Evgeny Kuzmin is re-elected as Chairperson by the Member States of the IFAP Council

 

2012-05-04

 

On 2 April 2012 the seventh session of the Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme (IFAP) began its work by electing a new 8-member Bureau. Mr Evgeny Kuzmin (Russian Federation) was re-elected unanimously as Chairperson by the Member States of the IFAP Council, who expressed their appreciation for his considerable contribution to the on-going re-invigoration of the Programme.

 

The representatives of Austria, Grenada and Philippines were elected as Vice-Chairpersons of the Bureau. The other members elected to the Bureau are Latvia, Oman, Tanzania and Colombia as Rapporteur.

 

During his previous term as Chairperson, Mr Kuzmin was instrumental in raising the visibility and impact of IFAP through the organization of several major international conferences in the fields of multilingualism and digital preservation, development of information indicators for policy makers in Asia-Pacific, capacity-building for information professionals in Eastern Europe, and translation and dissemination of key policy tools and resources.

 

Mr Kuzmin is the Chair of the Russian National Committee for the Information for All Programme, a member of the Russian National Commission for UNESCO and President of the Inter-regional Centre for Library Cooperation. Mr Kuzmin has served as a Member of the International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Programme. He also worked as Head of the Department of Libraries and Archives of the Russian Ministry of Culture.

The IFAP Bureau is the executive body of the Council and ensures the Programme's visibility and implementation, appraises, selects and approves projects, holds thematic debates on issues of importance for the Programme. The new Bureau held its first session on 4 April, immediately after the Council.

 

The Information for All Programme was established in 2001 to provide a platform for international cooperation in the area of access to information and knowledge for the participation of all in the knowledge societies. IFAP focuses on ensuring that all people have access to information and knowledge they can use to improve their lives.