Keynote speakers on the opening day of the conference on October 5 include Robert Van de Weg, Senior Vice President Sales of AirBridgeCargo Airlines, and Umberto de Pretto, Secretary General of the International Road Transport Union, who will address Congress on the subject of ‘Working Smart – World Solutions to traders’.
The opening day’s conference will then break into simultaneous Regional Leaders’ Dialogue sessions, representing Africa/ Middle-East, Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe, before concluding with FIATA’s Advisory Body Legal Matters session, featuring speakers Scott Megregian, Partner, K & L Gates, and Jake Storey, Strategic Advisor – Maritime Initiatives, TRACE International Ltd.
Other confirmed speakers include Susanne Aigner, Head of Unit Customs Legislation at the European Commission, with responsibility for the EU’s customs code and general legislation in this area, and Donia Hammami, Taxation, Customs and Trade Facilitation Policy Manager at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). They will speak at the session entitled, ‘Marking thoughtful policy choices: the Custom Affairs Institute (CAI) guides you through trade facilitation.’ This session will be guest moderated by Josephine Feehily, past Chairperson of Irish Revenue Commissioners and currently Chairperson of the Irish Policing Authority.
Innovation in technology is also up for discussion in the ‘Meet the experts: Managing technology with the advice of the FIATA Advisory Body Information Technology’ session which will feature Oliver Evans, from Matternet, who will speak about Drone Logistics.
FIATA World Congress Dublin 2016 previously announced that Mr Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General of the World Customs Organisation (WCO), would be the guest of honour for the opening ceremony of the Congress. Aligning with the Congress theme of Where Networking Comes Naturally, Ruth Waring of Labyrinth Logistics Consulting Ltd will speak about effective networking during the Opening Ceremony.
Key themes for the Congress this year include competition compliance, customs and borders, innovation, multi-modal, regulation and security. There is also a focus on new technologies and Congress has attracted a number of software and technological partners who will exhibit in parallel which will be of interest to those firms seeking efficiencies and / or migration to the Cloud.
Commenting; Tom Thornton, President of Irish International Freight Association, said: “FIATA World Congress Dublin 2016 will cover a range of important topics and issues of concern for our members and delegates. It is a wonderful opportunity for C-suite executives and business owners from the global forwarding and logistics industry to meet for knowledge sharing, networking and business development.”

Rising stars of industry set for FIATA World Congress 2016
FIATA World Congress 2016 is delighted to announce that the winner of ‘The Young International Freight Forwarder of the Year Award’ will be announced at the opening ceremony of Congress in Dublin on 5 October. The overall international winner of the competition, which showcases the rising stars of the forwarding and logistics industry, will be chosen from four regional winners each of whom will attend Congress and be presented with their regional winner certificates, trophy and other items.

The four regional winners shortlisted for the overall award are: Lorraine Zhou, Zimbabwe (Africa / Middle East); Evgeny Kapustin, Canada (Americas); Shanon Gould, Australia (Asia Pacific); and Kostiantyn Hapii, Ukraine (Europe). The competition is sponsored by insurance company TT Club.
The four regional winners will also attend the Young Professionals Forum on 4 October, 2016, a dedicated session in which each winner speaks for 10 minutes on their winning dissertations, followed by a forum session.