Plan for the future of the FCI

With a little over a century of history behind it, the FCI has a very promising future. I believe in this future, I believe in the FCI and I feel sure that in our hearts we know that, for the FCI, the best is still to come.

I have a vision of what the FCI should represent in the future, for every member country, for every breeder, for every competitor and for every dog owner. I see the FCI as a frontline organisation, which sets the tone for discussion in the international dog community, with a spirit of openness, in an atmosphere of intellectual dialogue and as a global brand which looks to the best interests of dogs and their owners worldwide.

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Rafael de Santiago
President of the FCI
Interview with Attila Marton, Hungarian canine organisation
Attila Marton

Mr. Marton, how did you manage not to have a repetition of the historical traffic issue of the show in 2008?

It was a very long project to examine all the circumstances, because it is a complex issue if you only concentrate on one thing. For example, we put in the contract of the venue that they can only ask for a parking fee when the cars leave the place. That makes it much easier at the gates to get in every morning. But it is not enough. We had to examine all the fields that could have any kind of effect on the traffic. So, first, we insisted that they had to pay the parking on leaving, but we also stressed that the exhibitors should come as much as possible with the public transport. We also divided the schedule so that the visitors-programme would only start when all the exhibitors were in, as otherwise it would be a disaster if thousands of exhibitors would arrive on the very same time as a few thousand visitors and the trade stands holders were asked to arrive between six and seven o'clock - if they wanted to have the opportunity to park inside - and thus we prevented a lot of problems with all their trucks. We also made up a judging time schedule so that there was no need to rush all together and wait for hours before being judged. But most important of all were the meetings with all authorities and police and we had a change of traffic between 6 and 11 o'clock and the police helped a lot to have this set up. This was pretty complex, but the collaboration with the police and security and the people of the Kennel Club was very effective.


Was there any kind of arrangement with the bus and public traffic companies to bring people in (advertisement, special 5-day price etc.)?

Yes, we had a contract with the bus company, there is a bus stopping here every 10 minutes and there is a railway station very near with daily combination and a 5-day ticket as well. We had a successful media campaign which we started 3 weeks before the show, we had PR articles and advertisements in several major magazines and newspapers. We tried to offer our visitors a broad programme, not only on judging but with many other activities like rescue dogs, dog shelters, etc. We published it on the Internet and Facebook too and we expect thousands of visitors with a climax on Sunday.


Thank you Mr Marton!

Interview by Karl Donvil