IASPRR Eighth General Assembly

Room “Bartók”, Budapest Congress & World Trade Center, Budapest, Hungary

5:50 p.m.  Friday, July 14, 2006

Board Members Present:  President Anna Koltunow, Past President Vipen Sawhney, Vice President Scott Russell,

                                          Secretary Ewa Szczuka, Treasurer – André van Lammeren on behalf of Christian Keijzer,

                                          Representative Galina Titova

Board Members Absent: Treasurer Christian Keijzer, Representative Wei-Cai Yang

Members Present: numerous regular members were in attendance, in addition to the Board members listed above

1. Call to Order

· President Koltunow called the meeting to order at 5:50 p.m.

2. Budapest Conference

· President Koltunow thanked the organizers, Beata Barnabás, Atilla Fehér, Katalin Jäger for the excellent job that they did in organizing the current meeting.  The Assembly joined her in a round of applause. Then, Professor Beata Barnabás thanked the participants for coming and taking part in the congress.

3. Approval of the Minutes

· The minutes of the Seventh General Assembly in Beijing, China were distributed to the members in attendance.  There were no additions or corrections to the minutes.  Dr. Rui Malhó moved, Professor Erhard Kranz seconded acceptance of the minutes.  Motion carried.

4. Treasurer's Report

· André van Lammeren on behalf of Treasurer Christian Keijzer showed a summary statement of balances, receipts and expenditures for 2004 and 2005. Most revenues and expenses are when the meetings are held. 

· Professor Vipen Sawhney moved, Dr. Rui Malhó seconded acceptance of the treasurer's report.  Motion carried.

5. Membership Update and Online Dues Payment

· Vice President Russell mentioned a possibility of an online method of collecting dues for the organization. Vice President Russell supported PayPal as a best option. PayPal operates as a money brokering service using secure servers, has a reliable track record, relatively lower fees for money exchange and operates in >27 countries using various currencies.  (Presumably the number of countries served will increase as new EU countries adopt the Euro). The request is initiated at the IASPRR website and then referred to the PayPal site to complete the secure parts of the transaction. A transaction fee comparable to normal banking charges for credit card transaction processing is charged, and this cost will be absorbed by the IASPRR. 

6. Life Membership Category.

· Professor Vipen Sawhney underlined the necessity of increasing dues for the life membership.  There was no discussion. Dr. Rui Malhó moved, Professor Erhard Kranz seconded acceptance of the minutes.  Motion carried.

7. Awards for Young Scientists

• There was one Linksens Award for best oral presentation given at the 19^th Congress for Sexual Plant Reproduction. The Linskens Award was presented to Mihaela-Luiza Marton. The award consists of a certificate and a cash award.
• There were two poster awards given at the 19^th Congress for Sexual Plant Reproduction.  The poster awards went to Tomokazu Kawashima and Marina Gebert. The award consists of a certificate and a cash award.

· Additionally Travel Grants were awarded to Ana Maria Vieira, Portugal, Ajaraporn Sriboonlert, United Kingdom, and Hai-Shan Chi, Taiwan R.O.C.  (These persons were absent at the Eight General Assembly).

8. Future Congress Update

· Meeting 2008:  President Anna Koltunow announced that the Board had received some proposals for the international congress to be held in 2008. One offer was made by Ana Claudia G. Araujo (EMBRAPA Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brasilia, Brazil) for the meeting in Brazil. The offer was accepted during the Board Meeting. President Anna Koltunow announced that the place of the next congress would be Brazil. The Assembly joined her in a round of great applause.

· Ana Claudia G. Araujo thanked and invited everybody who attended the meeting to come to Brazil in 2008.

9. Nominations and Election Officers of the IASPRR, 2006-2010

· President Anna Koltunow presented the nominations received by the Board: for President Professor Scott  D. Russell, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA; for Vice President Professor Erhard Kranz, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany; for Treasurer, Dr. Christian J. Keijzer, Agricultural University, Wageningen, Netherlands (for 2 years), and for Secretary-General Dr. Ewa Szczuka, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland (for 2 years). Additionally, President Anna Koltunow presented the nominations for Executive Council:  Dr. Rui Malhó, University of Lisbon, Lisboa, Portugal,  and Dr. Galina Titova, Komarov Botanical Institute of RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia.

· President Anna Koltunow asked for any future nominations in addition to those received by the Board. Hearing none, she asked that nominations be closed. Then she asked the membership for motions to elect these nominees as the officers for the two or four year terms as indicated (2006-2008, 2006-2010).

· Professor Vipen Sawhney moved, Dr. André van Lammeren seconded that the candidates be elected.  Motion carried. 

· President Anna Koltunow congratulated the successful candidates.

10. Adjournment.

· President Anna Koltunow moved for adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 6:50 p.m.