110 Years of FIDIC

Engineering the Future
110 Years of FIDIC

Foreword from the President
and Chief Executive
Founded in 1913, FIDIC, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, has

represented the profession and business of consulting engineering with distinction for
more than a century.
I am proud to hold the position of president in this 110th anniversary year and have
pleasure in presenting this 110th anniversary publication. It charts the history of an
organisation that has left its mark on the engineering, construction and infrastructure
industry through the work of its member associations and member firms.
In the pages to follow, we demonstrate how FIDIC continues to underpin global

construction and infrastructure projects and lead the change needed to achieve
the sustainable infrastructure of the future. We also document FIDIC’s development
from its early beginnings to its position today as a leading business organisation for
national associations of consulting engineers representing over one million engineering
professionals and 40,000 firms in around 100 countries worldwide.
Anthony Barry FIDIC’s success has been due to the willingness of its representatives to volunteer and
President, FIDIC devote time, money and effort to serve the federation and the interests of consulting
engineering. This continues today and without that spirit of self-sacrifice and dedication to
the profession then it is unlikely that FIDIC would even exist, let alone flourish in the way it
has over the 110 years of its existence. I offer my sincere thanks to the stakeholders who
continue to help us thrive today.
FIDIC has driven the profession of consulting engineering forward to keep pace with world
events, their effect on the industry it represents and to further the influence of engineering
on society and increasingly on the planet itself. Issues like climate change, skills and
capacity and digital technology are now influencing all aspects of business life and FIDIC in
turn has had to adapt to deal with these challenges.
While the challenges that FIDIC and its member associations face today are ever-changing
and different from those of its founding members more than a century ago, its vision
remains constant – to improve people’s quality of life through the promotion of quality,
integrity and sustainability in the projects and services consulting engineers deliver of a
global scale.
It has been an honour for me to hold the position of chief executive since 2018 and
to have led the organisation to its next phase of growth and to have navigated the
global Covid-19 pandemic, which impacted people’s lives in a way we could never
have imagined.
FIDIC today can proudly claim to be the global representative body for national
associations of consulting engineers in the infrastructure sector, in which FIDIC members’
work contributes at least US$36 trillion to global GDP.
Our founders back in 1913 would have had no idea that the organisation would endure
for more than a century, though as a far-sighted and perceptive group of industry
professionals, they would have hoped that the organisation they gave birth to would
represent the profession of consulting engineering with distinction on the world stage. In
fact, FIDIC has done much more than that. It has made an indelible and positive mark on
an industry sector that has done so much to benefit the lives of citizens in every continent
around the world.
Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE
Chief Executive Officer, FIDIC We'd like to thank FIDIC's communications adviser Andy Walker for his work authoring this
document and all those who have contributed to the publication with content, design and
editorial support, under the leadership of Graham Pontin, the director of policy, external
affairs and communications
Please turn the pages and enjoy the content which demonstrates how engineers continue
to learn from the past to inspire the present and shape the future.
3
Contents
1 Growth of FIDIC__________________________________________ 5
2 Contracts and standards_________________________________ 21
3 Thoughts on FIDIC at 110________________________________ 27
4 Challenges and opportunities____________________________ 40
5 Global relationships_____________________________________ 45
6 Member associations and associates_____________________ 48
7 Annual conferences –
the world’s global meeting place__________________________ 52
8 FIDIC presidents________________________________________ 58
9 FIDIC staff team and secretariat executives________________ 74
10 Remaining relevant in changing times_____________________ 77
11 Thanking the FIDIC board at 110__________________________ 82
12 Thanking all our volunteers_______________________________ 85
13 Looking to the future____________________________________ 93
14 Conclusion from the president____________________________ 96
4
1
Growth of FIDIC
5
Growth of FIDIC
1913 FIDIC establishment

European consulting engineers discussed
the formation of a global federation
following a search for independent expert
consultants for the World Fair Exhibitions.
Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs

Conseils, later the International Federation
of Consulting Engineers was formed on
22 July 1913 in Ghent, Belgium with the
founding principles of quality, integrity and
sustainability.
First members were three national

associations of independent consulting
engineers in Europe - Belgium, France and
Switzerland, supported by two additional associations, Netherlands and Germany.
The first FIDIC president was Louis Prangey from France, whose period of office ran from 1913 to 1937. His
name lives on in the Louis Prangey Award, the highest recognition for dedicated service, presented annually to the
person who has rendered significant service to the federation and/or the profession of consulting engineering.
There were 59 participants at the federation’s inaugural meeting and official delegates attended from Austria,
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom
and the USA.
The aim of the proposed new federation was:
To study in fellowship all questions concerning protection and development of the

members’ professional interests without taking into consideration and philosophical,
political or religious aspects.
To establish a link and friendly and useful relationship between consulting engineers
and engineering experts possessing the necessary qualities as to competence,
honour and morality.
To group associations of engineers of all languages and countries and to promote

the founding of such associations where they do not yet exist.
To make known the availability of consulting engineering services to various

countries to assist them in their professional work.
To generalise the application and observation of the rules of conduct that should
guide true consulting engineers and engineering experts in the exercise of their
profession, particularly ensuring the maintenance of dignified behaviour.
6
Growth of FIDIC
1914 First World War
-1918 The first world war profoundly affected FIDIC, activities ceased and it became dormant.
FIDIC president Louis Prangey was called for military service, was awarded La Croix de Guerre and made a
Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur.
1920s Post-war re-establishment

At the end of the war, more than half of the active members of FIDIC had disappeared. Some had been killed in
the war, some died and others retired.
The organisation needed to restart and once again it was the Belgians and French, represented by R E Mathot
and Louis Prangey who led this. They hosted a meeting in Paris on 15 November 1921 attended by the member
associations from Belgium, France, Poland, Switzerland, with an observer representing the Scandinavian
associations of Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
During the decade, efforts were made to reach out to other associations around the world, including the USA and
the UK, both of which refused to join.
First FIDIC ‘Year Book’ published

The first ‘Year Book’ of FIDIC, published in 1924, listed the FIDIC members as follows: CICB Belgium (8 members);
CICF France (62 members); KIDIR Poland (16 members); ASIC Switzerland (27 members). Two-thirds of all FIDIC
members at this time were located in Paris, Brussels and Warsaw.
Continued growth
In 1925 FIDIC applies for representation in
the International Board of Work (Le Bureau
International de Travail) established in the
League of Nations.
The Dutch and Scandinavian associations

come on board in 1926. A fourth congress
of FIDIC in Amsterdam in 1928 saw
participation with full representation from
Austria, Belgium, France, the Netherlands,
Poland and Switzerland, with the
Scandinavian associations represented
by Sweden.
1930s Vienna congress

As FIDIC entered the 1930s, there were ten member associations affiliated to the organisation - Belgium, France,
Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Norway and Denmark. There were also
eight corresponding members. These were Hungary, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Greece, Portugal
and Romania.
Its activities were mainly concentrated on arranging an international congress of consulting engineers every second
year and also to produce an international directory of consulting engineers. Subjects discussed at the conferences
gave an indication of the issues facing the profession at that time, issues which were to remain relevant for many
years for the profession of consulting engineering.
7
Growth of FIDIC
For example, the Vienna congress in 1930 discussed how to bring about legal protection for consulting engineers,
similar to that enjoyed by barristers and solicitors and also how to fight against the abusive practice of suppliers
and contractors to provide consulting services and design work free of charge.
They also debated how to avoid incompetent persons acting as consulting engineers and doing harm to the
profession and the need to draw up contract documents for the achievement of works as international standard
documents. This could be seen as the origin of FIDIC’s standard conditions of contract.
The vexed issue of fee scales for consulting engineering work was also discussed as were ongoing efforts to
attract the British and the Americans, who still steadfastly remained outside FIDIC membership.
Zurich congress
The last congress before the second world
war took place in Zurich in September
1932. Widely regarded as the best
organised and well prepared of all the
FIDIC congresses in the early days of the
organisation, it attracted a larger number of
participants than previous congresses, with
119 people attending from 18 countries.
The 1932 congress lasted for six days,

with two days allocated for discussion
professional subjects, another two days for
organisational matters such as committee
meetings and the general assembly and
the final two days were set aside for visits
and study tours to industries. This is not
dissimilar from the format of today’s FIDIC
Global Infrastructure Conference.
Challenging times
The period from 1933-1939 saw FIDIC enduring some challenging times, partly driven by the complicated
organisational structure of the federation and also due to a number of disputes within FIDIC and the personalities
engaged in its work. There was also some resentment about the French and Belgian dominance of the
organisation and growing discontent over the failure to attract ACE in the UK into membership. These challenges
and dissatisfaction led to demands for changes to FIDIC’s statutes and a gradual disintegration of the organisation
prior to the outbreak of the second world war.
Three member associations, Denmark, Norway and Belgium, withdraw their membership and two threaten to do
the same, (Switzerland and Sweden). Among the rest, interest in FIDIC successively fades away and the year book
ceased publication.
1937 the federation is reorganised, with executive power invested in the president.
New statutes were formally adopted in Paris. Belgium (CICB) resigned from FIDIC, which now had seven member
associations.
Louis Prangey becomes honorary president of FIDIC and Per G Hörnell is appointed new FIDIC president.
By the late 1930s FIDIC ties have grown weak and most members are no longer active. Membership associations
have reduced to six (France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Poland, and Hungary).
President P G Hörnell dies.
As the world prepares for war again, Bo M Hellström from Sweden is appointed President in 1939.
Associations in Poland and Hungary disappear. ASIC in Switzerland, ONRI in the Netherlands and SKIF in Sweden
are the only three associations FIDIC can depend on.
8
Growth of FIDIC
FIDIC activities are restricted to those not involving expenditure until the international situation has improved. Due
to the war, FIDIC lost its capital account of about FFR 36,000, as well as having property deposited in Brussels, its
archives and printed matter destroyed.
1939 Second world war
-1945
As the world prepares for war again, Bo M Hellström from Sweden is appointed president in 1939.
Associations in Poland and Hungary disappear. ASIC in Switzerland, ONRI in the Netherlands and SKIF in Sweden
are the only three associations FIDIC can depend on.
FIDIC activities are restricted to those not involving expenditure until the international situation has improved.
Due to the war, FIDIC lost its capital account of about FFR 36,000 and as well as having property deposited in
Brussels, its archives and printed matter were destroyed.
Post-war rebuild
1940s After the war, FIDIC needed to rebuild after the standstill years of the conflict. The situation was exacerbated by
the fact that its archives had disappeared, with membership lists, minutes, committee reports, correspondence,
financial papers and all printed material all vanished, as had the organisation’s funding.
However, the desire to begin international cooperation as political stability developed, helped with the
reconstruction of FIDIC in the post-war years. A delegates’ meeting in Amsterdam in 1947 was a success
and received positive signs from the associations in the USA and the UK about their future intentions
regarding membership.
In June 1949, the UK Association of

Consulting Engineers (ACE) finally joined
the federation The UK member association
played an important role in the post-war
redevelopment and rebuilding of FIDIC,
providing presidents for more than a
decade. The influence of the UK and
its association’s contribution to the way
in which the international profession of
consulting engineering took shape was
considerable, especially in the areas of
the professional ethos and role of the
consulting engineer, the principles related
to their engagement and the development
of standard forms of contract for
engineering works.
International expansion
1950s In the early post-war period, the number of FIDIC member countries changed constantly and all came from
Europe.Throughout the 1950s, FIDIC stepped up its international work and while membership numbers were
important, it was clear that FIDIC needed to grow its influence on the world stage in order to move forward and
make progress.
The organisation benefited from the massive post-war reconstruction plans which saw thousands of millions of
US dollars spent across Europe on construction projects, thereby strengthening the role and influence of the
engineer sector.
FIDIC published its first contract, title The Form of Contract for Works of Civil Engineering Construction" in 1957,
known as the Red Book.
9
Growth of FIDIC
FIDIC developed strong links with the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) and later the
World Bank. These links, together with FIDIC attracting more non-European international associations into
membership were crucial in establishing the organisation as a truly international representative body.
Paris and The Hague general assemblies

By the time of the 1955 general assembly meeting held in Paris, delegates attended from Belgium, Denmark,
France, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. The executive committee
was introduced and the FIDIC statutes were revised and the federation was registered as an international body
headquartered in Zurich.
By 1959 and the general assembly meeting held in The Hague, Netherlands, participants included 14 member
associations from four continents. The total number of members of the 14 national associations was still relatively
small, comprising approximately 5,000 individual consulting engineers, of whom 1,500 were in the USA. The year
1959 also saw associations in Canada (ACEC), USA, Australia and South Africa join FIDIC and the following year
Ireland was granted FIDIC membership, bringing the total number of member associations to 15.
1960s Steady accumulation of member associations

The 1960s and 1970s saw a steady accumulation of member associations including Central Africa, Luxembourg,
Colombia, Malaysia, Singapore, India, New Zealand, Brazil, Hong Kong, Iran, Israel, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya,
Nigeria and Spain. At the end of the decade ASPAC was established to represent the Asia-Pacific region.
The first edition of the Plant and Design Build Contracts “Yellow Book” is published.
A limit is placed on re-election to the executive committee so members could not be in office for any consecutive
period of longer than eight years. President and vice president terms of office were limited to two years.
FIDIC statutes are revised to better reflect changes in organisational needs at the time.
Executive committee instructs secretary general to establish a permanent secretariat with a full-time executive
secretary. In 1967 Hans Hillebrand takes office as executive secretary of the FIDIC secretariat, based in
The Hague.
Working committee on professional liability appointed.
FIDIC in numbers - 1967
FIDIC’s total budget amounts to CHF 76,000.
FIDIC represented 10,000 consulting engineers (members)
Working in 5,000 consulting engineering firms
With a total of 125,000 employees
10
Growth of FIDIC
1970s Continued international growth

In the early seventies, the association in Malaysia is admitted as member, the Latin American Federation of
Consulting Engineers (FELAC) is founded and Colombia leaves FIDIC.
In 1972, the Association in Singapore (ACES) becomes member of FIDIC and a working committee on the role of
governments in the export of consulting services is appointed.
In 1974 FIDIC moves to larger premises in the Hague and more staff are hired in response to member demands.
Also this year, the Brazilian Association and the Japanese Association become members. The office of the
secretary general abolished.
National associations join FIDIC

Between 1975 and 1979, eight national
associations join FIDIC (Brazil, Hong Kong,
Iran, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria and
Spain) and one withdraws (Malaysia).
1975 GAM held in Paris, France.
ASPAC established to represent

Asia-Pacific region in 1979.
By the end of the 1970s, the FIDIC

secretariat consisted of eight people,
including the two directors and now
publishes the International Directory
of Consulting Engineers.
FIDIC’s committees have always played a

key role in the organisation and the industry
volunteers who run them have given freely of their time and expertise for the greater good of the industry.
The development of FIDIC over its first 75 years was somewhat uneven, interrupted by two world wars and
becoming virtually becalmed as a result. It was only during the 40 years following the end of the second world war
that FIDIC transitioned from being a largely European-centric organisation to becoming a worldwide international
federation and the leading representative and spokesperson for consulting engineers on the international stage.
Move to Switzerland
1980s As the organisation grew in influence, it
also strengthened its secretariat and in
1982 moved its headquarters from the
Hague to Switzerland, to reflect the fact
that subscriptions to the federation were in
Swiss Francs.
The 1980s saw further growth of the

organisation under the leadership of
managing directors Burt Campbell and
then Marshall Gysi, both of whom played a
key role in driving the organisation forward.
11
Growth of FIDIC
The number of member associations increased from 20 to 50 during the 1970s and 1980s, giving the organisation
additional prestige and the right to act as a spokesperson for the consulting engineering profession globally.
FIDIC’s expansion during this time was directed towards the newly industrialised countries and the developing
countries in Africa and Asia.
In 1987 the FIDIC secretariat team consisted of five full time and two part-time employees. It seems remarkable
that the relatively small staff could manage such a significant amount of work in servicing FIDIC’s executive
committee and the large number of working committees and also liaising with member associations and wider
stakeholders. This has been a feature of FIDIC throughout the years, with the organisation punching far above its
weight and definitely being seen as much larger than the individual sum of its parts.
The 1980s saw further growth with Austria, Bangladesh, Korea, Netherlands, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Surinam,
Indonesia, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Yugoslavia and Zambia all joining FIDIC.
By the end of the decade, a new subscription formula was accepted by members which created a graduated
scale based on reported staff numbers and discounts for developing countries. The sliding scale of subscription
was aligned to the voting strength of member associations and by this time FIDIC had 50 member associations in
its ranks.
The federation published the Red and Yellow books in English and French.
The FIDIC History, by Ragnar Widegren of Sweden is published in 1988.
1990s The FIDIC White Book is published

The FIDIC White Book is published in 1990 and is translated into French and German then printed for sale. Red
Book translated into Arabic.
CNEC (Mexico), HELLASCO (Greece), AHCE (Hungary), SNILPI (Italy) and IOCE are replacing IACE (Israel) which is
granted membership. Yugoslavia excluded, as member association had ceased to exist and was no longer part of
the present country of Yugoslavia.
Prangey Award is created

Prangey Award is created for extraordinary contributions to the goals of FIDIC. Tony Norris, the chairman of the
Civil Engineering Contracts Committee, was the first recipient.
Recognition of a legacy
FIDIC’s awards programmes recognise excellence
and best practice in the construction and
infrastructure sector and are coveted by global
industry professionals.
The Louis Prangey Award, the highest recognition

for dedicated service to FIDIC, was named after
the founding FIDIC president, Louis Prangey. The
award is presented to a person who has given
significant service to the federation and/or to the
profession of consulting engineering and who
exemplifies the objectives of FIDIC. The recipient
is considered to be a role model for the consulting
engineering industry. The FIDIC board makes a
written nomination of a candidate for the award to
the past presidents council, which then considers
and advises the board on the nomination.
12
Growth of FIDIC
In 1993, UACE (Uganda), Techniberia (Spain) and OAI replacing CICL (Luxembourg) are granted membership.
Discussions start with CNAEC, China, over possible membership of FIDIC.
The contracts committee is created

New president Ernst Hofmann (Switzerland)
is elected. The contracts committee is
created consolidating several committees
developing various contracts. The risk
management committee is established.
ISCE replaces IACE (Iran) and is granted

membership in 1994. The same year.
FELAC changes to FEPAC.
By 1995, all FIDIC documents are

reviewed to ensure that environmental
aspects are included, where necessary.
New members join from Greece, Estonia,
Guinee and Croatia.
In 1996, the guide to ISO 9000 quality

management for consulting engineering
firms prepared.
New members join

BCW (Germany), CNAEC (China) and CAVECON (Venezuela) are granted membership. Fatma Colasan (Turkey) is
the first woman to be elected to the FIDIC executive committee. The FIDIC secretariat goes online and computer
network installed. Spanish added as the fourth official language of FIDIC. Task Force 21 created to study the
consulting industry as it enters the next millennium and to explore future of FIDIC.
The Risk Management Manual is published in 1997 and Vietnam joins FIDIC.
EC reviews structure of the secretariat. Peter Boswell is appointed as general manager.
Sale of electronic documents begins

