General Assembly Global Development Conference of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF) took place in Prague, Czech Republic, October 4-7, 2018. The events were attended by more than 100 representatives from 45 countries, and European University Sports Association (EUSA) attended the event as well.

The 2nd Global Development Conference started on Friday, October 5th, by opening speech of IOF President Mr Leho Haldna. IOF President thanked the participants for the attendance and the organizers from Czech Republic for hosting the event. In addition, he introduced some important data regarding worldwide participation in Orienteering, membership etc., with a special emphasis on one of the key development goals, which is to reach the number of 500 000 participating in Orienteering competition per year around the world.



EUSA Technical Delegate Mr Dusan Vystavel who is at the same time the host of the event, thanked the participants for attending the event and wished them best of luck in the upcoming days. At the Assembly, Mr Vystavel was elected as the IOF Council Member for four years period.



EUSA Sports Manager Mr Besim Aliti attended the Global Development Conference and presented EUSA to the audience. Mr Aliti introduced EUSA events through EUSA’s history emphasizing that EUSA is growing, both in the number of participants, as well as in the quality of the events. In addition, he highlighted record number participation of EUSA Championships in 2017 and presented the expectations for the upcoming years. Mr Vystavel introduced the upcoming European Universities Orienteering Championship in Olomouc (CZE) and invited the participants to take part.



European Universities Orienteering Championship 2019 will take place in Olomouc, Czech Republic, July 24-27. This will be an inaugural orienteering event in EUSA, therefore the expectations throughout the orienteering community are high.



EUSA and IOF signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2016, aimed to increase the participation among students of higher education in orienteering, and to provide the best conditions for EUSA sports events and EUSA is one of IOF's global development partners.

More about IOF at www.orienteering.org.