Dear friends,
it is with great emotion, but above all with a maximum sense of responsibility, that I prepare to pursue my mandate as President of the C.O.M.
To take up the mantle of my prestigious predecessors and bring Italy once again to the apex of the C.O.M. after 50 years generates in me a profound sense of pride and honour.
But the sentiments of enthusiasm and joy which I experienced immediately after my election have been quickly superseded by the awareness of a task which requires humility, time and dedication. Becoming President of the C.O.M. is a point of departure, not of arrival.
The Confederation represents values which must be preserved and consolidated, something which we can say has occurred in the course of these last decades to the point where today 38 nations are united in our organisation. Our ability to overcome together the vicissitudes, as well as internal and external difficulties, attests to the calibre of those who have worked to reach our goals and gives meaning to the common vision we all share as part of European and world ornithology.
As President, I will place at the disposal of the C.O.M. my 40 years of associational and federal experience in Italy. I will bring with me a memory of the past, of that genuine world of amateur and sports breeding of yesteryear which defines the character of our organisation. Moreover, I will, together with you, seek to combine these deep roots with the modernity and flexibility which today are demanded of us.
During this three-year mandate I will not be a “big brother” President, as this is not in my nature; rather, I shall be a President who both wants and sees the need for change, for the sharing of ideas, for new experiences, but who always and everywhere acts in accordance with the rights of freedom for all and with due respect for the rules and regulations and the Institutions.
My office will be inseparable from the defining of a new relationship with the O.M.J. judges, without whom each and every innovative programme would be in vain. Maximum care and attention will be given to those initiatives which promote our world and which highlight and offer solutions to the health problems which today represent such a fearful unknown.
More so today than in the past will it be essential for us to understand the diverse national situations and to pursue collaborative projects which, while working in association with the health Institutions, are inspired by respect for, and continuity with, our glorious history.
But friends, a President, however committed to his role, is little or nothing without the warmth, the competency and the hard work of his colleagues whose support and participation I sincerely auger and welcome. By this I do not mean only the colleagues of the C.O.M., to whom I express my sincerest gratitude for their trust in me, but also the managers, the judges and the hundreds of thousands of breeder members without whose presence our passion would not continue to live and thrive.
I ask all of you to accept a warm handshake and greeting from one such breeder who has now become President of the C.O.M.
Salvatore Cirmi