In 1998 FIDIC starts sale of electronic documents with much success (new PDF format). A new FIDIC annual
report is launched. BIMS is designed and an integrity management task force is mandated for the development of
the tool. Sustainability becomes one of FIDIC's key policies.
In 1999, the Conditions of Contract for Construction (Red Book), Conditions of Contract for Plant & Design-Build
(Yellow Book), The Short Form of Contract (Green Book), and Conditions of Contract for EPC Turnkey Projects
(Silver Book) are published for the first time in standard format. SES (Saudi Arabia) and AICO (Columbia) are
granted membership. Plans are developed to re-activate regional groups ASPAC and GAMA. A task force on
integrity is formed.
Prangey Award Winners in the 1990s:

K.B. Norris (UK), 1992
Mario Asin (Bolivia), 1994
C. Molineaux (USA), 1996
John B. Bowcock (United Kingdom), 1999
Christopher Seppala (France), 1999
13
Growth of FIDIC
2000s Move to the World Trade Centre, Geneva

The year 2001 saw FIDIC move to a new
headquarters in the World Trade Centre in
Geneva, which remain the organisation’s
base to the present day. 2001 was also the
year when the concept of a FIDIC forum for
young professionals was first discussed.
The year 2003 saw Belarus and Ghana
granted membership of FIDIC and also that
same year, in a significant move, following
various discussions and meetings with the
EFCA leadership there was an agreement
on forming a joint task force to come up
with recommendations for future activities of
EFCA and FIDIC and this was underpinned
by a signed agreement between the two
organisations later that year.
Wider geographical spread

In 2004, Latvia, Namibia, Philippines,
Lithuania, Slovakia, Romania, Ecuador,
and Morocco joined FIDIC, giving the
organisation an even wider geographical
spread and expanded influence. 2005 saw
Bosnia join and the annual conference that
year was held in China, with a memorable
gala dinner for 900 held in Great Hall of the
People, organised by host MA, CNAEC,
with significant support from the Beijing city
government. 2006 saw Azerbaijan and Mali
granted membership and eight new affiliate
members recognised and FIDIC also
modified its statutes to simplify election
of affiliates.
Enrico Vink becomes FIDIC Managing

Director in 2004.
Malawi came on board as a member association in 2007, the same year as the annual conference was held in
Singapore, the venue for its 110th anniversary conference in 2023. The following year, a FIDIC associate member
category was created to replace correspondents and the AECU (Ukraine) and UZACE (Uzbekistan) were elected
as new associate members.
In 2009, Lebanon, Kuwait, Serbia and Sudan all became members of FIDIC and five new affiliates were
recognised. The concept of a standard minimum subscription fee was introduced for the first time.

Michael Mortimer Hawkins (Sweden), 2000
Peter L. Booen (United Kingdom), 2001
Mark Griffiths (United Kingdom), 2004
Tonny Jensen (Denmark), 2007
Axel Jaeger (Germany), 2007
Iksan van der Putte (The Netherlands), 2008
Felipe Ochoa Rosso (Mexico), 2009
14
Growth of FIDIC
2010s New Affiliates recognised

In 2011, the Palestine and Mozambique
associations join FIDIC and four new
Affiliates were recognised in
Mexico, Jordan, Spain and Iran. The same
year, the UK’s Geoff French was elected as
FIDIC president and the annual conference
venue was moved from Tunis to Davos
after the Arab Spring uprising overthrew the
Tunisian government.
In 2012, Chile, Colombia, Peru and

Thailand rejoined FIDIC and the Dominican
Republic was admitted as an associate.
That same year, there was another
important development with implications
for the future of the organisation as there
was general agreement reached on the
concept to include young professionals on
all FIDIC committees, wherever possible.
FIDIC’s centenary year

FIDIC’s centenary year of 2013 saw a
new collaboration agreement signed
with EFCA, recognising EFCA as the
voice of the industry in Europe. Three
new members were elected – Mauritius,
Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago – and
two new associates joined the fold in
Moldova and Mongolia. That same year,
for the first time, FIDIC training events
became the major revenue earner for the
federation, surpassing document sales,
with subscription income now less than
30%. The centenary conference was held
in Barcelona with a record attendance
of 1,200 delegates from 98 countries,
underlining the strength and influence of
FIDIC on the global stage.
FIDIC regional groups formed

Alongside the numerical increase in national associations joining FIDIC, groups of these associations in specific
geographical regions saw the need to organise together, forming what are now known as the FIDIC regional
groups. Over the years and up to the present day, these groups have played a vital role in ensuring that FIDIC
in those geographical areas is able to reach out to and connect with key stakeholders, including governments,
international funding institutions and industry and business organisations.
The regional groups also hold regular conferences and other events that give member associations in that
geography the opportunity to come together to present a more coherent representative face than they would
otherwise be able to do acting alone. It is this collective strength that has been a key feature of FIDIC throughout
its history and persists today, especially since the regional groups were revamped and refocused as part of FIDIC’s
most recent strategic plan.
15
Growth of FIDIC
FIDIC regional groups:
FIDIC Asia-Pacific FIDIC Europe FIDIC South America
FIDIC Africa FIDIC North America
ABCE (Brazil) readmitted as a member of FIDIC and Montenegro and Uzbekistan admitted.
Following many years of work by FIDIC and CNAEC, the FIDIC Certified Consulting Engineer Programme is
launched in China in 2015. In the years following, 1430 consultants have been certified in respect their knowledge
and understanding of the FIDIC Guide to Practice. The programme was overseen by a Board of FIDIC and CNAEC
leaders under Chair, Past President Gregs Thomopulos. Steps taken to reorganise the FIDIC secretariat and the
decision was made to keep the FIDIC office in Geneva. FIDIC’s Annual Conference was held in New Delhi.
First e-book tested

2012 saw the first ever FIDIC e-book tested. And the launch of a new membership strategy to involve regional
groups within FIDIC. The same year, a record 18 new Affiliates were recognised. There was also general
agreement reached to include Young Professionals on all FIDIC committees, wherever possible and the committee
structure was also reviewed and strengthened, including succession planning. A decision was taken to to
restructure the sustainability committee following merger with EFCA committee and the annual conference was
held in Seoul.
In 2013, FIDIC launched a Quality Based Selection marketing strategy to highlight this key prong of FIDIC’s
procurement guidance and to promote the use of QBS worldwide. A collaboration agreement was signed with
EFCA, recognising EFCA as the voice of the industry in Europe and three new member associations were elected
in Mauritius, Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago, with two new Associates elected - Moldova and Mongolia. New
FIDIC president Pablo Bueno from Spain was elected and discussions continued on the establishement of
possible regional offices in Asia, Middle East and Latin America. FIDIC opened its first external office in Tanzania
and Samuel Mwamsamali was appointed FIDIC Africa manager.
A numbert of regional young professionals groups were successfully launched and Fatma Colasan became the
first ever woman to receive FIDIC’s highest honour, the Prangey Award. FIDIC’s Centenary Conference was held in
Barcelona with a record attendance of 1,200 delegates from 98 countries.
16
Growth of FIDIC
Annual FIDIC awards launched

In 2013, the Annual FIDIC Awards were launched and the same year, the Cyprus association joined FIDIC.
2015 saw a new FIDIC Strategic Plan launched and the arrival of the Macedonia, Ivory Coast and Kazakhstan
associations as members of FIDIC. In 2016, the first FIDIC Young Professionals Awards was launched at the FIDIC
annual conference in Marrakesh. The year also saw the first phase of the FIDIC Certified Consulting Engineer
(FCCE) Pilot Programme with China National Association of Engineering Consultants (CNAEC) and the Beijing
University. The same year saw the South Sudan and Ukraine associations join FIDIC.
FIDIC modernises governance structure

In 2016 FIDIC undertook a governance survey and begun a process which culminated in the development of the
FIDIC Governance Framework, changes to the FIDIC Statutes and By Laws in 2018 and 2020, replacing the FIDIC
Executive Committee with a FIDIC Board, the formation of Board Committees, the development of Board policies,
introducing Advisory Councils, redeveloping Working Committees and developing of a business model which
would support the future growth of FIDIC.
In 2017, the Georgia, Russia and Egypt

associations joined FIDIC and in 2018, Dr
Nelson Ogunshakin OBE was appointed as
the new FDIC chief executive succeeding
Enrico Vink who had been the FIDIC
managing director since 2004. A strategic
review of FIDIC staffing and office needs
was launched and the FIDIC website
was upgraded to better promote the
organisation to key audiences and improve
communications. The FIDIC annual
conference took place in Berlin and the
same year, an updated suite of agreements
for consultant services, the FIDIC White
Book, was launched. The key decision was
taken to to retain FIDIC office in Switzerland
whilst seeking the most cost-effective
options to deliver other services as needed.
FIDIC Contract Users' Newsletter launched

In 2019, the new FIDIC Contract Users’ Newsletter launched along with a new tunnelling and underground
works contract, the Emerald Book. FIDIC also signed a contract training collaboration with King’s College London
Centre of Construction Law, its first ever partnership with a leading European university and later that year FIDIC
signed a ground-breaking collaboration agreement with the China International Contractors Association. The
annual conference was held in Mexico City and the Uzbekistan association joined FIDIC. A number of important
collaboration agreements were signed with key international representative bodies including a training agreement
with the Philippines Department of Trade and Industry and agreements to use FIDIC contracts with the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Also in 2019, a new
FIDIC subcontract was launched for plant and design-build and the FIDIC Contracts Awards was launched at the
International Contract Users’ Conference in London.

Fatma Çölasan (Turkey), 2013
Chris Wade (United Kingdom), 2014
Philip Jenkinson (United Kingdom), 2015
Dr Nael G. Bunni (Ireland), 2018
Dr Jorge Díaz Padilla (Mexico), 2019
17
Growth of FIDIC
2020s The year 2020 saw more key agreements signed with the African Development Bank signing a five-year
agreement to use FIDIC standard contracts, a landmark cooperation agreement signed with China Association of
International Engineering Consultants and a major translation and publication agreement with the leading Chinese
multimedia and publishing group, China Machine Press. The Islamic Development Bank also signed a five-year
agreement to use FIDIC standard contracts and the International Association of Dredging Companies signed a
major strategic collaboration agreement with FIDIC. FIDIC Credentialing Limited also signed a major agreement
with the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation.
Covid-19 crisis
The FIDIC board met to coordinate a
response to the Covid crisis and FIDIC
issued industry guidance issued on
Covid-19 working. The first issue of the
CEO’s Update was launched and FIDIC’s
Covid webinar series attracted record
turnouts to online meetings. Despite the
Covid challenges, FIDIC relaunched and
revamped all its committees. The annual
conference took place online for the first
time due to the Covid pandemic and a
new Strategic Plan for 2020-2024
was launched.
In 2021, the International Federation of

Asian and Western Pacific Contractors
Associations signed a major strategic collaboration agreement with FIDIC. Other major agreements signed during
the year included the European Investment Bank signing a five-year cooperation agreement, the International Fund
for Agricultural Development signing a five-year deal to use FIDIC contracts, the World Bank announcing that it will
use the FIDIC-ITA Emerald Book for all underground works contracts and the Asian Development Bank signsing a
five-year agreement to use FIDIC standard contracts.
Prangey Award Winner:

Dick Kell (Australia), 2021
FIDIC Credentialing launched

2021 also saw a new era for certification and professional development as FIDIC Credentialing was launched. The
same year saw the relaunched FIDIC State of the World report focusing on the value of water. Due to the Covid
pandemic, the FIDIC Contract Users’ Conference took place online and the Costa Rica association joined FIDIC.
The same year, five FIDIC standard

contracts were made available in Chinese
language and FIDIC North America was
formed after key associations signed a
collaboration agreement.
Australia’s Anthony Barry was elected

as the new FIDIC president and 2021
also saw FIDIC launch the new Global
Leadership Forum.
The World Wildlife Fund and FIDIC

signed a three-year agreement on
sustainability issues and the King’s Centre
of Construction Law runs the first FIDIC
university programme in Europe.
A new updated FIDIC Green Book short form contract was also launched.
18
Growth of FIDIC
FIDIC launches its climate change charter

FIDIC has been motivated to outline its leadership
response on the behalf of the consulting engineering
community because of the urgency of the climate
crisis and the scale of the changes required. This FIDIC
charter sets out in basic, initial terms, how we address
climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience of the built
environment in the years and decades to come.
www.climatechangecharter.world
FIDIC Digital Transformation Committee launched

In 2022, FIDIC launched its new Digital
Transformation Committee and the same
year saw that board issue a statement on
the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The latest
FIDIC State of the World report highlights
the increasing pace of digital change
and the first FIDIC Ambassadors were
appointed. The new Global Leadership
Forum got off to flying start with its first
meeting and Michael Broadley was
appointed as the first general manager
of the FIDIC Academy. The annual
cconference returned to a face-to face
event with a sell-out event in Geneva.
2022 also saw the launch of a series of
FIDIC construction contract reprints and
the publication of a new contracts guide. WSP Global chairman Chris Cole was announced as heading up the
new governing senate for FIDIC Academy and the latest State of the World report highlighted the challenge of
global corruption.
FIDIC Academy announce a major upgrade

In 2023, the FIDIC Future Leaders
Management Course gained official CPD
accreditation and the FIDIC Academy
announced a major upgrade, including
the appointment of global professional
experts and the launch of new website.
FIDIC issued new guidance to help FIDIC
construction contract users navigate
troubled times and a new collaboration
agreement was signed with World
Business Council for Sustainable
Development to accelerate the transition to
sustainable infrastructure.
FIDIC hosted the first Global Leadership

Forum summit in Geneva and the latest
FIDIC State of the World report highlighted
the key role of technology and digital in achieving net zero. In 2023, work also started on a new FIDIC contract for
offshore wind farm projects and FIDIC celebrated its 110th anniversary. The annual conference is held in Singapore
and Catherine Karakatsanis takes over as the first ever woman president of FIDIC.
19
Growth of FIDIC
FIDIC today
FIDIC is transparent and accountable to its members, stakeholders and clients. Information on the deliberations of our board, committees
and task groups are made available via the FIDIC website and we issue regular press releases and statements on FIDIC's work.
FIDIC is governed by a set of statutes and bylaws which have been agreed by member associations and are updated as required and
ratified at the General Assembly Meetings (GAM) during the annual conference. These statutes and bylaws govern a range of issues
including membership, the election of the board and the running of various committees and operations.
As FIDIC has evolved over its current corporate plan so too has its structure and governance. This structure has further been refined and
as can be seen from the new structure as we enter the final stages of this corporate plan the main elements are still in place but there
have been further refinements in terms of governance, committees, new services, increased industry involvement and the continued
professionalisation of the secretariat operations.
FIDIC Board
FIDIC Board committees
FIDIC Advisory
councils
FIDIC Secretariat
GLF Advisory
board
FIDIC Working
committees
FCL Management FIDIC

FIDIC Business operations
board Credentialing Ltd
Academy Senate
FCL Certification FCL Business Contract &
Academy
board operations Legal services
Academy faculty
FIDIC Consulting Policy,
Programme Events and
Services External Affairs &
committees conferences
(Beijing) Ltd Communications
Corporate services
FIDIC Services
Federation services
(UK) Ltd
HR and finance Technology
20
2
Contracts and standards
21
If there is one area above all else that has helped to raise the profile and prestige of FIDIC on a global scale, it is its standard contract
forms that are widely used and respected across the international construction industry. Originally known as the Standard Conditions
of Contract for Works of Civil Engineering Construction and frequently referred to as simply the FIDIC Red Book on its launch in August
1957, FIDIC contracts have now become ubiquitous and the go-to documents for anyone contemplating global construction and
infrastructure projects.
The original contract became known as the FIDIC Contract and very often just FIDIC, underlining how closely linked these industry
documents were (and would become) linked to FIDIC itself. The first edition of the contract was based upon an agreement between FIDIC
and the European contractors association, the Fédération Internationale du Bâtiment et des Travaux Publiques (FIEEBTP) and over time
the contract became more used and as a result other international associations officially approved it for use by their members.
When a second edition of the contract was published, FIDIC and those organisations approving its use set up a joint committee with the
FIEEBTP, one of the tasks of which was to ensure that the conditions of contract were used unchanged in international projects. In these
early days (as now) clauses in FIDIC contracts were being frequently modified in overseas contracts to reduce the powers of the engineer,
a move which was rightly seen as detrimental to the interests of both the contractor and the consulting engineer and also in the long run
to the employer or client.
The FIDIC/FIEEBTP committee also worked with the World Bank to review the conditions of contract and this work was also instrumental
in influencing the bank’s procurement guidelines, an early example of how FIDIC’s contracts have enabled the organisation to widen its
influence on the international stage for the benefit of its members and the wider industry.
While FIDIC has addressed a whole range of professional issues affecting consulting engineers over many years. It is known among
clients, international finance institutions, lawyers and contractors for its work in in preparing and publishing standard forms of contract.
These are often referred to as the FIDIC Rainbow suite, due to the different colours of the various FIDIC contracts – the Red Book, Yellow
Book, Orange Book, Green Book and so on. Of particular importance for the wider consulting engineering profession are the forms of
contract with clients or each other. These include the White Book Model Services Agreement between Client and Consultant, the Joint
Venture (Consortium Agreement) and the Sub-Consultancy Agreement for use when one firm of consulting engineers is acting as a
sub-consultant to another.
To assist users of the contracts, FIDIC has also published a series of guides to the contracts. One of the objectives of the guides is to
indicate what the contract drafting committees intended in preparing the documents, though in the event of any dispute, the ultimate
interpretation of individual clauses in a specific contract is determined by the courts or by arbitration.
The first edition of the FIDIC Red Book published in 1957 drew heavily on the conditions of contract published by the UK Institution of Civil
Engineers (ICE). The reason for this was that in the years shortly after the second world war, when a number of international projects were
carried out financed by the international financial institutions such as the World Bank, consultants in many countries were using the ICE
form, departing from it only where it was considered essential because of the international character of the work. When FIDIC came to
produce the first Red Book then it was natural that they should use the work already done as a basis. As a result, FIDIC documents tend
to be orientated towards a common law approach to contractual matters, although consultants and contractors from countries more used
to a civil law environment do not appear to have had much difficulty in using the FIDIC forms.
22
FIDIC documents have proved enduring and

