6 and 10 April 2025, Brisbane, Australia

As part of the FIG Working Week 2025 the FIG General Assembly was held on 6 and 10 April. A full-day programme was planned for 6 April with reports from FIG President, Chairs and others as well as presentations of the candidates for the Chairs Elects positions and bidders for FIG Working Week 2029.

FIG President Diane Dumashie welcomed all to this 48th FIG General Assembly in Brisbane. In total 57 member associations attended the General Assembly. 51 on 6 April and 51 on 10 April. Out of the 103 member associations 66 registered for voting. This means that in total there were 80 votes (some members have two and three votes depending on their size). 68 votes were cast in each voting.

On 10 April a follow-up General Assembly was held with the results of the elections, reports from activities during the Working Week and finally the closing speech by President Diane Dumashie.

New members

The first and pleasant activity at the General Assembly is the admission and welcome to new members who received their certificates by the President. A warm welcome to the Society of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineers Azerbaijan as new member association, Zanzibar Commission for Lands as affiliate members, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina – UFSC, Brazil and University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland as academic members.

New corporate members are:

• CHC Navigation, China, Category A – Platinum membership

• Meter Platform & Application Company, Saudi Arabia, Category D, Bronze level

• Global GIS PVT LTD, Sri Lanka, Category F, regional level

• Alisteshaar Geospatial Consultancy, Saudi Arabia, Corporate member category F, regional level

The less pleasant part consists of the expulsion of member associations who are more than three years in arrears. Some members succeeded in paying their membership fees at the last moment, which meant that only one association had to be expelled: Bahamas Association of Land Surveyors (MA-10006). We do hope that they will be able to restore their membership and come back.

New honorary member

FIG General Assembly applauded the proposal to appoint Mr. Mikael Lilje, Sweden, honorary member of FIG. He has over many years served FIG, first in Commission 5, including being chair of the commission, and hereafter as Vice President for two terms. Mr Rob Sarib, Australia, a long-term Commission 5 representative and currently Chair of the Regional Capacity Development Network in Asia/Pacific (AP-CPD) motivated the nomination, submitted by the Swedish association, with lively and fun anecdotes that gave a good description of Mikael. Hopefully, Mikael will continue involved in FIG activities for many years to come.

A special thanks to Jan De Graeve, IIHS&M

The Permanent Institution with the official name of The International Institution for the History of Surveying and Measurement - in daily speech IIHS&M has over the years been led by the dynamic Jan De Graeve, Belgium. The history of surveying and measurement is fascinating, and IIHS&M have among other things worked on the UNESCO World Heritage Struve Arc. At each FIG Working Week and Congress there have been either a pre-event or special sessions related to the history of surveying.

Jan De Graeve has decided to step down, and to pass on the leadership to John Brock, Australia, who has been very engaged in IIHS&M over many years, and who has set his personal touch on the institution already. Mr Jean-Yves Pirlot, Belgium, gave the General Assembly an insight into some of the amazing undertakings of Jan De Grave

Together with Jim Smith Jan De Graeve has written 7 volumes covering Three Milleniums of Measurement of Earth - a truly fascinating collection. WIth the help of Trimble the 7 volumes have been published, and are available in a limited number.

Commission Chairs Elects

According to the statutes, Commission Chairs Elects are normally elected two years prior to the year they are elected Chairs (congress year). Already three times, (for various reasons) this procedure has been amended to take place later. FIG Council has discussed internally, and in 2024 together with the member associations at the Presidents meeting, whether a change in statutes would be beneficial to fit to the current situation. After longer considerations and consultations FIG Council submitted a proposal to the General Assembly to change this to one year prior their election as chairs, which is in principle 1? years before their actual start. This was agreed unanimously by the assembly.

Further, the Chairs Elects for the ten commissions for the term 2025-26 (to become chairs 2027-2030) were elected:

• Commission 1: Mark Scanlon, ASC Australia

• Commission 2: Rosario Casanova, AAU, Uruguay

• Commission 3: Markus Schaffert, DVW, Germany

• Commission 4: Gordon Johnston, RICS, United Kingdom

• Commission 5: Kevin Ahlgren, AAGS, United States

• Commission 6: Peter Bauer, OVG, Austria

• Commission 7: Kirsikka Riekkinen, MIL Finland

• Commission 8: Naa Dedei Tagoe, LiSAG, Ghana

• Commission 9: Ma?gorzata Renigier-Bi?ozor, SGP, Poland

• Commission 10: Celestine Nkechi Eke, NIQS, Nigeria

Marc Scanlon, Commission 1

Rosario Casanova, Commission 2

Markus Sch?ffert, Commission 3

Gordon Johnston, Commission 4

Kirsikka Riekkinen, Commission 7

Ma?gorzata Renigier-Bi?ozor, Commission 9

Celestine Eke, Commission 10

Destination for FIG Working Week 2029

The final election was to determine the destination and host for FIG Working Week 2029.

