The 18th General Assembly of the World Crafts Council (WCC) (22-29 September, 2016)

The 18th General Assembly of the World Crafts Council (WCC) (22-29 September, 2016)

The general assembly of WCC is an event held every four years in one of the member states following the termination of the 4-year presidency and the initiation of the new term. In this council, which is host to all real and natural persons and state-run and private institutions affiliated with WCC, a number of decision-making and policy-making procedures such as the election of the new president of the council, regional directors and sub-regional presidents are made. It is customary to hold regional meetings and conventions during the convention of WCC.

With the establishment of WCC in 1964, the first general assembly was held in New York, and today 71 meetings of this assembly have been held in different countries across the world.

The 18th general assembly is held in the city of Isfahan, despite the fact that in the last session of the council in the city of Chennai, India, no decision was made about the venue of the coming convention.

The selection of Isfahan as the venue of the 18th general assembly meeting came after one- year absence of Iranian Handicrafts Industry at international arena. In 2015, when WCC chose Isfahan and Tabriz as the world cities of handicrafts and carpet, and following the ceremony in which these titles were granted, the hosting proposal was put forth by the regional president of WCC-APR, Dr.Ghada Hijjawi, and consequently approved by the governor of Isfahan province, and Vice-President of I.R. Iran & President of Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts & Tourism Organization.

Accordingly, Vice-President of I.R. Iran & President of Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts & Tourism Organization presented his proposed plan for the nomination of Isfahan in February 2016, and it was sent along with detailed reports to the WCC twice.

On April 10th, in the meeting of regional presidents in China, the nomination proposal of Isfahan was put forth by Dr.Ghada Hijjawi-Qaddumi, the President of WCC-Asia Pacific Region. Indonesia was also planning to propose Jakarta as another nomination for hosting this convention, but hopefully the exhaustive evidences and reports submitted by Isfahan could win the majority of votes and this city was chosen to host the 18th general assembly of WCC.

After receiving the official letter of Mr.Wang Shan, the president of WCC, Vice-President of Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts & Tourism Organization of Isfahan with the contribution of private sector held their first meeting in Isfahan on May 13, 2016, and in a meeting with provincial authorities and mayor of Isfahan, the preparations for the organization of this convention were set into motion.