popular with client organisations, the international
financing institutions and contractors. Today,
many of the multilateral development banks
have mandated the use of FIDIC as part of their
standard bidding documents and this trend
is growing on a global basis. In preparing its
contracts, FIDIC has always tried to consult widely
with those sectors likely to be involved with the
use of its documents and has welcomed the active
participation and input of organisations like the
World Bank and contractors’ organisations during
the course of the contract drafting process.
FIDIC contracts are widely seen as taking a fair and equitable approach to project risk and this is undoubtedly one of the reasons for their
success down the years. FIDIC has always been keenly aware of the need to ensure fairness in contracts entered into between its clients
and the contracting and manufacturing industries. It is in the interests of all sections of the engineering industry that contractors and
manufacturers should be given a fair and just reward for the works they carry out and the goods they supply. In the long run, no one in the
industry gains if conditions of contract are such that contractors and manufacturers are driven out of business. Therefore, it is fundamental
to all FIDIC contracts that here should be a fair allocation of risk and responsibilities between the parties to a contract. This has guided the
development of all new contracts down the years and is a key principle which has been welcomed by users across the world.
The question of payment has also been a key item included in FIDIC contracts. FIDIC has also tried to ensure that contractors and
manufacturers are aware of payment terms, especially when they can expect to receive their money for the work carried out. In these days
when cashflow is critical, it is essential for all parties to a contract to be sure that they will receive payment when it is due.
FIDIC contracts have also highlighted the key role of the engineer in ensuring that projects are properly executed. The prime role of the
engineer is enshrined in FIDIC contracts and is underlined by the importance of the engineer’s integrity and independence as well as
the necessity for them to be highly qualified and capable of acting as an unbiased resolver of disputes on site or during the contract. The
role of the engineer has been a matter of some discussion over the years, particularly as they have been paid by the employer, leading to
some to suggest that they will always put the employer’s interests before those of the contractor.
The FIDIC contracts committee has played and continues to play a very important role overseeing the production of new contracts which
have sought to keep up to date with the changing requirements of the industry. Members of the committee comprise leading legal and
contractual experts and engineers who ensure that the contracts are developed in a way that meets the needs of the industry and the
various stakeholders that will use them.
It is no accident that FIDIC contracts have been

endorsed by most of the major international
funding institutions worldwide. They recognise
that the contracts provide users with a fair and
equitable approach, especially in the area of
risk, which is one of the reasons that they are so
well-regarded across the global industry.
23
Expert task groups working under the direction of the FIDIC contracts committee also reach out to the industry and all new contracts are
reviewed by ‘friendly’ reviewers before any new document is launched into the market. This ensures that new editions of contracts are the
best that they can be and once launched they are then subject to a rigorous testing and feedback process so that they can be amended
as required to take account of the experience of those who use them in the field. This is another reason why FIDIC’s contracts are so
highly regarded across the global industry and why they are able to respond to a
changing industry.
Looking to the future, what will maintain FIDIC’s leading position will be the continuing work of its contracts committee under
the guidance of the FIDIC board in ensuring that future contracts take account of a changing industry and also the development
and organisation of FIDIC’s contract user community which is so important in ensuring that these leading industry documents
keep pace with the changing and evolving needs of engineering, construction and infrastructure sector.
Building FIDIC’s contract user community
Many thousands of FIDIC contracts

are sold every year and used on global
construction contracts of all sizes all
across the world. While the repeat
purchases of these contracts would
be proof enough of their popularity
in the industry, FIDIC does not rest
on its laurels and takes nothing for
granted in assuming that this situation
will continue in perpetuity. In recent
years, the organisation has made great
efforts to engage its contract user
community to ensure that it receives
the best possible feedback on the
use of its contracts but also so that
FIDIC can communicate key messages
and updates to this very important
stakeholder grouping.
Over many years, FIDIC has organised regular contract users’ conferences to bring together this
community and this work has grown and developed over the recent period. Despite the challenges
of the Covid pandemic, the past few years have seen the profile of FIDIC contracts grow, with more
opportunities for users to connect than ever before.
The profile of FIDIC contracts is on the increase, with increasing numbers of clients and funding bodies seeing these industry standard
documents as their contract of choice in challenging times. As we can see above, FIDIC’s standard construction contracts were already
highly regarded across the global industry, with clients and users alike attracted by the fair and balanced approach they take, especially in
the area of project risk. However, the recent period has seen these contracts increasingly becoming the benchmark for global construction
projects, a position that has been boosted further by the number of organisations that have signed licence agreements with FIDIC to use
its contracts on their projects.
FIDIC contracts are an integral and important component of infrastructure delivery globally. They are a pivotal link between clients and
contractors. FIDIC recognises their importance and invests heavily in the FIDIC contracts ecosystem. This includes the great work that the
FIDIC Contracts Committee does in addressing the contracts themselves, the services our contracts services team provides, the FIDIC
Academy’s role in delivering training and the work of FIDIC Credentialing certifying individuals who work in this space
FIDIC contracts will continue to be a vital contribution to the global infrastructure industry and we will continue to drive hard to ensure it
remains the gold standard in international contracting.
24
A key strength of FIDIC contracts is that they are responsive to users’ demands and that they keep up to date with the latest industry
and business developments. During the pandemic, FIDIC was quick to respond by issuing key guidance to users outlining the provisions
in FIDIC’s various general conditions of contract which might be relevant regarding likely scenarios that were arising as a consequence of
the challenges raised by the Covid crisis. This guidance was well received and appreciated by users across the global industry.
FIDIC has also sought to build its contract community by organising more training and holding a number of regional and international
contract users’ conferences to give users the opportunity to hear about the latest developments from experts in the contracts and
legal arena. FIDIC has taken the organisation and delivery of these events in-house to improve their effectiveness and to bring the
organisation closer to the end users of the contracts and to ensure that feedback is more quickly channelled into FIDIC to help drive
continuous improvement.
Recent years have also seen FIDIC look to raise

the profile of its contract user community. In 2019
a new FIDIC Contract Users’ Newsletter was
launched and also the same year the first FIDIC
Contract Users’ Awards were held to recognise
excellence in the use of FIDIC contract forms
for project delivery and showcase examples of
good practice through collaboration from across
the world. Both the newsletter and the awards
continue to thrive and are expected to grow over
the coming years.
Alongside these events, FIDIC has also been
building up its Official Contract Users’ LinkedIn
group to provide a platform where members can
be the first to hear of the latest FIDIC contract
users’ news, events, training and offers and
to provide a forum where they can compare
experiences with other contract users on the most
common challenges facing the industry. The group
and the contract users’ conferences provide a
valuable conduit into FIDIC to help brainstorm
ideas, creativity and innovation for the future
development of FIDIC contracts.
25
FIDIC Golden Principles

In a bid to safeguard the integrity of FIDIC contracts and to ensure that the clients and the public are not mislead about what is and what
isn’t a bone fide FIDIC contract document, in 2019 FIDIC launched its Golden Principles. The principles outline the essence of a FIDIC
contract and articulate those essential characteristics of FIDIC’s general conditions that should not be amended if it is to be recognised as
a FIDIC contract.
More and more frequently, FIDIC had been experiencing applications of ‘FIDIC contracts’ where significant changes to the general
conditions are made by means of replacing, changing or omitting parts of the wording through the particular conditions. Some of the
replacements and changes introduced were found to be substantial and of such extent, that the final contract or agreement no longer
represents the FIDIC principles, and thus were jeopardising the FIDIC brand and misleading tenderers and the public.
The FIDIC contracts committee set up a special task group to identify which contractual principles of each form of contract FIDIC
considers to be inviolable and sacrosanct. These principles are referred to as the FIDIC Golden Principles.
The FIDIC Golden Principles were launched at the FIDIC Asia Pacific Contract Users’ Conference in Hong Kong in June 2019. The
12-page guide, The FIDIC Golden Principles (First Edition 2019), outlines the five Golden Principles and explains in detail the reasoning
behind them.
Each of the five Golden Principles (GPs) are explained in the guide. In order to promote acceptance and understanding: -
• the GPs are formulated at a conceptual level to encapsulate the essence of a FIDIC contract;
• each GP expresses a single, readily understood and generally accepted concept;
• the GPs are limited to the minimum number necessary for completeness.
The guide makes the point that minor additions or grammatical changes to the wording of a general conditions sub-clause that do not
alter the intent are not a breach of the GPs. However, such cosmetic changes should only be made for good reasons, the guide advises.
The Golden Principles

GP1: The duties, rights, obligations, roles and
responsibilities of all the contract participants must
be generally as implied in the General Conditions,
and appropriate to the requirements of the project.
GP2: The Particular Conditions must be drafted clearly

and unambiguously.
GP3: The Particular Conditions must not change the

balance of risk/reward allocation provided for in the
General Conditions.
GP4: All time periods specified in the contract for

contract participants to perform their obligations
must be of reasonable duration.
GP5: All formal disputes must be referred to a

Dispute Avoidance/Adjudication Board (or a
Dispute Adjudication Board, if applicable) for
a provisionally binding decision as a condition
precedent to arbitration.
26
3
Thoughts on FIDIC at 110
27
Committee Chair’s thoughts
Tracey Ryan,
Chair of the FIDIC Sustainable Development Committee
and Managing Director of Aurecon (New Zealand)
The partnerships that FIDIC is building and has built in the area of sustainability are
crucial as we know that it is only through better collaboration can we tackle and
address the climate crisis. New relationships like the one we have forged with the WWF
are also really important in that regard too. The issues we need to address around
decarbonising our economy and the ongoing impacts around climate change are
global issues and the infrastructure sector has such an important role in addressing
these systemic challenges. Now more than ever before we see sustainability’s
importance in everything that we do and the challenge going forward will be to integrate our work around sustainability across all of
the other areas of FIDIC’s operations. The days of looking at sustainability in isolation are long gone.
What makes FIDIC special is its significant global reach, its network and the influential role it can play in the industry make FIDIC
a special organisation. Engineers play an often-pioneering role addressing the key issues we face as a society, as humanity, and
FIDIC brings all of that together through a powerful global network and strong voice that can bring influence to bear to drive
change and a policy level. Through its member association network, we can share learnings and best practice across the globe,
raising the bar for the entire sector, so it’s a vital role that the organisation plays in our industry.
My message for FIDIC to mark its anniversary is keep looking to the future. FIDIC has done so much over the last 110 years but
we now face a future that looks very different from the past, so FIDIC needs to reflect that in all areas of its work. This includes
work around inclusivity and diversity which is so important in creating an organisation and an industry that better reflects the
society we work in, so FIDIC needs to continue to keep evolving. Yes, celebrate the past, but always look to the future. The past
we inherit, the future we build!
28
Advisory Council Chair’s thoughts
Dr Michele Kruger,
Chair of the FIDIC Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council (DEIAC)
and Function General Manager: Water and Environment, SMEC
As we celebrate 110 years,, it’s actually shocking to think we have never had a
female president in all these years. Luckily, this year we are celebrating that Catherine
Karakatsanis will start her tenure in September as the first female president of FIDIC!
This is the culmination of a long road which started off as a diversity and inclusion task
team, an idea started at the 2016 FIDIC conference in Marrakesh and which graduated
to an advisory council where I serve as an advisor to the FIDIC board. An amazing
journey showing how important this topic is to FIDIC.
A large amount of research is done by the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council (DEIAC), in a response to an instruction
from the FIDIC board in how can we improve diversity and inclusion in all elements of FIDIC, resulting in a report that guided the
board on how other companies are succeeding. Now there is ample diversity in all committees, representing not only gender and
race, but all geographies represented by FIDIC. The DEIAC has developed a Diversity and Inclusion Guidelines, KPIs, research and
surveys and is currently working hard to expand our work for even further to see how exclusion created by geography, language,
culture or neurotypical versus neurodiverse colleagues can be overcome, something that can be seen during online meetings.
By developing inclusionary guidelines, we can enhance inclusion across FIDIC as well as improve business processes for the
wider industry.
I have had the honour of being part of the FIDIC family from 2007, where I did the Future Leaders Management Course and joined
the FIDIC Young Professionals Forum. All through my career, FIDIC was the once constant in my life as I moved companies,
allowing me to live my passion to improve conditions for people in the consulting engineering sector, by serving on FIDIC
committees and councils. I really do feel like part of the family and each time I see the FIDIC staff or my friends in the consulting
engineering sector at the conferences, it feels like coming home to family for Christmas! FIDIC has been greatly rewarding in my life
and it’s been an honour to serve as a volunteer all this time.
Thank you for all you do for me and everyone in the consulting engineering sector! Thank you for being a beacon of light in a
sector that draws a lot of negativity, such as corruption. Your pillars of Quality, Integrity and Sustainability serve as inspiration and a
protection by association. It gives guidance on how to make us, our companies and our planet better.
29
Advisory Council Chair’s thoughts
Rodrigo Juárez,
Chair of the FIDIC Future Leaders Advisory Council (FLAC)
and Consultant, FOA Consulting
Historically, young professionals and future leaders have not always been heard, either
because we are too young, because we lack experience, or because we haven´t
seen or lived long enough to know how things are done and why they must be done
in a certain way. Many years ago, young engineers wouldn’t even have a say in any
decisions in their companies.
However, this has changed, and now we see more young engineers in leadership
positions, which is extremely encouraging. The work that FIDIC has done in
empowering the younger generations has been tremendous. In 2004, the FIDIC FLAC was established to provide future leaders
with the opportunity to participate actively in FIDIC and to develop the next generation of consulting engineering industry leaders
by providing future leaders with a platform to influence strategies, policies and initiatives. Every year we see that the initiatives
we have are being well received and creating impact. This has been a great accomplishment, as the FLAC has total freedom to
innovate, discuss and suggest publications, webinars or initiatives that are often pushing the limits to discuss topics that might be
uncomfortable or not widely discussed - and this is because FIDIC constantly encourages it. From participating in the committees,
to the board meetings and almost every event that FIDIC has, future leaders have a real voice in the future direction of the
organisation.
It’s the sense of familiarity and community it generates that makes FIDIC special. Being part of an organisation such as FIDIC
makes you feel part of a big family that not only allows us to create professional networks and learn from the most experienced
professionals in our industry, but it also allows us to make long-lasting friends and relationships that go beyond a standard form of
contract (pun intended!).
For anyone that has participated in any training programme, webinar or conference, you will know what I mean. FIDIC is an
organisation that makes you feel like your individual voice in the consulting engineering industry makes a difference and it is easy to
forget that over 100 countries and over a million engineering professionals are represented by FIDIC. This is why I consider it such
a special organisation, which has been creating a long-lasting impact in our industry.
Not many organisations are able to celebrate their 110th anniversary and being part of this anniversary is special. FIDIC is a
testament to how consulting engineers work together to improve our industry and it shows how collaborative approaches add
significantly more value than individual efforts.
On behalf of myself and each of the members of the FIDIC Future Leaders Advisory Council, we firstly want to thank and
congratulate everyone at FIDIC, including the staff, for the huge efforts they make to guarantee that the organisation performs
smoothly, always delivering outstanding results that exceed expectations meeting after meeting, event after event. Secondly, we
would like to congratulate the volunteers that dedicate their time and effort to make FIDIC what it is. We should be proud of all
the contributions we make. As future leaders, we constantly reflect on what has been done and what we must do for the future
generations. So, on behalf of everyone at the Future Leaders Advisory Council, congratulations to FIDIC - and let´s keep working
together for another 110 years of greater success!
30
Contracts Committee Chair’s thoughts
Vincent Leloup,
Chair of the FIDIC Contracts Committee and managing partner, Exequatur
FIDIC contracts have served the international construction industry for almost 70 years
since the release of the first FIDIC form of contract back in 1957. They progressively
became the leading international standard in the administration of a construction
project, promoting a fair and balanced risk allocation within the construction team
and have been successfully used across the world in a wide diversity of contexts
(jurisdictions, financing – public and private –, types of infrastructure and building
works).
By reflecting international best practice, they provided users around the world with an
invaluable neutral support in negotiating and implementing their construction contracts, contributing to deliver sustainable projects
at best value for money. FIDIC did not however only act as repository of best practices, and rather has been, and continues to
be, at the forefront of innovations in the field. Two clear examples in this respect are the introduction of dispute boards in FIDIC
contracts as early as 1996 and the recent wide range of innovations brought by the 2021 Green Book.
I am pleased to see that, far from resting on its laurels of international leader in the field, FIDIC has further nailed its full commitment
to assist an ever-changing world in facing its growing challenges by embarking over recent years in a massive programme of
development of contract solutions – collaborative contracting, net zero provisions, brownfield projects, PPP projects, wind farm
projects, to name a few.
Its unique role of promoter of best and innovative practices, ethics and sustainability, which therefore upholds the interests of
societies at large, is what makes FIDIC special for me. Without forgetting FIDIC’s impressive capacity to club together so many
expert volunteer resources from all over the world, channelling their skills, experience and enthusiasm to contribute to the
greater good!
Looking to the future, keep on leading the way and federating talents and assisting the world in facing its many challenges.
And consider going one step further into the digitalisation of FIDIC contracts services towards the industry.
31
Digital Transformation Committee Chair's thoughts
Stacy Sinclair,
Chair of the FIDIC Digital Transformation Committee
and Partner and Head of Technology and Innovation at Fenwick Elliott
At the heart of digital transformation and technology is ‘opportunity’ - opportunity to

enable the outcomes and solutions we desperately need to achieve a sustainable
and successful built environment. We are already seeing transformation throughout
the whole lifecycle of projects, from finance and procurement to design, construction
and use, re-use or demolition. FIDIC’s work and the work of the Digital Transformation
Committee is fundamental in promoting and realising this opportunity, not only for its
members, but also the global engineering and infrastructure community. It is critical
that FIDIC develops, drives and disseminates thought leadership and guidance on
these game-changing technologies that are creating a paradigm shift and shaping the future of our industry.
FIDIC is a special organisation because its passion and dedication to quality, integrity and sustainability can be seen shining
through in each of its workstreams, committees and initiatives. These values are embodied throughout and it is infectious,
creating a very special environment to work within. FIDIC’s ability to connect and collaborate with organisations and industries
in jurisdictions globally is fundamental for the success of digital and green transformations, as well as the transformation and
progression of the professions generally. FIDIC is in a unique position to promote global change, which takes a very special
organisation indeed.
So, happy birthday FIDIC! Your commitment and devotion to driving the best in the industry is greatly appreciated and highly
regarded. Thank you for all of your energies and efforts and we look forward to the next 110 years!
32
Regional Group comment
Abe Thela,
President of FIDIC Africa and Director, Nyeleti Consulting
To achieve important collaboration, I believe that the best perspective to have is

