Bucharest (RO).

Gerard Jipping then introduced Brenda Bonnett, who took the floor to present a project where the JCF might play an important role: the building of a platform to share information and resources about dogs in general. Priority topics were identified and G. Jipping encouraged the participants to send content for this platform.

The next point on the agenda was Education/popularisation. The group agreed to go on working on topics like Banned/dangerous breeds by collecting material about the situation in the member countries, what countries have good practices to share in this field, how did some countries succeed in preventing banning laws ?

Then the participants had a discussion about the next point on the agenda: Health and welfare. They, again, agreed on working further on the setting up of a registry of surveys, initiatives, training programmes, scientific research, theses etc. regarding dog health and welfare.

The last point on the agenda was Best practices. The participants could follow two PowertPoint presentations, about national dog days:

1. Paul Peeters, Dutch Kennel Club, about the Dutch KC initiative;
2. Kaija Unhola, Finnish Kennel Club (excused; Annika Klang informed about the Finnish KC initiative).

After interesting and fruitful discussions in a friendly atmosphere, the meeting was closed by fixing the next one in Budapest, before the World Dog Show in May 2013.

Marie Luna Durán
FCI Marketing and Public Relations Manager