Two strong bids were up against each other from Kampala, Uganda and Halifax, Canada which gave an exciting campaign and election. The General Assembly finally elected Halifax, Canada to be the destination for FIG Working Week 2029 with the national association Canadian Institute of Geomatics CIG as local host.

FIG Council thanks both Institution of Surveyors of Uganda ISU and Canadian Institute of Geomatics CIG for their engagement which is vital to FIG. It is the hope that some other FIG events might take place in Kampala, Uganda and that the association can be encouraged to bid for a future year.

Membership fees

FIG membership fees have increased only a few times during the past 15 years, and has not followed the inflation. In 2024 the General Assembly agreed to increase the member association fee which will be effectuated from 2026. This increase is needed in the light of e.g. the recent and current inflation and FIG has experienced a general decrease in subscription income. Since the General Assembly agree on the membership two years ahead (in order to be able to incorporate changes in their national budgets), the proposal at this General Assembly was concerning 2027. FIG Council suggested to change to a more incremental increase in membership fee, and for 2027 an increase of close to 2% which is an increase of €0.10 from 5.20 per national member to 5.30. The General Assembly agreed to this.

Whereas FIG General Assembly agree on the membership fees for associations, FIG Council is in charge of the fees of all other membership categories. FIG Council has decided to increase affiliate membership from €500 to €600 per year from 2026. This membership fee has not been increased over the past 15 years - on the contrary, in 2013 it was reduced with 50% while changing to invoicing every four years instead of every year.

FIG Affiliate membership fees was increased with €10 from €790 to €800 in 2026. The corporate member fee was not changed. Currently a Working Group under Council is focusing on benefits and fees for corporate members and Council is awaiting their recommendations.

Reports

In her presidents report, FIG President Diane Dumashie, gave an overview of some of the activities that have taken place during this past year as well as an update on and the thoughts behind the Council Work Plan. She thanked all the many active representatives who have been engaged in making all these many things happen.

At the first General Assembly Commissions, networks and task forces reported to the general assembly their activities during this past year. Reports from activities that took place during the Working Week were presented at the second General Assembly hereunder special session, meetings, fora and the special SIDS sessions.

FIG Foundation supported four Young Surveyors to attend both the Young Surveyors Meeting and the Working Week. The grant recipients were called to the stage at the second General Assembly where they got the opportunity to present themselves and say a few words on their outcome of their attendance. Aubrey Barker Foundation supported participants for the SIDS sessions. Woolpert as well as Surveyors Trust each supported participation of participants. John Brock, the new President of FIG Permanent Institution IISH&M has over the years supported the registration of you Young Surveyors, and 2025 was no exeption. We do hope that other individuals and companies will follow John Brock and help sponsor some participants.

Please find handouts to all reports further down in this report.

FIG President Diane Dumashie talks to the General Assembly about the activities during this past year 2024-2025

FIG Commission Chairs

Grant recipients

Benefits of being a member of FIG

At the general assembly and in the Presidents Meeting FIG President Dumashie had a special focus on the benefits of being a member of FIG. The updated benefits are available on the FIG website.

In her closing speech she thanked all for their active engagement, and for the development in the many areas that FIG cover, hereunder specific activities on climate actions, special work on the SDGs done by all commissions, networks and others, and on the work to enhance the knowledge of surveying and its related professions/topics to young people to attract them to the profession.

The Presidents of member associations met in the early morning of Wednesday 9 April before the start of the actual conference day

Closing

FIG President Diane Dumashie held her Closing Speech at the end of the second General Assembly. In this speech she had collected various meetings and activities that took place during the Working Week 2025. On behalf of Council she thanked all who had found their way to Brisbane to attend this Working Week and especially all the many who over this past year have contributed significantly to the Council Work plan and strategic direction.

At the end of the closing FIG President Diane Dumashie thanked the local organisers for all their efforts and work to make this Working Week a special and memorable conference. The Working Week was held jointly with the national Locate event which was beneficial to both the international and national participants. All enjoyed that all sessions were joint which gave good discussions and broader perspectives.

At the end the FIG Flag was handed over to the local organisers from South Africa, who will be local host for the FIG Congress 2026 to be held in Cape Town 24-29 May 2026.

來源：國際測量師聯合會 (FIG)