that of the necessary architecture upon which a global organisation such FIDIC has
been developed over the 110 years of its existence. Whereas initially, FIDIC was a
body which focused on direct country membership, with associations in the Africa
region each developing over time, some having only celebrated some 50 and others
70 years of being in existence, the formation of a regional body such as FIDIC
Africa only materialised 30 years ago. The opportunity for regional collaboration has
provided a better opportunity for such interrelationships within the region and globally
notwithstanding the fact that each country has their unique dynamics.
There are always common issues in this global village we live in and the need for such synergies will only increase over time.
Capacity building is one of the key areas of focus FIDIC Africa has been focusing on and in a global environment, where there is
a current shortage of engineering practitioners, FIDIC should be encouraging all its MAs and regions to have the same focus of
organic capacity building or as some global consulting firms are doing, creating global resource pools in different locations, instead
of cannibalising each other’s resources.
What makes FIDIC special is that it has the luxury of having a global reach and is subsequently able to create synergies with global
project funding agencies, who need to be assured that the projects they invest in globally are optimally utilised in the process
of infrastructure delivery. Standardised contracting regimes, consulting engineering companies, the members of FIDIC member
associations, globally being held to a high standard of integrity and quality delivery, all driven through FIDIC, are just some of the
aspects that make it a special organisation.
FIDIC Africa would like to pledge its commitment and support to broadening the foundation on which FIDIC was built. We will
do so by growing a broader base of member associations from the African diaspora, so that indeed FIDIC will be increasingly
recognised as that truly global Federation of International Consulting Engineers, recognised not only by project funders, but also by
public and private sector owners of infrastructure.
33
Inés Ferguson,
President of the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy
Associations (EFCA) and Director of Business Development at TYPSA
Over the past year the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations
(EFCA) and FIDIC have further strengthened their cooperation through the FIDIC
Europe board, provided for in the current FIDIC-EFCA agreement under which EFCA
represents FIDIC members associations across Europe.
As the only European federation representing consulting engineering firms in the EU

policy-making process, EFCA provides a vital service to the sector. We scrutinise
proposals for new regulation and revisions to existing laws impacting the firms based
in and operating in the EU. The reach of this legislation is much wider than EU firms, because any firm operating within the EU
borders is also affected, regardless of where in the world it is headquartered. Moreover, many countries outside the EU seek to
align with its policies, because they represent the best standards for a modern and sustainable built environment and a huge
collective effort, from 27 member states, to solve the biggest challenges of our lifetime, including the climate emergency.
We expect that our work will be ever more important in future, as the recent crises in energy supply, climate impact and pandemics
will require more action at European level. Amongst many other lobbying actions, we are also involved in several expert groups
managed by the European Commission. These include an Advisory Group on the Digitalisation of SMEs and a group that is
reviewing standard contract clauses on cloud computing. EFCA has also been working closely with the European Commission
on action aimed at a sustainable reconstruction of Ukraine, which will help the country to rebuild according to standards and
regulation, that will support its bid for accession to the EU. It has also developed a Sustainable Infrastructure Procurement
Toolkit with European Contractors following European standards, that can be considered as a benchmark not only for European
Development Banks but also multilateral financing Institutions.
EFCA and FIDIC are important partners working in different but complementary levels, that promote a strong, innovative,
sustainable and successful global consulting engineering sector. FIDIC is the umbrella federation, representing the industry
globally, and EFCA is the regional federation, representing consulting engineers in Europe. European consulting engineering firms
are some of the most international worldwide. They use FIDIC contracts and dispute advisory support in countries with weak
regulatory frameworks and benefit from the training and other support offered by FIDIC. On the other hand, FIDIC benefits from
European knowledge and expertise developed in an ambitious and forward-thinking regulatory environment that is often used as a
benchmark worldwide.
Working through the FIDIC Europe board, we see this relationship evolving in a balanced and positive way for both federations,
each working at their own level, collaborating, and contributing to each other’s goals. EFCA is fully supportive of FIDIC’s regional
strategy and will strive to have a stronger representation in Europe and to share a European voice. Stronger regions in FIDIC will
result in a stronger FIDIC, making it more effective in pursuing its global objectives.
FIDIC represents and advocates on behalf of the industry globally, striking a balance of different regions, and providing support
to the development of disadvantaged nations that are lacking the conditions for quality infrastructure development. This purpose
means that FIDIC can bring the industry forward globally while respecting the cultural and socioeconomic situation of each region.
Congratulations on 110 years of promoting quality infrastructure globally that serves people’s needs!
34
Thoughts from FIDIC Academy
Chris Cole,
Senate Chancellor, FIDIC Academy
and Chairman of the Board at WSP Global Inc.
The work of the FIDIC Academy, which provides training and capacity building to
drive excellence in quality and best practice for the global consulting engineering and
infrastructure industry, is vital in delivering appropriate and cost-effective capacity to
companies across the sector. Providing these services to the industry is a key strategic
objective for FIDIC and the FIDIC Academy senate, which I chair, is focused on
realising its mission of being the world’s leading centre for contract, best business
practice learning and development within the consulting engineering and wider
infrastructure industry.
I am delighted and fortunate to be able to work with my fellow senate members, all key industry professionals drawn from
across the FIDIC ecosystem, who are therefore well placed to advise on the industry’s capacity building needs. Working with our
senate members and the wider professional consulting firm industry leaders, I know that we will ensure that we deliver what the
market needs.
One of the things that makes FIDIC a special and unique organisation is that, because of its global reach, it can bring together
industry experts on an international scale and get them to apply their expertise and share their knowledge for the common benefit
of the whole industry. The organisation has been applying this global approach for more than a century and I look forward to this
continuing in the training and capacity building arena in the years to come.
My message to FIDIC on its 110th anniversary is to say congratulations on a landmark birthday and let us together redouble our
efforts to stimulate talent and developing future leaders to provide engineers and fellow professionals with the skills required to
compete in a global marketplace. The future of our industry is in all our hands!
35
Thoughts from FIDIC Credentialing
Sir Vivian Ramsey KC,

Chair of the Management Board, FIDIC Credentialing
Since its inception in 2019, FIDIC Credentialing (FCL) has offered certification and
professional development services to a range of professionals and infrastructure
industry experts wishing to broaden their scope of knowledge and expertise. FCL’s
certification services to individuals working in the global infrastructure industry include
examining and certifying consulting engineers, contract managers, future leaders,
FIDIC trainers and dispute adjudicators.
FCL ensures that comprehensive evaluation programmes are available throughout the
year to industry professionals. Our dedicated team of experts and practitioners have
hands-on experience in their respective fields of expertise and are committed to providing learning solutions at all levels using
up-to-date tools and learning platforms.
Because of FIDIC’s global reach it is able to bring together experts from around the world and from many professional disciplines
to use their experience and knowledge to assist FCL in its endeavours. This type of assistance is something that FIDIC has been
doing for more than a century and I congratulate the organisation for its excellent work on the occasion of its 110th anniversary.
FCL's certification programmes and examinations are delivered internationally and are recognised by the global infrastructure
industry. In this way, we are providing capacity-building initiatives and promoting high levels of professional competence to meet
international standards and provide professional career development opportunities to international practitioners.
FCL has seen very encouraging growth as it intensifies its business development activities to promote its five FIDIC certification
programmes in the global arena. I am confident that FCL will continue to go from strength to strength, establishing the gold
standard for professional qualifications. As FIDIC reaches its 110th anniversary, I am sure that it will continue to build on its success
in serving the global industry with distinction and in representing over a million consulting engineer professionals in more than 100
countries worldwide.
36
Sudhir Dhawan,
President of FIDIC Asia-Pacific
Fidic Asia Pacific (FAP) is trying to achieve knowledge sharing amongst member
associations by organising technical webinars and technical training. The objective is to
share knowledge, experiences and best practices within the region. This enables them
to leverage each other's expertise and learn from successful projects or initiatives.
FAP is trying to spread the message on climate change and related issues amongst
MAs. Another important objective is to manage networking and partnerships. Regional
events and initiatives create opportunities for professionals to connect, exchange ideas
and explore potential collaborations. These partnerships can lead to joint ventures,
knowledge transfer, and resource sharing, fostering innovation and growth in the industry. FAP has formed a Future Leaders Forum
comprising about 20 members in the executive committee with a young woman chair from Sri Lanka.
FIDIC is renowned for its development and promotion of industry standards and best practices in consulting engineering. The
organisation has created widely recognised contract templates, such as the FIDIC Red, Yellow and Silver Books, which provide
a framework for fair and balanced contractual relationships. FIDIC also brings together consulting engineering associations from
around the world, representing professionals in the field. This global representation allows for diverse perspectives, experiences
and expertise to be shared, fostering a comprehensive understanding of the consulting engineering industry on a global scale.
FIDIC has taken a special interest for the development of young professionals. An independent forum known as Future Leaders
Forum has been formed. This concept has been adopted by all MAs.
On FIDIC's 110th anniversary, as president of FIDIC Asia Pacific, I would like to extend my congratulations and convey my
appreciation for the organisation’s remarkable contribution to the consulting engineering profession. Throughout its rich history,
FIDIC has consistently demonstrated its commitment to excellence, integrity, and global collaboration, making it a beacon of
inspiration for professionals in the industry.
As FIDIC embarks on its 110th year, I encourage the organisation to continue its mission with even greater vigour and ambition.
Embrace the opportunities presented by emerging technologies, sustainability and evolving global challenges – like climate change
and its mitigation through engineering. May FIDIC’s legacy continue to inspire generations of consulting engineers and may the
organisation’s future endeavours lead to even greater advancements and positive impacts on the profession and society as a
whole. Happy 110th anniversary, FIDIC!
37
Thoughts from the FIDIC North America
Linda Bauer Darr,

President and Chief Executive, American Council of Engineering
Companies (ACEC) and FIDIC North America
FIDIC member associations of any given region hold a special bond amongst their
global peers. We often share members, who maintain offices across borders,
collaborate on projects and ideas and serve as reliable trading partners.
The engineering industry is arguably one of the most valuable to society, designing
the roads, bridges, healthcare and educational institutions we all rely on. As the
world continues to evolve and priorities shift, the engineering industry stands at the
forefront of innovation and technological advancement. Bringing together the national
engineering organisations of countries large and small, each with their own unique economic, cultural and geographic identities
provides each member, and the member companies we serve essential resources and connections through this one-of-a-kind
global network. FIDIC’s ability to do this make it a special organisation.
So, best wishes on this momentous occasion. The members of the American Council of Engineering Companies congratulate our
friends at FIDIC for this remarkable milestone. Its longevity and continued importance are a testament to the wonderful industry
that it represents.
38
Committee chair’s comment
Richard Stump,
Chair of the FIDIC Integrity Management Committee
and vice president of RS&H
FIDIC has a justifiably proud record of highlighting and campaigning on the issue of
integrity in the engineering, construction and infrastructure sector. Indeed, alongside
quality and sustainability, integrity is one of FIDIC’s ‘three pillars’ that underpin
everything it does.
The organisation has been energetically promoting integrity within the industry for
years. FIDIC strongly believes that a formal, coordinated and systematic approach
towards the management of integrity issues works better than sporadic efforts
developed by individuals and individual companies. Combating corruption requires a concerted effort by all parties involved in the
project lifecycle - clients, contractors, owners, government procurement groups, and funding agencies alike – to promote positive
actions as well as assisting in the prevention of corrupt activity.
FIDIC uses the term “integrity management” purposely. We advocate ethical integrity to fight corruption. The strongest action a firm
can take is to develop and to maintain an integrated management system. FIDIC’s dedicated integrity management committee
(IMC) oversees our crucial work in this area. This work includes outreach and coordination with corruption-fighting international
and local organisations, developing guidelines and processes for better understanding and ‘managing’ risks of corruption and
education on integrity issues.
Like with other areas of FIDIC’s activity, we are able to bring the industry together around integrity matters and reach out to
influential organisations. FIDIC’s global footprint and well-earned reputation for combatting the scourge of corruption over many
years provides us with a platform to be a leader in the fight against corruption.
Our ability to unite the industry is just one of the things that make FIDIC such a special organisation. Celebrating 110 years
of history represents an excellent milestone to highlight the important work that FIDIC does on the issue of integrity - and the
importance of continuing this work. Corruption has no place in the infrastructure sector or anywhere else in the built environment.
The work of FIDIC’s integrity management committee will continue to play a key role in rooting it out.
39
4
Challenges
and opportunities
40
Challenges and opportunities
2030: Tomorrow's challenges

The development of the current Sustainable Development Goals is an evolution and improvement on the Millennium Development Goals
following their expiration in 2015.
The Sustainable Development Goals (of which there are 17 compares to the eight Millennium Development Goals) are a call to action.
According to the United Nations, the SDGs are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the
global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.
The 17 goals are all interconnected and to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them all by 2030. In September 2015, the
UN general assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Building
on the principle of “leaving no one behind”, the new agenda emphasises a holistic approach to achieving sustainable development for all.
The 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to transform our world are highlighted below:
Infrastructure needed to deliver these goals
Integrity Quality
Integrity
Sustainability
Infrastructure needed
Source: United Nations (Annotated by FIDIC)
Each of the above goals have several sub-targets and within them nations have made commitments which will be backed by national
policy measures which aim to meet these goals.
As can be seen from the annotation above to the SDGs, FIDIC sees a significant degree of interaction with its own objectives and the
activities of its members, consulting engineering firms and their services and projects. To deliver a sustainable world to future generations
will require engineers to lead with integrity in all aspects of the SDGs.
41
Globalisation
Leadership
The infrastructure sector is becoming increasingly globalised, as
companies operate in new markets, outsource engineering work to As we approach the SDGs and net zero, many shortcomings
lower-cost countries etc. Alongside the shift in economic powers, will become clear, engineers are likely to be called upon to
globalisation will be an opportunity but a challenge going forward. provide leadership through such challenges. The sector needs
to stand and provide that leadership now to avoid a last-minute
cliff-edge outcome.
Politics and global change
Meeting net zero will require international cooperation and

coordination. This then needs to filter down into concrete national Finance
and local policies that drive real change. Different countries have
The scale of the financial challenge to meet net
different interests and priorities, but engagement will be key.
zero is significant and the scale of this challenge is
multiples of current infrastructure expenditure. The
sector will need to engage with both public and
private financing and new methods of raising net
zero-related expenditure.
Society
Meeting the SDGs and net zero is more than just reducing
carbon emissions, it will also be about convincing society that it is
achievable, as people will want to and benefit from living in such a
manner and that economies, wages and quality of life will not be
adversely affected.
Today's
Employment
challenges are
As we move towards net zero and new tomorrow's
technologies and innovations take place, there will
inevitably be a change in the employment mix of Mitigation opportunities
economies including the infrastructure sector. We
need to embrace such change and ensure we can We are currently projected to be on a
reskill and provide security to those affected. pathway that would not meet the Paris
Agreement. Such a pathway will require
the infrastructure sector to not only
provide projects that aim to meet net zero
but also mitigate for the affects of climate
change and the costs of such change.
Diversity, equality and inclusion
It is not enough that we meet the challenges of emission reduction, Joint R&D
as outlined in the SDGs it is important that the path on which we
With challenges the scale of the SDGs and net
travel improves diversity, equality and inclusion not only within our
zero, companies are increasingly working together
sector but also across society as a whole.
to develop baseline common technologies. This
is the evolution of an industry reacting to a digital
disruption and with a greater need to innovate to
stay relevant within an evolving sector.
Harmonisation
Understanding development trajectories
With increasing use of open data and API exchanges,
harmonisation of such information structures allows for The approach of various departments, regions, nations and sectors
innovation and failure to use such information and change is based on many factors including maturity, access to the internet,
will make meeting the SDGs and net zero impossible. regulations, interconnectivity etc. We will have to account for these
differences to achieve optimal outcomes.
42
The world is mobile and more remote Regulation needs to keep up
There are an increasing number of portable digital devices that can The infrastructure sector is subject to a wide
measure more parameters than ever before. Working patterns post range of regulations, which can at times make
Covid have also changed and the infrastructure sector will need to it difficult to innovate and get projects approved
embrace such changes and design for them. and completed. The time pressure and challenge
we face in reaching net zero means regulation will
need to become proactive.
Cyber security and personal data
These are increasingly important not only to end Customers are no longer just your client
consumers but also to corporates where digital breaches With new technologies and devices, consumers are increasingly
represent a significant and systemic risk to the business happy to use and engage with data and them! This has created
and its legal/ regulatory operations. opportunities to connect to customers but also for measuring and
monitoring the efficiency and quality of infrastructure.
AI, Big data, the internet of things and BIM
There is an increasing trend not only to collect data but also

using it intelligently with AI. A combination of BIM, data from
various projects experiences, sustainability etc will align with the
automation of simpler tasks and the development of new tools.
The skills of the future
What skills will the infrastructure sector

need in the future, with the development
of net zero sustainability and soft skills
Civil engineering
likely to become more important? It is vital

Leadership
we not only attract talent into the sector

but also upskill existing employees.
Technical skills Verbal communication

Empathy
Visualisation
Digital skills (traditional)

Event management
Negotiation
Sustainability skills
Softer / transferable skills Accountancy
Creativity Political / policy
HR
Collaboration Data security Decommissioning

Carbon accounting Nature based engineering Social media
Agility
Problem-solving Social engineering Learnability

Social behaviour / nudge theory
Machine learning and coding
Financing
Resilience
Written communication Electrical engineering

Bidding and marketing
Communications Business / economics
Mechanical engineering
43
2050: Net zero

Following the latest IPCC AR 6 report, it is becoming increasingly clear that not only is meeting the SDGs important, but efforts may need
to go significantly beyond the 2030 targets. This is where the commitments to net zero are increasingly important.
So, what is net zero? The IPCC27 defines net zero as:
Net zero CO2 emissions - Net zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are achieved when anthropogeni c CO2 emissions are balanced
globally by anthropogenic CO2 removals over a specified period. Net zero CO2 emissions are also referred to as carbon neutrality.
Net zero emissions - Net zero emissions are achieved when anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere are
balanced by anthropogenic removals over a specified period. Where multiple greenhouse gases are involved, the quantification of net
zero emissions depends on the climate metric chosen to compare emissions of different gases (such as global warming potential, global
temperature change potential and others, as well as the chosen time horizon).
2060: Net Resource

