Preparations are well under way for FIDIC’s annual infrastructure conference which takes place in Mexico City from 8-10 September 2019.
FIDIC chief executive Dr Nelson Ogunshakin and deputy director Italo Goyzueta visited Mexico City last week to discuss with members of Mexican member association CNEC and to review the progress on the organisation of FIDIC’s flagship annual event.
The conference theme is a very topical one. “Technological innovation impacting the industry” will consider how innovations and new hi-tech thinking are changing all aspects of the way that consultancy and engineering firms do business. With increasing change everywhere, new ideas, sometimes imported from other industry sectors, are making a big difference to how infrastructure companies operate and conference delegates with have the opportunity to discuss all this in Mexico City in September.
“It was good to discuss with colleagues in Mexico about the conference in 2019 and to gain an understanding of the key challenges in the market, not just in Mexico but also the whole of South America and the wider region,” said FIDIC CEO Dr Nelson Ogunshakin. The key focus in developing the conference agenda is to ensure that FIDIC has a programme that addresses both global and domestic issues and good progress is being made towards this aim.
“How to use technology to enhance the infrastructure system is key with Mexico City having a population of 25 million with huge demands on infrastructure,” said Ogunshakin. “The new political leaders have three main agendas - One, to eradicate as much as possible, corruption in the country. Second is to look at alternative means of procuring infrastructure and to embed technology as much as possible with an aspiration to turn their mega city into a smart city and the third agenda is about how do they create a society that is sustainable because of the size of the current population,” he said.
FIDIC has an agreement with the local association which underpins their close involvement in the conference programme and during their time in Mexico Ogunshakin and Goyzueta met CNEC president Alejandro Vazquez Lopez and members of the board to discuss the three central themes of the event - technology and infrastructure, integrity and finding alternative means of delivering good infrastructure to pave the way for the creation of a smart city.
“We were left with the strong impression that our colleagues in Mexico are gearing up well for the conference and I’m confident that we will have an excellent programme that understands local needs and reflects the challenges facing our international industry at a time of increasing change,” Ogunshakin said.
Click here for further details of the FIDIC 2019 International Infrastructure Conference.
