{"id":189952,"date":"2020-03-17T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T10:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ipasafrica.co.za\/main\/?post_type=news-article&p=189952"},"modified":"2020-03-18T12:11:05","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T10:11:05","slug":"covid-19-ipa-presidents-message","status":"publish","type":"news-article","link":"http:\/\/ipasafrica.co.za\/main\/news-article\/covid-19-ipa-presidents-message\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19: Important Message from IPA President"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dear friends,<\/p>

The whole world has been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and many countries have taken drastic measures in order to slow down the spread of the virus, such as national borders being partially or completely closed, travelling forbidden or strongly advised against, and gatherings of all kind prohibited.<\/p>

The pressure on the security forces is extremely high, as they are at the forefront of assisting the governments putting these measures in place.<\/p>

Health forecasts are not optimistic and predict a situation that could last between 2 to 4 months minimum.<\/p>

In view of this exceptional situation, many IPA sections have \u00a0already \u00a0cancelled events. The International Executive Board (IEB) fully understands and supports these decisions. Of course we leave it to sections to decide, as most of the events are placed under their responsibility.<\/p>

However, the IEB is at present looking carefully\u00a0 at cancelling or postponing the following IPA events scheduled for 2020, all of which have IEB involvement:<\/p>

  • IPA Games in Montenegro<\/li>
  • Hosting Sections\u2019 Meeting in Sri Lanka<\/li>
  • International Youth Gathering in Slovakia \/ the Czech Republic<\/li><\/ul>

    We are in close contact with the sections organising these events, and you will soon receive an update.<\/p>

    As far as the IPA World Congress, which is scheduled for October 2020, is concerned, we are in close contact with the organising section Spain, and we will of course keep you updated.<\/p>

    The IEB has had to make some adjustments to deal with the situation, largely due to the travel restrictions imposed in our respective home countries. Our next planned IEB meeting in June had to be cancelled, and to keep our projects and programmes on schedule, we have arranged virtual meetings\u00a0 by video conference every two weeks. Quite a nice, friendly and efficient way to ensure we keep on track.<\/p>

    Please rest assured that the IAC, which naturally also has been affected by the current developments, will continue to assist both the IEB and all sections. A mixture of home working and office presence has been put in place for the time being, and all contact details remain the same.<\/p>

    My friends, in such difficult times, we must stand united and strong. Friendship is our cement, and we will be an even stronger association after surmounting the adversities we are facing at the moment. Let us stand as one throughout this hard time and help those who are affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as much as we can.<\/p>

    Thank you for your understanding.<\/p>

    In friendship
    Best regards,<\/p>

    Pierre-Martin Moulin<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Dear friends, The whole world has been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and many countries have taken drastic measures in order to slow down the spread of the virus, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":[],"categories":[72,57,63,65],"tags":[172],"ipa_section":[],"class_list":["post-189952","news-article","type-news-article","status-publish","hentry","category-iac-news","category-international","category-intl-news","category-news","tag-covid-19","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"ptb_metabox":{"ptb_article_author":["Pierre-Martin Moulin | IPA President"]},"ptb_taxonomy":{"category":[{"term_id":72,"name":"IAC News","slug":"iac-news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":72,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":65,"count":17,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":57,"name":"International","slug":"international","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":57,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":9,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":63,"name":"International News","slug":"intl-news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":63,"taxonomy":"category","description":"News from the IPA's International Administration Centre","parent":65,"count":11,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":65,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":65,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":28,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[{"term_id":172,"name":"covid-19","slug":"covid-19","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":172,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":5,"filter":"raw"}]},"ptb_featured_image":null,"builder_content":"

    Dear friends,<\/p>

    The whole world has been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and many countries have taken drastic measures in order to slow down the spread of the virus, such as national borders being partially or completely closed, travelling forbidden or strongly advised against, and gatherings of all kind prohibited.<\/p>

    The pressure on the security forces is extremely high, as they are at the forefront of assisting the governments putting these measures in place.<\/p>

    Health forecasts are not optimistic and predict a situation that could last between 2 to 4 months minimum.<\/p>

    In view of this exceptional situation, many IPA sections have \u00a0already \u00a0cancelled events. The International Executive Board (IEB) fully understands and supports these decisions. Of course we leave it to sections to decide, as most of the events are placed under their responsibility.<\/p>

    However, the IEB is at present looking carefully\u00a0 at cancelling or postponing the following IPA events scheduled for 2020, all of which have IEB involvement:<\/p>

    • IPA Games in Montenegro<\/li>
    • Hosting Sections\u2019 Meeting in Sri Lanka<\/li>
    • International Youth Gathering in Slovakia \/ the Czech Republic<\/li><\/ul>

      We are in close contact with the sections organising these events, and you will soon receive an update.<\/p>

      As far as the IPA World Congress, which is scheduled for October 2020, is concerned, we are in close contact with the organising section Spain, and we will of course keep you updated.<\/p>

      The IEB has had to make some adjustments to deal with the situation, largely due to the travel restrictions imposed in our respective home countries. Our next planned IEB meeting in June had to be cancelled, and to keep our projects and programmes on schedule, we have arranged virtual meetings\u00a0 by video conference every two weeks. Quite a nice, friendly and efficient way to ensure we keep on track.<\/p>

      Please rest assured that the IAC, which naturally also has been affected by the current developments, will continue to assist both the IEB and all sections. A mixture of home working and office presence has been put in place for the time being, and all contact details remain the same.<\/p>

      My friends, in such difficult times, we must stand united and strong. Friendship is our cement, and we will be an even stronger association after surmounting the adversities we are facing at the moment. Let us stand as one throughout this hard time and help those who are affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as much as we can.<\/p>

      Thank you for your understanding.<\/p>

      In friendship
      Best regards,<\/p>

      Pierre-Martin Moulin<\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ipasafrica.co.za\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article\/189952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ipasafrica.co.za\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ipasafrica.co.za\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news-article"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ipasafrica.co.za\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ipasafrica.co.za\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ipasafrica.co.za\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189952"},{"taxonomy":"ipa_section","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ipasafrica.co.za\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ipa_section?post=189952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}