It is time for the world to get behind a new and ambitious target that works with the net zero target to create a complimentary 2060 Net
Resource target. Resources can be considered to be biotic or non-biotic; this includes everything from rare minerals (non-living) to the fish
(living) and food stocks we consume. Managing our natural resources is moving towards a truly circular economy and this focus needs to
not only happen as part of net zero targets but will have to be sustainable beyond.
Net Resource - Resources should be used and continue to be used in a way where the use, creation and/or need of materials, products
and services are designed to eliminate waste in the first place and generate minimal detrimental effect on the need for additional resources
in the future. Therefore, ensuring sustainability for future generations with no overall waste due to the underutilisation.
The truth is if we are to be truly sustainable, we need to have targets that interact with each other, that are informed well in advance, can
be flexible and engage all stakeholders from policy makers, investors and the industry all the way to the individual household members.
44
5
Global relationships
45
FIDIC has always sought to maintain good relationships with key global stakeholders. The importance of the organisation’s lobbying and
advocacy role cannot be overstated and is perhaps one of the key reasons why its member associations are part of FIDIC, as it can
advocate and campaign on issues for the greater good of the industry. Over the years, FIDIC’s ‘honest broker’ role has also been much
valued by key stakeholders, including many of the major international funding organisations, who have enjoyed close relationships with the
federation for many years.
FIDIC has developed these relationships via its standing committees, working party and task group work and also by ensuring that key
stakeholders attend FIDIC’s annual conferences and other events. As we saw in the previous chapter, FIDIC’s contracts have been a
vital part of raising the organisation’s profile in the global industry and have also played a crucial role in enabling FIDIC to deepen its
relationships with key stakeholders.
Given that there isn’t a single region of the world where FIDIC does not have a member association, this has meant that governments,
client bodies, key funders and other important players in the global infrastructure sector have also looked to engage with FIDIC and
sought its opinion on the key business and industry issues of the day. FIDIC’s member associations have also played a key role in building
that collective strength as is outlined in the next section of this publication.
Over recent decades, FIDIC has developed into a very powerful lobbying voice for consulting engineers. It now has regular dialogue and
engagement with many UN agencies, all the major international financial institutions and multilateral development banks regarding their
procedures, contract documentation and project procurement. FIDIC representatives participate regularly in pan-industry meetings and
workshops and the networking strength of FIDIC’s member associations amplifies that effort around the world.
In recent years, the work that FIDIC has undertaken with the multilateral development banks (MDBs) has been particularly successful, with
the organisation achieving a position where all of the major MDBs have signed agreements to use the key FIDIC standard construction
contracts for projects they finance, with the documents being used as part of the banks’ standard bidding documents. These contracts
cover a wide range of international construction and infrastructure work and the MDBs’ continued use of FIDIC documents is a significant
vote of confidence for FIDIC contracts from the international funding organisation community.
Since 2018, under the leadership of a new

chief executive Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE
and a keener more strategic focus on industry
collaboration, FIDIC has placed additional
importance on engaging with key funders and
other influential organisations with a number of
strategic agreements, MoUs and partnerships
signed which will help to increase the profile
and influence of FIDIC and its members and in
particular the use of its construction contracts.
In the past four years alone, these include the
signing of a contract training collaboration with
King’s College London Centre of Construction
Law, a ground-breaking collaboration agreement
with China International Contractors Association,
a contract training collaboration agreement with
Philippines Department of Trade and Industry,
an agreement with the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development for the bank
to use FIDIC contracts, similar agreements with
the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, African
Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank,
International Fund for Agricultural Development
and the Asian Development Bank.
46
Also in China, FIDIC signed a landmark

cooperation agreement with China Association
of International Engineering Consultants and also
a major translation and publication agreement
with leading Chinese multimedia and publishing
group, China Machine Press. The International
Association of Dredging Companies also signed
a major strategic collaboration agreement with
FIDIC and similar agreements were also signed
with the International Federation of Asian and
Western Pacific Contractors Associations and
the European Investment Bank.
The Maldives National Association of Construction Industry has also signed a major training collaboration agreement with FIDIC and FIDIC
Credentialing Limited signed a major agreement with the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation. In addition, the World Wildlife Fund and
FIDIC have signed three-year agreement on sustainability issues and in the same arena FIDIC signed a collaboration agreement with the
World Business Council for Sustainable Development to accelerate the industry’s transition to sustainable infrastructure.
Another key part of strengthening and enhancing FIDIC’s global relationships has also been the role played by FIDIC’s annual conferences.
These events are regularly attended by many leading stakeholders from the international industry, including key funders and investors,
politicians and key opinion formers and influencers. FIDIC has invested more time and effort in its annual conferences in recent years so
that they are more representative of the key business issues and developments being discussed not only by FIDIC’s members but also by
those who influence the sector and have the power to impact on it by their actions. The rebranding of FIDIC’s annual showcase event as
a ‘Global Infrastructure Conference’ should help build the importance of this annual international gathering of the industry and ensure that
FIDIC is able to attract even greater numbers of key stakeholders to the event in future.
A further important part of FIDIC’s global outreach is the role played by FIDIC’s regional geographical groups of member associations.
Communication and engagement with these groups has improved over the recent period as a new regionalisation agenda has helped
to empower FIDIC’s geographical regions around the world as well as their member associations. FIDIC has a global footprint and it is
important that it is seen to act in a global way and the regional groups - in Africa, Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe and South America
– are playing and will undoubtedly play an increasingly important and influential role for FIDIC going forward.
In 2022, FIDIC created the Global Leadership

Forum, an elite membership group to convene
c-suite leaders in the global infrastructure sector
to find solutions to global challenges. Governed
by a dedicated advisory board, the forum hosts
an annual summit and think thank programme
which prepares guidance notes and reports on
the most critical issues facing the global
infrastructure sector.
47
6
Member associations
and associates
48
Member associations
and associates
As a membership organisation representing national member associations (MAs) of consulting engineers in almost 100 countries
worldwide and with those MAs collectively representing over one million engineering professionals and 40,000 firms, FIDIC can proudly
boast that the buildings and infrastructure sector in which its members work contributes around US$36trillion to global GDP. This figure is
likely to be an underestimate and in any case is growing all the time as more and more construction and infrastructure work is undertaken
across the world.
FIDIC’s member associations are the lifeblood of the organisation. They are made up of member firms of consulting engineering and
other consultancy businesses in their own countries and provide FIDIC with a range of expert professionals to sit on the FIDIC board,
its standing committees and working groups and also key individuals to represent FIDIC on other important industry and sector groups.
FIDIC’s member associations have within their membership all of the leading consulting engineering firms operating in the world today.
These companies will typically be members of more than one national member association and play a key role in the work of these MAs.
5
The vast majority of this work is done on a voluntary basis, once again underlining the high regard in which the FIDIC family is held and
demonstrating the willingness of the engineering consultancy sector to go the extra mile in representing the wider industry for the
greater good.
FIDIC’s near-100 national member associations differ in size and scale with some, like the giant American Council of Engineering
Companies (ACEC), representing around 6,000 firms employing more than 600,000 staff and others like the Association of Consulting
Engineers Botswana with just 45 firms in membership. Of course, the needs and capabilities of the different FIDIC member associations
are different too and it is always a challenge for FIDIC to develop, provide and maintain a service offering to keep all its members
satisfied. That it has been able to do this down the years is a testament to the links that FIDIC has built with its members and also the
active involvement that has been encouraged with those MAs via a series of initiatives, events and meetings, including the FIDIC annual
conference, that have been held to involve them in FIDIC’s work.
A key role of FIDIC since its inception has been to share best practice among its member associations so that they can learn from
each other in the way that they relate to their member firms and how they can best represent the industry in their own countries. This
knowledge sharing role of FIDIC is a key benefit of membership for FIDIC MAs and in recent years this has been bolstered by the work of
two important groupings within the organisation – the FIDIC membership committee and the directors and secretaries’ advisory council.
This latter group also provides a space for the leaders of FIDIC’s global member associations to provide insight to the FIDIC board on
policy matters and industry trends and to facilitate collaboration, share information and promote development of MAs’ capacity and
capability. The directors and secretaries’ advisory council also helps to ensure that the collective voice of FIDIC’s MAs is heard by the
board and is a vital conduit between FIDIC and its primary stakeholders – its member associations. Over recent years, the council has
been particularly helpful with FIDIC’s efforts to revise its statutes and bylaws, address diversity, improve the annual conference and with
many other critical activities.
Also in recent years, FIDIC has made it more

of a priority to raise the profile of its member
associations and their work through initiatives
like the FIDIC Member Association Excellence
Awards. Launched in 2020, the awards recognise
individuals, teams, campaigns, initiatives,
publications and events and celebrate excellence
in how FIDIC’s global member associations serve
their member firms and other stakeholders. The
awards, now in their fourth year, showcase, reward
and highlight the achievements and successes of
FIDIC’s global member associations and 2023 saw
the highest number of entries ever in the awards.
As well as raising the profile of FIDIC MAs through awards programmes, the federation is also keen to promote the work of its members
via its many communications channels, including social media. Improving member engagement is also high on the agenda for FIDIC
going forward and it is something that has been exercising the minds of the board and the leadership of the organisation for some time.
The appointment of a new FIDIC chief operating officer, with a key part of that role to grow strategic member engagement, highlights the
importance that FIDIC places on its MAs and communicating better with them at all levels. Improving and enhancing the dialogue between
FIDIC and its global member associations will ensure that this ‘lifeblood of the organisation’ will continue to benefit FIDIC and the wider
industry over the years ahead.
49
Member associations
and associates
Albania
Albanian Association of Consulting Côte d’Ivoire
5
regional
groups
Engineers - aace.al Chambre Nationale des Ingénieurs
Conseils et Experts du Génie Civil
92
Australia chanie.org
Consult Australia
consultaustralia.com.au Denmark
Foreningen af Rådgivende Ingeniører
Austria frinet.dk
Austrian Consultants Association ACA
aca.co.at Egypt
Egyptian Consulting Engineering
Bangladesh Association
Bangladesh Association of Consulting
Engineers - bacenetbd.org
sherif.wassef@wassefdesigngroup.
com members
Belgium Finland
Organisation des Bureaux Finnish Association of Consulting
d’Ingenieurs-Conseils, d’Ingenierie et Firms
Kazakhstan
de Consultance - ori.be Kazakhstan National Association
skolry.fi
of Professional Engineers and
Bosnia and Herzegovina France Consultants - knapec.kz
Association of Consulting Engineers of CINOV/SYNTEC-Ingénierie - cinov.fr
Bosnia and Herzegowina - uki.ba syntec-ingenierie.fr
Kenya
Association of Consulting Engineers of
Botswana Georgia Kenya - acek.co.ke
Association of Consulting Engineers Georgian Association of Consulting
Botswana - aceb.org.bw Engineers - aceg.ge
Latvia
Latvian Association of Consulting
Brazil Germany Engineers - lika.lv
Associação Brasileira de Consultores Verband Beratender Ingenieure
de Engenharia - abceconsultoria.org.br vbi.de
Lebanon
Lebanese Association of Consulting
Bulgaria Ghana Engineers - oea.org.lb
Bulgarian Association of Consulting Ghana Consulting Engineers
Engineers and Architects Association
Lithuania
bacea-bg.org/ Lithuanian Association of Consulting
gcea.org.gh
Companies - lacc.lt
Canada Greece
Association of Consulting Engineering Hellenic Association of Consulting
Luxembourg
Companies, Canada - acec.ca Ordre des Architectes et des
Firms - segm.gr
Ingénieurs-conseils, d’Ingénierie et de
China Hungary Consultance - oai.lu
China National Association of Association of Hungarian Consulting
Engineering Consultants Engineers and Architects - tmsz.org
Malaysia
cnaec.org.cn Association of Consulting Engineers
Iceland Malaysia - acem.com.my
China, Hong Kong Félag Rádgjafarverkfrædinga - frv.is
Association of Consulting Engineers of Maldives Nepal
Hong Kong, China - acehk.org.hk India Riyan Private Limited Society of Consulting Architectural
Consulting Engineers Association of riyan.com.mv and Engineering Firms, Nepal
China, Taiwan India - ceai.org.in
Chinese Association of Engineering Mali scaef.org.np
Consultants Indonesia Ordre Ingenieurs Conseils Du Mali Netherlands
caec.org.tw Indonesian National Association of (OICM) - oicm.ml NLingenieurs - nlingenieurs.nl
Consultants
Colombia inkindo-dki.org
Mauritius New Zealand
Cámara Colombiana de la Association of Consulting Engineers, The Association of Consulting
Infraestructura (CCI) Ireland Mauritius and Engineering New Zealand
infraestructura.org.co Association of Consulting Engineers of sootam.vyyaassconsulting@orange. Incorporated acenz.org.nz
Ireland - acei.ie mu
Costa Rica Nigeria
Cámara de Consultores en Arquitectura Islamic Republic of Iran Mexico Association for Consulting Engineering
e Ingeniería Iranian Society of Consulting Cámara Nacional de Empresas de in Nigeria - acen.org.ng
camaraconsultorescr.org Engineers Consultoría de México - cnec.org.mx
Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y de irsce.org Norway
Moldova Rådgivende Ingeniørers Forening
Arquitectos de Costa Rica Israel Association of Consulting Engineers in rif.no
cfia.or.cr Israeli Organization of Consulting Republic of Moldova (ARMIC)
Croatia Engineers and Architects - iocea.org.il armic.md Pakistan
Association of Consulting Engineers
Association of Consulting Companies Italy Mongolia Pakistan - acep.org.pk
in Construction INARSIND/OICE Mongolian Road Association - mra.mn
sinisa.radakovic@exstructa.hr inarsind.it/oice.it Palestine, State of
Morocco Engineers Association - paleng.org
Cyprus Japan Fédération Marocaine du Conseil et
Cyprus Association of Civil Engineers Engineering and Consulting Firms de l’Ingénierie - fmci.ma Peru
(CYACE) Association, Japan Asociación Peruana de Consultoría
spolmik.org ecfa.or.jp
Mozambique (APC) - apcperu.org
Associaçao de Empresas
Czech Republic Jordan Moçambicanas de Consultoria Philippines
Czech Association of Consulting Jordan Architects and Consulting (AEMC) Council of Engineering Consultants of
Engineer - cace.cz Engineers Council - jea.org.jo aemc.org.mz the Philippines - cecophil.org
50
5
spanning
continents
1.2
million
engineering
professionals
Sweden
Innovationsföretagen - The Federation
Singapore of Swedish Innovation Companies Representing
40,000
Poland Association of Consulting Engineers innovationsforetagen.se
Stowarzyszenie Inzynierów Doradców Singapore - aces.org.sg
Switzerland
i Rzeczoznawców (SIDIR) - sidir.pl Slovakia Union Suisse des Ingénieurs-Conseils
firms
Portugal Slovak Association of Consulting usic.ch
Associação Portuguesa de Engineers - sace.sk
Thailand
Projectistas e Consultores Slovenia Consulting Engineers Association of
appconsultores.org.pt National Association of Consulting Thailand (CEAT) - ceat.or.th
Republic of Korea Engineers of Slovenia - gzs.si
Trinidad and Tobago
Korea Engineering and Consulting South Africa Joint Consultative Council for the United Republic of Tanzania
Association - kenca.org Consulting Engineers South Africa Construction Industry - jcc.org.tt Association of Consulting Engineers
Republic of North (CESA) - cesa.co.za Tanzania - acet.or.tz
Turkey
Macedonia Spain Association of Turkish Consulting United States of America
Association of Consulting Engineers of Asociación española de empresas Engineers and Architects American Council of Engineering
Macedonia - acem.org.mk de Ingeniería, Consultoría y Servicios tmmmb.org.tr Companies - acec.org
Romania Tecnológicos (TECNIBERIA) Uganda Uzbekistan
Romanian Association of Consulting tecniberia.es Uganda Association of Consulting Association of Consulting Engineers of
Engineers (ARIC) - aric.org.ro Sri Lanka Engineers - uace.or.ug Uzbekistan - uzace.uz
Russian Federation Association of Consulting Engineers, Ukraine Vietnam
RAEC / NACEC Sri Lanka - acesl.org Association of Engineers-Consultants Vietnam Engineering Consultant
nacec.ru/ of Ukraine - aecu.org.ua Association - vecas.org.vn
Sudan
Saudi Arabia Sudanese Engineering and United Arab Emirates Zambia
Saudi Council of Engineers Architecture Consultancy Association Society of Engineers - UAE Association of Consulting Engineers of
saudieng.sa siham.mahjoub@newtech-consulting.ae soeuae.ae Zambia - acez.co.zm
Serbia Suriname United Kingdom Zimbabwe
Association of Consulting Engineers in Orde van Raadgevende Ingenieurs in Association of Consultancy and Zimbabwe Association of Consulting
Serbia - aces.rs Suriname - sunecon@sr.net Engineering - acenet.co.uk Engineers - zace.co.zw
51
7
Annual conferences –
The world’s global
meeting place
52
The world’s global meeting place
One of FIDIC’s most important activities throughout the organisation’s history

have been its annual conferences, which have become an important meeting
point for the global industry. These events have developed over the years
and, as well as panel sessions dealing with key issues facing the industry,
they also include the formal statutory general assembly meeting, reports
from the various FIDIC committees, meetings of senior representatives from
member associations, gatherings of FIDIC’s past presidents, forums dealing
with specific areas of interest and also a special programme for accompanying
persons, social events and a gala dinner.
Over recent years, the conference has become much more of a

business-focused gathering, addressing current key issues facing the industry
and involving high-profile speakers, including politicians and representatives of
international funding organisations and other global influencers. These days,
the annual conferences have been reframed as the FIDIC Global Infrastructure
Conference and are all themed around topical issues of the day that face the
industry. Speakers are drawn from all parts of the industry and also those
who influence the sector, including politicians, funders, financiers, lawyers and
leading blue-sky thinkers who have something to say about infrastructure and
the role it plays in improving the quality of life of global citizens. As a result,
FIDIC’s annual conferences are now increasingly being seen as must-attend
events for the global industry and a key meeting place for all those involved in
International Infrastructure Conference the engineering, construction and infrastructure sector.
Mexico City, Mexico, 2019
As the list below shows, FIDIC’s conferences have mainly been held in
Europe, but with 26 of the 73 events held since 1950 taking place outside
of Europe, the federation has been keen to take its flagship event around
the globe as befits an international organisation. In 2018, in order to ensure a more cost-effective approach to the event and to enable
better participation from members and other stakeholders, including FIDIC staff, the FIDIC board took the decision to hold future annual
conferences in Geneva every other year with the intervening year having the event located somewhere else in the world. The 2023 event is
held in Singapore the home of the Association of Consulting Engineers Singapore and is the third time that the south-east Asian city state
has hosted the event.
FIDIC Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony

Geneva, Switzerland, 2022
53
54
55
North America
COUNTRY CITY YEAR(S)
Canada Edmonton 1998

Ottawa 1976
Québec 2008 The Shard,
Hawaii Honolulu 2000
CN Tower, London, United Kingdom
USA San Francisco 1980 Toronto, Canada
Washington 1967, 1989
Mexico Acapulco 2002
Mexico City 2019
Golden Gate Bridge,

