Feedback from members is helping to shape the programme for the FERMA Seminar on 20 and 21 October in Brussels, much as associations have had a big voice in the content of the 2014 FERMA Risk Management Benchmarking Survey. There will be more discussions and fewer presentations from the platform. The focus will be on giving members an opportunity to raise their voices, influence ideas and put their questions. Two round table discussions will bring the process together.
There will also be a panel presented by risk management associations giving a world perspective; RIMS from the United States, the Asian association PARIMA and South African IRMSA have already confirmed their participation.
- The seminar website is now live at www.ferma.eu/ferma-seminar-2014/
- Brussels Airlines is offering a 10 per cent discount for flights to Brussels. You can book via the website.
- It is easy to get around the city. The centre is compact and there is a well-developed public transport system. There are frequent trains from the airport to Central Station.
We Welcome You to Brussels
FERMA is delighted to welcome its members to our home city of Brussels for our 40th anniversary. Brussels is the cradle of the European Community and a hub of European activity. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 while Europe was still recovering from the terrible conflict of World War II, set the basis for the current European Union. Representatives of five countries, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom agreed an international pact to build economic, social and cultural cooperation and collective self-defence in Western Europe.
Today, the city is home to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). It is also the base for international banking transfer and clearing companies such as Swift, Banksys and Euroclear.
Throughout the ages, the city has been a centre of activity for trade and enterprise, from porcelain to tapestries. On a lighter note beer, waffles, moules frites and chocolate come to mind in a quick check of associations with Brussels. The websitewww.brussels.info says Brussels brews 450 varieties of beer and produces 172,000 tons of chocolate every year.
The Bruxellois are famous for their love of eating and for their gastronomic talents. There are more than 15 Michelin starred restaurants within eight kilometres of the centre. There are also thousands of wonderful cafés, bars, bakeries and, of course, chocolate shops.
A lessen known industry is the thriving pharmaceutical and health research industry which includes biotechnology research. There are 3,000 life sciences researchers in the city and two large science parks: Parc Da Vinci and Erasmus Science Park.
Other highlights for visitors:
Parliamentarium
The Parliamentarium is the recently opened visitor centre for the European Parliament. Admission is free and the centre is accessible in 23 languages.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/visiting/en/visits/parlamentarium.html
Magritte Museum
The Magritte Museum in the centre of Brussels is the richest collection in the world of the surrealist artist’s work. It comprises more than 200 oils on canvas, gouaches, drawings, sculptures and painted objects, as well as advertising posters, music scores, vintage photographs and films directed by Magritte himself.
Comic Strip Museum
Located in the heart of Brussels in a majestic Art Nouveau building created by Victor Horta in 1906, the Comic Strip Museum has a permanent display on the history of the comic strip and regular exhibitions. For lovers of Tintin and more.