AIBI Elects New Association President at 35th Congress
Joseph Street (UK) is the new elected AIBI President, following the association’s 35th biennial Congress, held in Versailles, France (25-28 May).
Joseph Street is a member of the Federations of Bakers (UK) and succeeds to Jean-Manuel Levêque (France), who served AIBI for the last two years as its president. He announced the 36th AIBI Congress would be held in his hometown of Manchester, from May 30 to June 2, 2019. “The bakery industry needs to promote itself, as all bread should be seen in a positive light,” he said in his speech, announcing important actions that will increase the visibility of bread.
The newly elected president also announced a first keynote speaker at the upcoming event, Jonathan Warburton (Warburton chair).
AIBI’s General Assembly elected at its 35th Congress in Versailles a new board including two vice presidents: first Vice President Janez Bojc (Slovenia) and second vice president Georg Heberer (Germany). Treasurer is Armin Juncker (Germany).
The Congress was organized under the underlying theme “Bread and Bake-off: Anticipation of Consumer’s Expectations”. The agenda included presentations on its history, industrial and market evolution, maturity and new trends; statistics on bake-off in Europe including the retail market; and insightful roundtable discussions around bake-off, over the two days of the Congress.
The speakers who joined the event, shared their expertise and discussed with the participants represented Gira consultancy, Puratos, Lesaffre, Mecatherm, Rabobank, Vandemoortele, Grupo Bimbo, Lantmännen Unibake Holding A/S, and La Lorraine Bakery Group.
We will include an extensive review of our visit to the Congress and special insights from the outgoing president in European Baker, the May/June issue.
About AIBI:
AIBI (Association Internationale de la Boulangerie Industrielle) is the major European association of plant bakeries. AIBI is formed of 16 national plant bakeries associations including more than 2,200 plant bakeries. It represents the interests of its member vis-à-vis the European institutions in Brussels and beyond.