San Francisco, USA
The Empire State Building,

New York, USA
Great Pyramid of Giza,

Machu Picchu, Giza, Egypt
Cusco Region, Peru
Africa
South America
Morocco Marrakesh 2016
Brazil Rio de Janeiro 1984, 2014
South Africa Cape Town 1974, 1996
56
Europe
Austria Vienna 1985

Belgium Brussels 1953, 1970
Denmark Copenhagen 1952, 1965, 1979, 2004
Finland Helsinki 1962, 1977
Eiffel Tower,
France Paris 1955, 1964, 1975, 2003
Paris, France
Germany Berlin 2018
Essen 1957
The Reichstag,
Berlin, Germany Munich 1993
Wiesbaden 1968
Hungary Budapest 2006
Ireland Dublin 1966, 1988
Italy Florence 1983
Netherlands Amsterdam 1973
The Hague 1959, 1999
Norway Oslo 1958, 1969, 1990
Spain Barcelona 2013
Madrid 1992
Sweden Stockholm 1960, 1972
Switzerland Berne 1981
Davos 2011
Geneva 2022
Lausanne 1987
Montreux 2001
Zurich 1954, 1961
United Kingdom Edinburgh 1997
London 1950. 1956, 1963, 1978, 2009
Taj Mahal,
Agra, India
Online conference due to Covid-1920, 2021
Burj Al Arab,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Asia
Sydney Opera House,
Sydney, Australia
China Beijing 2005
India New Delhi 2010
Indonesia Jakarta 2017 Oceania
Japan Tokyo 1991
Singapore Singapore 1982, 2007, 2023
Australia Sydney 1971, 1994
South Korea Seoul 2012
New Zealand Auckland 1986
Turkey Istanbul 1995
United Arab Emirates Dubai 2015
57
8
FIDIC’s presidents
58
When Catherine Karakatsanis takes over as FIDIC president from Anthony Barry after the 2023 FIDIC annual conference in Singapore, she
will be the 35th person to hold the position. The role of president is naturally an important one in an organisation with such an illustrious
history and the profile of the position has grown in recent years as FIDIC has become a more proactive organisation in the global industry.
Many of those who have occupied the role of FIDIC president over the years have been influential industry figures in their own right, often
running large consulting engineering companies with turnovers running into the multimillions.
Reflecting the Eurocentric origins of FIDIC, 20 of the organisation’s total of 35 presidents have come from Europe. Despite being relatively
late joiners of FIDIC, the countries that have supplied the most presidents are the United Kingdom with six, closely followed by the USA
with five. Australia has provided three presidents and when Catherine Karakatsanis takes over in September 2023, she will be the third
president of FIDIC from Canada.
Not only do the FIDIC presidents play an important role during their term of office, but they also remain involved in the organisation via the
yearly past presidents’ meeting which takes place during FIDIC’s annual conference. They also form part of the judging panel for the FIDIC
Project Awards. Successive FIDIC managing directors and chief executives will also testify of the value of the wise counsel provided by
the presidents, both during their periods in office and also after they have handed over the baton to their successors. Past presidents are
often present at FIDIC’s annual events and their unique community is a source of unrivalled advice and industry knowledge that FIDIC can
tap into as and when the need arises.
Pen portraits of all the FIDIC presidents since the organisation was formed are listed below.
List of FIDIC presidents from 1913 to 2023
2023-2025 Catherine Karakatsanis (Canada)
Currently chief operating officer of Morrison Hershfield Group, she has a long history of
working in the consulting engineering industry. Graduated in Engineering Science focused
in Civil Engineering from Western University, she is responsible for the domestic and
international operations overseeing over 900 professional at Morrison Hershfield, which
has 26 offices in North America. She has been consistently recognised for her business
and engineering contributions including receiving Engineers Canada’s highest individual
engineering distinction the ‘Gold Medal’ in 2019, inducted as a fellow in to the Canadian
Academy of Engineering, inducted in to ‘Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women’s Hall of
Fame’, awarded the ‘Engineering Medal of Management’ and the rank of ‘Companion’ by
Professional Engineers Ontario; among others. She also served as president and chair of
Engineers Canada.
2021-2023 Anthony Barry (Australia)
Fifteen years a Group Director of Aurecon, former chairman and director of a number of
subsidiary companies in the Aurecon Group and a current director of the Viridian Financial
Group. Previously Chief Executive Asia Pacific and Aurecon’s managing director for Asia
and led elements of the business in the region. With more than 40 years of experience in
consulting engineering, he has expertise in civil engineering and infrastructure projects.
A former president of Consult Australia, Tony has also been listed a number of times by
Engineers Australia among the 100 most influential engineers in the country. In recognition
of the part he played in the rescue and recovery from the Granville Train Disaster in 1977,
he received an Outstanding Service Medal from the New South Wales Government.
59
2019-2021 William Howard (USA)
A former executive vice president of CDM Smith, a global consulting, engineering and
construction company with over 100 offices around the world and former president of
the firm's Asia Pacific-Middle East Services Group. Served previously as the American
Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) liaison to FIDIC and also served on FIDIC's
strategic planning committee and chaired the planning committee for FIDIC's conference in
Budapest Hungary and presented many papers at FIDIC conferences. He also co-chaired
the FIDIC programme committee for the centenary conference in Barcelona in 2013.
FIDIC represents member associations and their firms which have diverse global
needs. To be the president of such an organisation is humbling and exciting.
The most dramatic highlight was the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite this challenge, we accomplished a lot. We were able to
do so because we had a road map (FIDIC’s Strategic Plan), talented volunteers and a top-notch secretariat. Some of the
accomplishments during my tenure included the establishment of a Global Leadership Forum and modifications to our annual
conference, both of which were designed to attract more firms’ leaders and more diverse professionals to FIDIC.
We synchronised the terms of reference of our committees, created some new ones and dramatically improved the diversity
of committee membership. We rapidly developed and implemented a Covid-19 response plan which included guidance
documents, webinars, remote town hall meetings, committee action plans and other activities. In so doing, we reached over
20,000 professionals in about 150 countries. FIDIC is more well known and understood now, largely because of our remote
activities during the pandemic.
We dramatically improved the value of our training programmes via establishment of the FIDIC Academy, FIDIC Credentialing
Limited (FCL) and the completion of the FIDIC Certified Consulting Engineer (FCCE) pilot programme in China. We also
advanced our State of the World initiative, regionalisation concept, zero tolerance policy toward corruption and drafted a
Climate Change Charter which has been implemented during Tony Barry’s term as president.
The biggest issue I faced during my time as president was everything related to the Covid-19 pandemic. We saw the need
to produce guidance documents rapidly and share them via webinars and other communications tools with our member
associations, firm leaders, clients, international funding agencies, construction contractors, law firms and others working in the
infrastructure space. Also, in my opinion, we saw a somewhat dramatic improvement in the recognition of the risks associated
with climate change and that the engineering community can and should provide leadership in continuing to develop
mitigation strategies. We also saw more entities developing zero tolerance policies regarding corruption. More entities are
getting fed up with this insidious problem.
For me FIDIC is special because, while we have always tried to represent the best interests of our member associations and
the firms who make up the MAs, we are learning more about their diverse needs. We are committed to understanding them
better, learning together and working with them to develop value-added programmes cost effectively with minimal ‘wheel
reinvention’. We are also committed to constantly improving our dialogue with our colleagues who provide diverse services in
the infrastructure space. None of this is easy, but it sure is exciting!!!
Congratulations on 110 years of outstanding service! In the future, continue to build on successful programmes wherever they
may be and have an adjustable road map for everyone to use as a guide. I also want to congratulate Tony Barry for a terrific
two-year term as president and wish Catherine Karakatsanis all the best during her term as president. Finally, I thank everyone
I interacted with during my presidency. All of you helped me give something back to a profession which has been so good to
me and my family.
60
2017-2019 Alain Bentéjac (France)
In a highly decorated career, Alain was co-chairman of ARTELIA, the result of the merger
between COTEBA and SOGREAH, two firms specialised in engineering and project
management in the fields of construction, water, the environment, urban development and
public transport systems. He was also a former president of Syntec-Ingenierie, the largest
French trade association in the field of engineering consultancy. Previously held a number
of French governmental roles including director of the cabinet of the French deputy
minister for foreign trade where he was in charge of defining and implementing the foreign
trade policy of the French government and was a former advisor to the French minister for
industry and foreign trade and also a deputy director at the DREE (Direction des Relations
Economiques Extérieures) where he was involved with the management of foreign trade
relations of the French Ministry for Economy and Finance.
It was obviously a great honour for me to take over as president, but also a logical outcome after six years of participation in
the FIDIC board and two years of vice-presidency. It was also in a way an honour for my country, France. Indeed, since the
founder and first president of FIDIC in 1913, Louis Prangey, there has been no other Frenchman in this prestigious role.
My term of office was marked in particular by a major change at the head of the secretariat, with the retirement of Enrico Vink
and the appointment of Dr Nelson Ogunshakin as FIDIC chief executive. With the support of the other members of the board,
I had to manage the selection process for the new leader as well as the entire transition. I think I can say that all of this change
took place under good conditions and for the benefit of FIDIC.
During my presidency of FIDIC, from 2017 to 2019, the consulting and engineering industry faced many challenges, but the
three main ones in my opinion were sustainability, digitalisation and the scarcity of human resources, of engineers in particular.
These challenges are still at the heart of the concerns of firms in our industry today.
FIDIC is not just a large international organisation representing an industry which is important for the economy and society as
a whole, which is already essential. Our federation is also justifiably well known and widely respected for the legal standards
it produces and constantly updates - the famous FIDIC Contacts - which serve as a reference for many construction and
infrastructure project across the globe. This double mission makes FIDIC all the more special in my view.
ince its foundation by three European countries 110 years ago, FIDIC has grown considerably, diversified and strengthened.
Our federation is now a recognised and respected organisation, which plays a very useful role for the leaders of consulting
and engineering firms by helping them to define their strategy in an increasingly complex and uncertain environment. I hope
that this role of ‘compass’ will be strengthened even more in the years to come.
61
2015-2017 Jaewan Lee (Republic of Korea)
A former chairman and CEO of Sekwang Engineering Consultants Co, he was a visiting
professor of Yonsei University, president of Korea Maritime Foundation and chairman
of Korea Engineering & Consulting Association (KENCA). He holds a DHERS (Ph.D
Equivalent) in transport, a DESS in transport and logistics from the University of Paris, a
CES in Transport and Infrastructure from École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris
and a BSc in Civil Engineering from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. He was a former
director of port development division at the Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and
also worked for the United Nations ESCAP in Bangkok as senior transport expert. Also a
former chair of the Korea Marine Business Association, chair of Ulsan Port Authority and
chair of Korea Coastal Management Association.
Ten years ago in 2013, at the historic FIDIC centenary conference in Barcelona, I was elected as the first Asian vice president
of FIDIC and two years later, at the Dubai Conference, I became the very first Asian president.
Being elected FIDIC president is an honour and privilege for anyone in this industry but to make history as the very first Asian
president was a very rewarding and humbling experience for me. It was an historic step forward for FIDIC and I was proud to
bring diversity into the FIDIC board and presidency.
During my two-year tenure between 2015 and 2017, the board worked diligently on various initiatives to ensure a sustainable
future for FIDIC. We worked on a new strategic plan, that included more effective ways to lead our industry, our federation
and our membership and also developed a FIDIC corporate governance framework to assist the board and the secretariat
execute their responsibilities more proficiently. The purpose of this framework was to strengthen corporate governance as the
foundation of sustainable growth and development.
In 2016, we launched our very first Young Professionals Awards at the FIDIC Conference in Marrakesh, which has allowed
us to celebrate the achievements of our future leaders to this day. Also, in the same year, we completed the first phase of the
FIDIC Certified Consulting Engineer (FCCE) Pilot Programme with CNAEC and the Beijing University which became a catalyst
to further FIDIC education, training and certifications in other parts of the world.
My friends and colleagues at FIDIC have given me the opportunity to represent the consulting engineering industry across
the globe and bring much-needed changes to this beloved organisation. While not always successful in achieving my
expectations for FIDIC or myself, I hope I have helped to promote and demonstrate the proposition that there is strength
in diversity within our organisation and that working together to advocate for the industry results in better outcomes for our
member associations and our community as a whole.
Many things have changed over the past 110 years in FIDIC, but what remains constant is the commitment, dedication and
time that our members invest in advancing the global consulting engineering industry and best practices and their efforts to
give back to our profession.
As FIDIC celebrates its 110-year anniversary, we should also in turn celebrate our members, as FIDIC is the epitome of a truly
member-driven organisation. It has been a great pleasure to work with members that care so deeply about improving and
elevating our profession and I look forward to seeing what we can collectively achieve in the years ahead.
62
2013-2015 Pablo Bueno (Spain)
Pablo Bueno is the president and CEO of TYPSA Group, a leading firm of consulting
engineers and architects with its roots in Spain, which under his leadership has achieved
worldwide expansion. Always an enthusiastic and eminent member of professional
and business associations, he became a member of the FIDIC executive committee in
2007 before becoming president in 2013. He was also vice president of the European
Federation of Consulting Engineers (EFCA) as well as president of TECNIBERIA, the
Spanish Association of Engineering, Consulting and Technological Service Companies.
He is also currently a patron of several relevant foundations and a member of various
professional institutions. His contribution to engineering and the community has been
acknowledged by a number of awards, including the European CEO of the Year Award
2015 by the Association for Consultancy and Engineering UK and the Medal of Honour
2015 of the Spanish Professional Association of Civil Engineers, the highest honour
awarded by the association.
Being elected FIDIC president in Barcelona in 2013 in its 100th anniversary was a great honour and a huge responsibility.
Our multitasking FIDIC managing director Enrico Vink led and coordinated a secretariat of four people. They were times of
maximum austerity, when we very carefully measured the focus of our efforts. The very nature of FIDIC was under debate with
many believing that it should be transformed into a federation of regional associations. The singular case of EU countries, with
a common market and legislation, caused some associations to demand that EFCA be the sole EU member of FIDIC with the
consequent fee reduction. Other medium-sized countries also considered themselves aggrieved, but with goodwill and the
perspective of what was truly important, new fee schemes and consensus solutions were reached and still endure today.
I remember with satisfaction my effort to include in the FIDIC White Book the option of a DAB/Adjudicator, which was finally
included in the latest versions of our contract model. I also recall lengthy meetings and discussions with the contractor
associations to secure their endorsement for our client/consultant contract model as a reasonable framework for them to
use when hiring our services. I also remember how they urged FIDIC involvement in assessing the fairness of construction
contracts they encountered. To address this, I introduced and named the ‘Golden Principles’ we had to develop to be able to
judge with simplicity whether particular contract conditions violated or not the FIDIC spirit.
I am particularly proud to have launched the annual FIDIC Awards, recognising and highlighting the achievements of our
profession. I believe that these annual awards, instituted during my presidency, should be one of the fundamental axes of our
annual conference.
Today FIDIC is larger and stronger on many fronts, however, it must always keep in mind that it represents engineering
consulting companies and has to support them in the many challenges our sector faces. The ways of contracting our services
do not always favour excellence, with conditions that tend to be abusive, expensive insurance, bonds and guarantees at first
request, enormous lack of legal guarantees, the oligopoly of software companies or the need to define open-source digital
delivery standards.
As we celebrate this year the organisation’s 110th anniversary, I feel that today’s FIDIC has the potential to improve the
environment in which our companies operate and thereby facilitate our mission, which is none other than to improve people’s
quality of life on a global scale.
63
2011-2013 Geoff French (UK)
Geoff French was chairman of Scott Wilson for eight years until its acquisition by URS
in 2010. A civil engineering graduate who joined Scott Wilson in 1968, following the
transition from partnership to limited company in 1995 he was appointed as managing
director, initially of the business in the UK and then chairman in 2002 and oversaw the
highly successful flotation in March 2006. He was elected to the executive committee
of FIDIC in 2005 and became president in October 2011. He is also a past chairman of
the Association for Consultancy and Engineering in the UK and former vice president of
the Institution of Civil Engineers. Apart from working throughout the UK, he spent time
overseas on behalf of Scott Wilson working in Botswana, China, Czech Republic, Hong
Kong, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lesotho, Mauritius Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the UAE
and Vietnam. His focus was mainly on transport planning, design and management.
I have to admit that when I graduated from the University of Southampton in 1968 I had never heard of FIDIC. Fortunately, I
joined Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick & Partners who had projects both in the UK and in many other countries. In my first 15 years
after graduation I both lived and worked in London, Botswana, Plymouth, Hong Kong and Baghdad and in 1985 I was made a
partner of the firm. By this time, I had heard of FIDIC, but it mostly seemed to be an annual meeting of senior members of the
consultants in the UK and Europe.
In 2005 I was persuaded by Nelson Ogunshakin, then the chief executive of the UK Association for Consultancy and
Engineering, to stand for election to the FIDIC executive committee and, perhaps to our surprise, I was elected. I was
immediately asked to become part of FIDIC’s contracts committee. The FIDIC contracts were well known and understood to
be fair to all parties to a contract and the next challenge was to improve them, so all the main organisations such as the World
Bank made more use of them and this has been very successful.
In 2009 FIDIC widened its publications by instigating its first State of the World report, The Status of the World’s Infrastructure.
Many different authors contributed to this report, which was edited and polished by myself and my wife, Annie. Many other
State of the World reports have followed.
I was very proud to become first the vice-president of FIDIC in 2009 and then the president from 2011 to 2013, especially as
that was the time when FIDIC was significantly improving the services that it offered.
The many highlights of my terms of office related to the people that I met and the visits to projects that were being delivered.
The helicopter trip around Hong Kong remains one of my best memories, seeing the huge developments just on the Chinese
side of the border.
The key industry issues encountered include the need to ensure that the FIDIC range of contracts remain fair to all the
parties involved.
FIDIC is an amazing organisation. It has developed from very small beginnings in 1913, slowly at first but, more recently, with
an increased need for prompt action in addressing the challenges we all face. All of the many people that have been part of
FIDIC have done a great job. The challenge now is that we need FIDIC to do an even greater job of keeping our planet, the
one planet we have, fit for future generations.
64
2009-2011 Gregs Thomopulos (USA)
Graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering
and the University of California, Berkeley with a master’s degree in structural engineering.
Joined Stanley Consultants, a global consulting engineering company, at the company’s
headquarters in Iowa, USA with subsequent assignments in Lagos, Nigeria, Monrovia,
Liberia and Kampala, Uganda. Held the positions of VP and head of international
operations; president and CEO and chairman of the board during a career that spanned
51 years with the organisation. He is a past chairman of the American Council of
Engineering Companies (ACEC) and has received numerous awards and recognitions
including the University of Kansas Distinguished Engineering Service Award, ASCE’s
Outstanding Project and Leaders (OPAL) Award in Management. He is passionate
about ethics and integrity in global infrastructure and has made several presentations to
engineering students and professional engineers worldwide.
Being elected president of FIDIC was the highlight of my professional career as a leader in the engineering profession. There
is no greater feeling of fulfillment than being selected by your peers to lead a global organisation like FIDIC and it meant a lot
to me personally and professionally. As the first person of colour elected as president of FIDIC, I never forgot that I was paving
the way for other persons of colour to hold this position in the future.
There were many highlights which included visiting many countries and meeting the leaders and members of the various
member associations, participating in the conferences of the FIDIC regional groups – EFCA, GAMA (Group of African
Member Associations), ASPAC, etc. The annual meetings we had with the multilateral development banks (World Bank, Asia
Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, etc) provided
opportunities to promote FIDIC, especially the need to procure engineering services on the basis of Quality Based Selection
(QBS). During my term as president, I continued the initiative started by my predecessors, Richard Kell, Jorge Padilla and
John Boyd, for the successful development of the MDB versions of FIDIC contracts which the World Bank paid for use on
projects financed by them and their initiatives in China that led to the successful pilot version of the FIDIC Certified Consulting
Engineer programme.
During my term in office one of the challenges I faced was that the relationship between EFCA and FIDIC was strained and
we faced the possibility of EFCA member firms having to choose between being members of FIDIC or of EFCA, but not both.
Together with the president of EFCA at the time, Panos Panagopoulos, we appointed a task force consisting of members of
both organisations to work an amicable agreement to maintain both organisations, with EFCA member associations remaining
members of both EFCA and FIDIC. We also faced the issue of engineering services being procured on the basis of cost and
while our advocacy of the advantages of QBS did not fully meet our objectives, the MDBs adopted a modified procurement
method - QCBS (Quality and Cost Based Selection). FIDIC also actively advocated sustainability and capacity building during
my term.
FIDIC is the only type of organisation in the world that has the global visibility and credibility in the engineering industry
to influence better outcomes. FIDIC’s contracts that are used in many countries paved the way for global contractors to
operated in developing countries with knowledge of the attendant risks, which would have made it difficult if they had to deal
with the contracts of individual countries.
FIDIC is a much different and better organisation today that it was during my term as president. It has leveraged its brand
name to advantage in undertaking many activities that used to be outsourced to third parties. My message is simple – “Keep
up the good work”!
65
2007-2009 John Boyd (Canada)
John Boyd has been involved in international consulting engineering work for nearly 40
years. He was a member of the FIDIC executive committee from 2002 before becoming
president from 2007-2009 and was also a member of FIDIC’s sustainable development
committee. He was a key contributor to the initial Project Sustainability Management
Guidelines (2004), intended to help consulting companies to incorporate sustainability
management into their projects and was the author of the revised and expanded second
version. He has also presented courses on sustainability in more than ten countries and
also taught a Masters level course on sustainability for engineers at the University
of Toronto.
As an incoming board member in 2002, I was assigned the overall direction of the FIDIC sustainability committee. We mapped
a way forward that would provide a list of indicators that could be used to measure the sustainability of projects by producing
a document that in effect translated the existing UN sustainability objectives into issues that would be recognised as integral
aspects of engineering projects regardless of the project type. In effect, it was a recipe for generating a set of project
indicators for any type of engineering project beginning with the UN objectives of the time.
We took the show on the road. Working with the committee chair, I personally gave 15 one-to-three-day training seminars on
the subject all over the world. It soon became apparent that the list of issues to be considered could be drastically shortened
from the initial 42 to a streamlined six. When I look at the sequence of FIDIC sustainability interests I think we went through
a number of stages. The first stage was to develop an understanding of sustainability in the context of engineering. Then
we tried to translate it into engineering practice, then persuade our clients to include it in project objectives, then integrate
the national and international activities into a form consistent with consulting engineering and finally absorb it into corporate
business practices (that is where we are today). In my opinion it will only really get the attention it deserves once it becomes a
matter of engineering ethics.
The second matter that occupied a good deal of my time as president was FIDIC structure and organisation. FIDIC provided
the international forum and the member associations provided the national one, but the regional arena was also a key area for
cooperation and it was rather helter-skelter as seen from the FIDIC perspective. There was informal and sporadic cooperation
between the three north American MAs, an active African organisation (GAMA), nothing in the Middle East, a European
organisation (EFCA) that really didn’t see itself as integral to FIDIC and an Asian group TCDPAP that was determined to
be separate from FIDIC. When I look back, I think the only thing I succeeded in doing was raising the visibility of the
regional groups.
The third matter was FIDIC role in education. I worked on furthering the then draft agreement with China to run FIDIC courses
systematically in that country but was frustrated by the decision by the Chinese government to disallow any form of FIDIC
certification. Their attitude changed by the end of my term, thanks to some experience with bad engineering and under Gregs
Thomopulos’s presidency a deal was struck that let to my involvement as a director of the FCCE pilot project and ten years
(and 18 visits) of involvement.
When I became the FIDIC president I was surprised by the amount of involvement that took place at what I would call the level
of international diplomacy. Our member associations led me frequently into contact with individuals at a very senior level in
their governments (occasionally with the presidential level) because there was a desire to use FIDIC practices and documents
(especially the contracts) and FIDIC international meetings as an approach to improving local practices and showcasing their
industry. It was exhausting and stimulating and enormously satisfying.
FIDC has a key role going forward as the international representative of the people who build (engineer) the human
environment. Our world is no longer a natural construct, but an engineered one and that fact brings an enormous
responsibility to our practitioners. We need to be bold in our assertions, clear in our messaging and, above all, focussed on
the human impacts of our activities.
66
2005-2007 Jorge Diaz Padilla (Mexico)
The first and to date only FIDIC president from Latin America. Started his consulting
company, Systec, which was involved in many leading engineering projects, including
auditing the quality of housing financed by the National Housing Agency of Mexico and
restoring the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City. As president and CEO of Systec, he
was involved with Mexico’s association of consulting firms, Cámara Nacional de Empresas
de Consultoría (CNEC) and then also FIDIC. At FIDIC’s Mexico annual conference in 2019
he received the prestigious Louis Prangey Award, the highest recognition for dedicated
service to FIDIC. A former chair of the FIDIC integrity management committee, he was also
a member of the FIDIC Global Leadership Forum at the time of his death in 2022.
Remembering former FIDIC president Jorge Díaz Padilla: 1946-2022

In November 2022, FIDIC announced that former president Dr Jorge Díaz Padilla had died at the age of 76. Jorge was much
respected and loved and made a significant impact during his time as FIDIC president and it is right that he is remembered in
this annual report.
Born in Mexico City in 1946, civil engineer Jorge was president of FIDIC from 2005-2007 and was the first and to date only
president from Latin America since the organisation’s foundation in 1913. In 1974 he started his consulting company, Systec,
which was involved in many leading engineering projects, including auditing the quality of housing financed by the National
Housing Agency of Mexico and restoring the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City.
As president and CEO of Systec, Jorge became involved with Mexico’s association of consulting firms, Cámara Nacional de
Empresas de Consultoría (CNEC) and also FIDIC where he was elected to a two-year presidential term in 2005.
At FIDIC’s Mexico annual conference in 2019, Jorge received the prestigious Louis Prangey Award, the highest recognition for
dedicated service to FIDIC. He represented FIDIC at many different levels, including the board, was also a former chair of the
FIDIC integrity management committee and a member of the FIDIC Global Leadership Forum at the time of his death.
Jorge was well known globally throughout FIDIC and worked in the consulting engineering and construction industries and
passionately promoted FIDIC principles and activities for more than 40 years. He played a key role in making FIDIC better
known in Mexico and Latin America, was the ambassador of FIMS (FIDIC Integrity Management Systems) and a recognised
promoter of FIDIC principles in Latin America and around the world.
Jorge also actively participated in the FIDIC past presidents council and was also a valued member of the FIDIC Project Awards
jury since 2013. Widely recognised as an expert in project troubleshooting and an authority in project information systems,
Jorge also participated as an expert witness during arbitrations, was a specialist in construction contracts and a FIDIC certified
trainer in contracts and alternative dispute resolution.
Commenting on his death on behalf of the FIDIC president and board, FIDIC CEO Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE said: “The death
of Jorge Díaz Padilla is a sad loss to his family and the consulting engineering industry in Mexico and globally. I extend my
heartfelt condolences to his family and to his colleagues in Mexico and around the world who knew and worked with him. The
entire FIDIC ecosystem and the wider industry we represent has lost a passionate and enthusiastic advocate and we are all
poorer as we mourn his sad loss today. May his soul rest in perfect peace.”
Jorge Díaz Padilla

14.9.46 – 28.11.22
67
2003-2005 Richard (‘Dick’) Kell (Australia)
A civil engineer and graduate from the University of Sydney, he joined consulting civil
engineers McMillan & Britton and worked on bridge and building structures and project
management. His involvement in the Sarawak (Malaysia) Bridges Project commencing in
1964 launched his long career on projects with his firm outside Australia, principally in the
Asia/Pacific Region, one of the first Australian engineers to do so. Was managing director
of McMillan Britton & Kell which later merged with Queensland firm Cardno & Davies and
he then became chairman of Cardno Group, helping to grow the firm while continuing to
manage major engineering projects. Dick was chairman throughout Cardno’s successful
stock market listing following an IPO. He later worked as a consultant to the firm on
international work. Dick directed many infrastructure engineering projects in Australia and
in PNG, Malaysia, Abu Dhabi, Indonesia, Solomon Islands and Vietnam. He is also a past
president of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Australia and was made a Member
of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1998 for services to Australia in Engineering, particularly
Bridge Engineering and International Affairs.
I was elected as FIDIC president in 2003 at the general assembly meeting in Paris and finished my term at the Beijing GAM
in 2005. I look back on my term as FIDIC president as a wonderful privilege and pleasure. I had served under two remarkable
presidents in Wayne Bowes and Eigil Petersen and then on becoming president I was blessed with outstanding people on
the executive committee with me. What gave me most pleasure was meeting with my fellow consulting engineers globally,
the ‘FIDIC Family’. I was made welcome by FIDIC MAs in more than 40 countries, both developed and developing, as well as
regional groups, at meetings and conferences across the globe. Anne and I count ourselves fortunate to have formed so many
FIDIC “friends for life”.
I was also so fortunate in my term to have been involved in the initiation of four activities (outlined below) which were the
highlights of my term and remain fundamental to FIDIC today.
I was president at the start of the FCCE programme with the China National Association of Engineering Consultants (CNAEC)
and fostered the FIDIC/CNAEC relationship via the Beijing 2005 conference and the Shanghai EXPO, but the presidents who
followed me are to be credited for the subsequent impressive developments.
The Young Professionals Management Training Programme (now Future Leaders Management Course) was initiated at my
mid-term conference in Copenhagen and I promoted it strongly as president. For this initiative I credit Steen Frederiksen
and the Danish Association. I have been a YP mentor and am pleased the course has been refreshed, as it is one of the best
things FIDIC does.
John Boyd presented sustainability to me in 2003 and together (John leading) we managed to get the issue of sustainability
accepted as one of FIDIC’s key focus areas.
The agreement reached with the multilateral development banks on the FIDIC contracts and the creation of the MDB version
of the FIDIC General Conditions (Pink Book) was my major achievement for FIDIC and the infrastructure industry globally. This
development confirmed FIDIC as the leader on infrastructure contracts and training in the developing world. Initiated by Eigil
Petersen, on becoming president I took over and negotiated the MDB agreement and changes to the Red Book to create
the MDB version with the heads of MDBs HOPs, involving numerous visits to the World Bank in Washington DC. I signed the
agreement with the bank’s VP James Adams and I am pleased to note that the FIDIC agreement with the MDBs continues to
this day. One change was the inclusion in the GCs of the HIV-AIDS prevention provisions taken from the South African CIC
standard. FIDIC’s action in this way has saved lives and avoided much misery.
Significant issues for FIDIC in my time as president included the dominance of price rather than quality in selection, corruption
in the infrastructure industry and the promotion of FIDIC best practice contracts and standards as a way of addressing this
scourge - and also the looming threat of climate change. Perhaps not much has changed! FIDIC is a unique and powerful
organisation for good in the industry because of the many outstanding people who give their time and intellect so willingly and
because it is a global and multicultural family where all are equal, whether from a multinational firm or a one-man band. FIDIC
has grown and adopted developing technology and social media remarkably well, but that was to be expected!
68
2001-2003 Eigil Steen Pedersen (Denmark)
Graduated in civil engineering from the Technical University of Denmark (1961) and holds
an AMP diploma from INSEAD, France (1987). After two years military service he joined the
Danish firm of consulting engineers, Chr. Ostenfeld & W. Jonson, now COWI, with a staff of
around 3,500 in 2003. His professional experience has been developed mainly within civil
engineering and especially bridge structures and foundation engineering. He has managed
many major projects in Denmark and overseas, especially in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania.
He served on the COWI board and the board of the COWI Foundation. A former vice
president of FRI, the Danish FIDIC member association (1986 to 1990), he has also acted
as specialist consultant on engineering studies to the Danish Minister of Education, was
a member of the executive committee of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences and
also a member of the advisory board of Danske Bank.
I was honoured to be elected by the general assembly meeting onto the executive committee (EC) and later, after two years
collaboration in the EC, by my EC colleagues to be nominated to president. It provided me with a platform for top level
contact with member associations and their membership as well as major client groups, the international finance institutions
and other important participants in the planning, financing and development of infrastructure.
There were of course many highlights. They include the development of a series of comprehensive documents on business
integrity management, the planning and development of the FIDIC Tsinghua CNTC Training Centre including initial training
events, the initial planning of the Young Professionals Training Programme, the negotiations with the World Bank on the use
of the FIDIC Contract for Works in a modified version for use by the bank, negotiations with major member associations, who
indicated a wish to withdraw from FIDIC, the restructuring of rules for subscriptions and the nomination of delegates and last
but not least, the moving of the FIDIC office to Geneva.
The introduction of FIDIC documents to member associations, including seminars was one of the challenges I faced during
my time as president. The special focus on ‘fast movers’ such as China, Vietnam and India was challenging as was our
ongoing contacts universities and other relevant bodies on our industry’s future needs.
FIDIC was from the start created to strengthen the position of private firms in competition with universities and in-house units.
From its inception in 1913 until today it has acted as the spokesperson for the industry, a sector that spans one-person firms
all the way up to large companies with more than 100,000 employees and with national or regional associations in between.
Most experts in organisation will deem this an impossible creature – and yet it has survived for 110 years, albeit with many
attempts to dissolve.
During my term as president, I had many discussions with opponents and most of them ended with the conclusion that if
we did not have an organisation like FIDIC then we would soon have to invent one. What makes it so special? I believe that
the combination of achieving a commercially viable entity, combined with strong stands on ethical issues, has given FIDIC a
unique global position, whose knowledge and aspirations are highly sought after at national level as well as globally.
The biggest challenge, for FIDIC all the way down to the individual firms, now and in the foreseeable future, is the lack of
human resources. Educated and qualified staff are in short supply globally and FIDIC must take a lead position to remedy the
situation. Our work in this area must be intensified and we need to collaborate with our main ‘supplier’, the universities, on an
even greater scale in the future.
69
1999-2001 Wayne Bowes (Canada)
Wayne Bowes is a Civil Engineer, graduated from University of Waterloo (1962)

and Georgia Institute of Technology (M.S.C.E. 1964). He is Director, Vice President
(Transportation Division) and Chief Transit Planning Engineer of Delcan, Ottawa. He is a
past Chairman of ACEC/Canada; Fellow, Institute of Transportation Engineers; Director,
Transportation Association of Canada. Wayne is Chairman of FIDIC's Quality
Management Committee.
My first exposure to a FIDIC meeting was as chair of ACEC visiting a FIDIC meeting
in Japan and representing Canada. It was at this meeting that executive committee
member Ron Triffo asked me to take on the task of developing and promoting
quality management within the consulting industry to align with the current efforts of ISO and their ISO 9000 programme. I
knew Ron very well as he previously worked with me in the same firm. I was impressed with my exposure to FIDIC activities
and agreed to take on the task as this was Ron’s last year on the EC. I subsequently developed material on QM, which was
presented to a FIDIC meeting in Spain the next year, which I could not attend. However, I was nominated to be a member of
the EC and attended the following year’s conference in Germany, where I was elected. I continued the promotion of QM for
the rest of my years in FIDIC, among other issues pertinent to FIDIC’s interests.
It was a great honour to accept the responsibility to lead FIDIC as it felt like the culmination of a level of commitment to our
industry, as I had previously served as president of Alberta’s consulting engineering industry, then chair of ACEC in Canada.
This was possible because by the time I was elected as head of FIDIC I was familiar with the very competent staff of the
secretariat under the leadership of Marshall Gysi, including Peter Boswell and the very talented members of the various
standing committees. With this talent, it meant that as a team we could certainly expect significant progress on FIDIC issues.
It should come as no surprise that one of my highlights was the development of a Quality Management programme, patterned
on ISO 9001 format but reflective of the needs of our industry. It also spawned the initial development of BIMS, the business
integrity management system under the leadership of Filipe Ochoa of Mexico.
There was also some pride in welcoming China to membership. The support and great input from Eigil Peterson and Stan
Kowagughi during this process and in the establishment of the training programme at Tsinghua University was instrumental to
the success of the venture. Also, the embrace of the critical issues related to the environment was also a major effort for FIDIC
and significant energy was directed to this.
Another key development was the improved relationship with the multilateral development banks and the progress in the
upgrading the various contract documents and the digital marketing of these and other services assisted by Peter Boswell.
To me, one thing that makes FIDIC special is the ability to assist in capacity building of our industry across the world. This is
critically important when we see the demands of society increase in response to the climate and other environmental issues
affecting us on a global scale. The capability of all countries to act together to mitigate these demands requires all countries to
have the professional capabilities to act locally, assisted by the efforts of FIDIC.
My message to FIDIC on its 110th anniversary is: continue its capacity building efforts, continue to promote close cooperation
with the multilateral development banks, continue to promote Quality Based Selection in procurement and continue
consultations with industry leaders in developing and adapting new approaches to global challenges.
70
1997-1999 Steyn Laubscher (South Africa)
South African mechanical engineer, Bachelor of Science in Engineering cum laude, University Pretoria, Republic of South Africa, 1964.
Postgraduate, Harvard University, 1990. Design. engineer, Watson Edwards, Inc., Pretoria, 1965-1968; senior engineer, Watson Edwards,
Inc., Cape Town, 1969-1973; director, Watson Edwards, Inc., Cape Town, 1973-1983; managing director, Watson Edwards, Inc.,
Cape Town, since 1984. Chairman WEVS Projects, Johannesburg, Republic South Africa, since 1986. Board directors WEVO Pty Ltd,
Johannesburg, since 1974, WEVO Investments, Johannesburg, since 1979. Former president of the South African Association
Consulting Engineers.
1995-1997 William D Lewis (USA)
1993-1995 Ernst Hofmann (Switzerland)
1993-1995 Gordon Coates (United Kingdom)
1989-1991 Steven Gentry (New Zealand)
A partner in the consulting practice of W G Morrison and Partners, eventually becoming chair of its successor Kingston Morrison. A keen
advocate of seeking full recognition of the independent consulting engineer, he was a former chair of ACE New Zealand and a regular and
active attendee at FIDIC conferences. He was the first New Zealander to be elected to FIDIC’s executive committee and involved in the
development of FIDIC policy statements. Key documents produced under his presidency included the Client/Consultant Model Services
Agreement (White Book) and Professional Liability Insurance – A Primer. Fondly remembered as FIDIC’s ‘environmental president’ as at the
1990 Oslo annual conference, FIDIC adopted its Environment Policy Statement.
1987-1989 Sven-Erik Frick-Meijer (Sweden)
A graduate civil engineer from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, he was employed by VBB where he became a partner. He
worked on water power projects in Sweden and also spent three years in Egypt as site representative for the salvage of the Abu Simbel
Temples. He was also the project manager for many different projects in Saudi Arabia.
1986-1988 Gordon Eldridge (United Kingdom)
Graduated in engineering from the University of London, he was indented to John Cochrane and Sons, contractors, building a Scottish
hydro-electric scheme. He joined Binnie & partners where he became a partner and was responsible for water supply and coastal
protection schemes in the UK and for hydro-electric and irrigation schemes in Pakistan and Peru.
1984-1986 Peter Miller (Australia)
A graduate civil engineer from Sidney University, after working in the aircraft industry, he founded the consulting firm that became Miller
Milston Ferris where he was a consulting engineer in building structures, including design and supervision.
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1982-1984 Wilson Binger (USA)
Graduated in civil engineering from Harvard University, he was an engineer in design and supervision of construction and major civil
engineering projects in the USA and South America, including Panama Canal projects. He was an engineer at Tippetts-Abbett-McCar-
thy-Stratton on transportation and hydro-electric projects where he became a partner and later chairman.
1980-1982 Kjell Grinde (Norway)
A graduate civil engineer from the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim, he was managing director of Norconsult, established
by ten Norwegian consulting firms for the export of consultancy services. Its main area of activity was assisting the international
development institutions.
1978-1980 Hein Frijlink (Netherlands)
A graduate civil engineer from Delft Technological University, he was an engineer at Delft Hydraulics Laboratory and then joined
Netherlands Engineering Consultants, a group of closely cooperating consulting firms for exporting their services. He became deputy
director and later managing director and then chairman.
1976-1978 Hans Büchi (Switzerland)
A graduate engineer from Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, he was an assistant engineer in Paris and spent a year at Sir
Alexander Gibb & Partners in London. He worked as an engineer on several hydroelectric and irrigation projects in Spain, Argentina and
Uruguay and on his return to Switzerland in in 1946, he entered his father’s firm Hydraulik AG which he later took over then passed on to
his own son in 1983. He was a consulting engineer for water power plants, foundations, tunnels and highways.
1974-1976 Bengt Olsen (Sweden)
A graduate civil engineer from Chalmers Institute of Technology in Gothenburg, he joined Kjessler & Mannerstrale where he became a
partner and later managing director. He was a consulting engineer in traffic engineering and design and construction of highway projects
in Sweden and overseas.
1972-1974 Robert Fitt (United Kingdom)
Graduated in engineering from the City and Guilds College and practised structural and general covil engineering design and construction,
including with the Sudan government on irrigation development and with Mott Hay & Anderson on the Mersey Tunnel and London
Underground Railway. He joined Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners as a senior engineer where he became a partner and was a consulting
engineer for economic surveys, irrigation, water supply and hydro-electric projects, mostly in Africa, the Middle East and South America.
1970-1972 William Moore (USA)
Graduated in engineering from the California Institute of Technology, he worked for several years for the US Coast and Geodetic Survey
before he co-founded the consulting engineering firm Dames & Moore with Trent R Dames, which specialised in geotechnical and related
applied earth sciences, providing information to support the evaluation of alternative foundation designs. In addition to engineering
consulting, he had a deep interest in public policy decisions and how engineers could contribute to the making of those decisions.
72
1966-1970 Soren Rasmussen (Denmark)
A graduate civil engineer from Denmark’s Technological Highschool, he founded his own consulting engineering firm and advised on
structural engineering.
1963-1966 Reginald Mountain (United Kingdom)
Educated at Northampton Engineering Day College, he was an assistant at Kennedy & Donkin where he became a partner. He authored
many papers on electricity generation, transmission and utilisation.
1955-1963 Julian Tritton (United Kingdom)
Educated at Kings College University of London and was an assistant to his father’s firm, Rendel, Palmer and Tritton (RPT). As district
locomotive superintendent of Bombay Baroda and Central India Railway, he followed his father as a partner of RPT in chanrge of the firm’s
railway and marine department, where he advised many railways internationally on the design and construction of steam, diesel and gas
turbine locomotives and also port trusts on harbour craft, dredgers and tugs.
1950-1955 Robert Naef (Switzerland)
A graduate engineer from Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, he founded his own consulting engineering firm and
consulted on various reinforced concrete and steel structures.
1938-1950 Bo M Hellström (Sweden)
A graduate civil engineer from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, he was a partner of VBB and was a consulting engineer
for waterpower projects in Sweden and overseas. He also advised on the design and construction of waterways and harbours and
hydrological investigations, mostly in Africa.
1917-1938 Per G Hornell (Sweden)
A graduate civil engineer from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, where he later became a professor, he was a partner
of VBB and a consulting engineer for waterpower projects and water supply and sewerage in Sweden, Russia, China and other
international countries.
1913-1937 Louis Prangey (France)
He graduated in the 1870s from Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, Paris in mechanical engineering. He was a consulting engineer
in industrial management and an expert at Courts of Law. Prangey was one of the founders and first president of the French Chamber of
Consulting Engineers and also one of the founders and the first president of FIDIC. His name lives on through the annual FIDIC Prangey
Award which is given to recognise outstanding achievement.
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9
FIDIC staff team
and secretariat executives
74
FIDIC staff team
FIDIC secretariat executives from 1957 to present day
1957 Henk Rusting, Secretary General (Netherlands)
1961 J A Stoop, Executive Secretary (Netherlands)
1967 Hans Hillebrand, Executive Secretary (Netherlands)
1977 Hans Hillebrand, Managing Director (Netherlands)
1980 Burt Campbell, Managing Director
1987 Marshall Gysi, Managing Director (Switzerland)
2001 Daniel Ivarsson, Managing Director (Sweden)
2004 Enrico Vink, Manging Director (New Zealand)
2018 Nelson Ogunshakin, Chief Executive (UK)
75
FIDIC staff team
Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE

Chief Executive Officer, nogunshakin@fidic.org
Italo Goyzueta,
Federation Operations Director, igoyzueta@fidic.org
Silvia Fossati,
Training Manager sfossati@fidic.org
Graham Pontin,
Director of Policy, External Affairs and Communications,
gpontin@fidic.org
Oro Cohen,
Assistant, Federation Services, ocohen@fidic.org
Michael Broadley,
General Manager, FIDIC Academy, mbroadley@fidic.org
Eric Chiang,
Chief Operations Officer, echiang@fidic.org
Daduna Kokhreidze,
General Counsel, dkokhreidze@fidic.org
Nadia Van Der Waltova,
Senior Digital Marketing and Communications Executive,
nvanderwaltova@fidic.org
Folake Idowu,
Senior Corporate Development Executive, fidowu@fidic.org
Maria-Blanca Trabazos,
Accountant and HR, mbtrabazos@fidic.org
Christophe Sisto,
Design and Publications Manager, csisto@fidic.org
Ieva Liaugaude,
International Client Manager, iliaugaude@fidic.org
Estelle Trabazos,
Accountant Assistant, etrabazos@fidic.org
Ulrike Schiefer,
Office Manager, uschiefer@fidic.org
Chanel Holder,
Digital Marketing and Communications Executive, cholder@fidic.org
Thanos Totsikas,
General Manager FCL, ttotsikas@fidic.org
Beatriz Bertomeu,
Conference and Events Executive, bbertomeu@fidic.org
Lee Ann Davis,
FCL Certification Assistant, ldavis@fidic.org
Wendy Lasebikan,
Advisor - Legal and Compliance, wlasebikan@fidic.org
Moyosore Saka,
Contracts Assistant, msaka@fidic.org
Ayo Fagbohun,
Business Development Manager, afagbohun@fidic.org
Basma Eissa,
Policy Analyst Executive, beissa@fidic.org
Chrystal Udenweze,
Academy Coordinator, cudenweze@fidic.org
Emily Jones,
FCL Certification Coordinator, ejones@fidic.org
Ruijie Zhang,
General Manager FCS, zhangrj@fidic.org
Samuel Mwamsamali,
Regional Manager, smwamsamali@fidic.org
76
10
Remaining relevant
in changing times
77
Remaining relevant in changing times
Throughout its long and illustrious history, FIDIC has had to contend with
the vagaries of changing market, business and political conditions that have
affected the environment in which consulting engineering companies work.
FIDIC’s role against the backdrop of all these changes has been to represent
the global industry in a way that keeps pace with current and future challenges.
Representation and advocacy has always been a key role of FIDIC since
its inception and the fact that the organisation has been listened to by
governments, politicians, funding organisations and other industry bodies is a
testament to the work of its many industry volunteers and representatives and
the dedicated work of its board and the full time staff of FIDIC.
FIDIC has been able to respond to change as a result of the work of its
many standing committees and working groups which have ensured that the
organisation remains at the cutting edge of the latest industry developments
and ab le to dispense advice and guidance to the wider sector through the
hands-on experience of professional practitioners. FIDIC has been able to
attract key individuals and experts to contribute to its work precisely because
it is seen as a genuine representative of the global industry and also because
the issues on which it has taken a stand or campaigned on have been tested
through being reviewed by those who face those issues on a daily basis.
There is also something to be said for the willingness of professional engineers

and other consultants to give of their time and expertise for the greater good
of the industry. This spirit of self-sacrifice and wanting to ‘give something back’
is also a key reason why, at times of crisis, the engineering, construction and
infrastructure sector have often been amongst the first groups of professionals
to respond to disasters by offering their services to relieve the suffering of
displaced peoples around the globe.
FIDIC has played a key role in representing the industry’s interests since its
formation. From advocating for the key role of consulting engineers in the
post-war reconstruction following the two world wars, to forging links with the
new international funding organisations as the world economy boomed in the
1960s and beyond, FIDIC has been crucial in ensuring that it members and the
wider industry were able to be seen as key players by those holding the purse
strings and making spending decisions.
Any organisation that has been around for more than a century could not
have lasted without continuing to be relevant during the various industry and
business changes that have faced the organisation and its members over its
110-year existence. As has already been outlined, FIDIC has had to endure
world wars and the seismic changes to society in the aftermath of those wars
and the fact that the organisation has emerged from those events intact and
ultimately strengthened is a testament to FIDIC’s resilience and the strength it
derives from its member associations.
The world will always need quality infrastructure and consulting engineers,
supported by other key professionals working in the global construction sector,
play a key role in delivering it. As the world has changed so FIDIC has changed
too, adapting to the latest industry, business, societal and technological
developments in a way that keeps the organisation relevant and in touch,
despite the significant challenge of change it has to deal with. Its membership
has been a key part of meeting those challenges, together with the Trojan
efforts of FIDIC’s volunteers who have given of their time and expertise so
generously down the years. Because they are hands-on practitioners who are
part of the industry, their involvement has enabled FIDIC to respond well to the
challenge of change. FIDIC’s extensive network of committees and working
groups has been crucial in keeping the organisation at the cutting edge of
industry change and their efforts have in turn relayed the implications of these
developments back to its member associations and the wider industry.
78
FIDIC is a unique organisation in that it is able to bring together all the key players in
the sector it represents and then engage with those stakeholders who influence the
business they are involved with. Those FIDIC leaders down the years who have guided the
organisation through challenging times are owed a debt of gratitude by the industry today
because without their input and the vibrant, effective and relevant FIDIC that they built, the
industry would be in different place to the influential one it finds itself in 2023.
Over the years, FIDIC has prided itself on being flexible and agile in the face of change
and that approach has stood it in good stead for more than a century. Many a speaker at
FIDIC conferences down the years has highlighted the mantra, “The only constant in our
industry is change”, but that has proved to be the case and through all that change the
organisation has remained as a standard bearer for the consulting engineering industry and
for working in a professional and ethical way for the benefit of the society that it serves.
In 2018, FIDIC appointed Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE as its new chief executive to
succeed the retiring managing director Enrico Vink. The appointment of Nelson, a
chartered engineer with more than 35 years of experience in professional consultancy,
contracting and lobbying and representation gained in the UK and global arena, was a
key moment in FIDIC’s history. He was previously responsible for the transformation and
repositioning of FIDIC’s UK member association ACE and his remit on arriving at FIDIC was
to be a “change agent” to help the organisation deal with the challenges of a changing
industry and put the organisation on an even firmer footing for the future.
As the then FIDIC president Alain Bentéjac said at the time of the appointment: “The global
consulting engineering industry is experiencing unprecedented major structural changes
combined with emerging market drivers. Nelson has successfully positioned ACE at the
top table in the UK where it has been able to influence government, investor, developer
and stakeholder decisions on infrastructure, ensuring a sustainable future for our industry.
The entire FIDIC executive committee (board) is looking forward, with eagerness, to work
with Nelson and achieve a similar transformation within FIDIC to secure our future strategic
goals and objectives.”
As a well-established global brand with diverse expectations from its stakeholders, FIDIC
urgently needed to respond to the emerging challenges facing the global consulting
engineering industry. Those included the challenges associated with the emergence
of China’s economy, climate change, price volatility in the oil and energy markets,
urbanisation of cities, embracing digital technological innovation, market consolidation and
blurring of boundaries and also growing economic and political instability across the globe.
Nelson outlined his approach from the start. “My priority, as a change agent, will be to take
a root and branch review of FIDIC’s activities, initially focusing on its core activities and
deliver them very well. In the medium to long term, I will work with the executive committee
to establish appropriate strategic objectives, effective governance structures, services
proposition, closer membership engagement and the implementation of operational
efficiencies to ensure we are responsive to the ever-changing market dynamics,” he said.
This proved to be the case and the period following his appointment saw FIDIC work more
closely with its executive committee (which became a board), member associations and
wider stakeholders to re-engineer the FIDIC organisation to ensure it was fit for the future.
This process included investing strategically to prepare the ground for the organisation to
move forward, conducting a strategic review of staffing and office, the restructuring the
staff team and bringing in new resources. New staff were hired and resources increased in
FIDIC’s events and conferences, communications and policy capability. Communications
were further improved with a revamped website and FIDIC’s IT systems were also
strengthened. The important strategic decision to keep the FIDIC HQ office location in
Switzerland was made while at the same time FIDIC looked to expand its commercial
operations outside Switzerland. All of these steps enabled FIDIC to provide a better and
more agile service to its member associations and committees, working groups and the
wider industry.
79
Improving the organisation’s communications was identified as a key priority for FIDIC and some big strides forward were taken. As well
as the updated website, a regular CEO’s Update was launched to member associations to keep FIDIC’s primary audience well informed
about its activities. FIDIC also improved the communication of its activities with more frequent press releases and news articles about
FIDIC and also the launch of a new FIDIC Contract Users Newsletter, to play a key role in bringing together this very important community.
FIDIC also recognised the need to strengthen its relationships with several multilateral funding agencies and looked to influence
international procurement terms by gaining endorsement for the use of FIDIC’s suite of standard contracts. Important agreements were
signed with the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Caribbean Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development, Asian Development Bank and the African Development Bank. All this provided the industry with a consistent
procurement approach on development bank-funded projects across the world, benefiting funders, clients and consultancy firms in
equal measure.
FIDIC also took some significant strategic steps forward in China, strengthening its position with its member association CNAC and
signing strategic MoUs with the China International Contractors Association, the largest contractors’ association in the world, and the
China Cost Engineering Association, the country’s cost engineering and quantity surveying association. Both were important steps in
strengthening FIDIC’s ties with a key market and would prove hugely significant for the future.
The board also identified training and capacity building as a key part of FIDIC’s business and took the decision to set up FIDIC
Credentialing, a separate subsidiary business to qualify accredited professionals to be an adjudicator, trainers, contract managers and
certified engineers. The FIDIC board believed strongly that the organisation needed to position FIDIC in the capacity building space and
creating the new business was a new investment and an opportunity for FIDIC to increase its influence beyond Switzerland and to help
fulfil the need for training around the world.
This launch of FIDIC Credentialing Ltd (FCL) and the opening of the FIDIC Consulting Services (FCS) office in Beijing were significant
steps for the organisation. In offering certification and professional development services to a range of professionals working in the global
infrastructure industry, the launch of FCL heralded a new era for credentialing for the construction and infrastructure sector and would help
drive improvement in project delivery using FIDIC systems and contracts.
In another key milestone, FIDIC also set up the Geneva-based FIDIC Academy in 2021 to provide training and capacity building to drive
excellence in quality and best practice for the consulting engineering industry, as well as stimulating talent and developing future leaders
to provide engineers with the skills required to compete in a global marketplace. In 2023, the FIDIC Academy announced a significant
upgrading of its output, the rebranding of courses, the appointment of a team of global professional advisors and the launch of a new
FIDIC Academy standalone website to enable even better promotion of its courses and training to the wider industry.
Despite these positive steps, nothing can be taken for granted and this was no better illustrated than when the global Covid-19 pandemic
struck in March 2020 and challenged the industry like never before. Like many organisations and businesses across the world, FIDIC had
to adapt to a new way of working during the two-year pandemic, shifting the majority of its activities and events online and holding many
virtual meetings, webinars and conferences.
80
When the pandemic hit, FIDIC acted early and identified the need to produce guidance documents rapidly and share them via webinars
and other communications tools with member associations, company leaders, clients, international funding agencies, construction
contractors, law firms and many others working in the infrastructure space.
The Covid-19 crisis did of course affect every aspect of life and business on a global scale and FIDIC responded well to this
unprecedented challenge. That it did so with enormous fortitude and no little innovation was a source of great pride and thanks are due
to the FIDIC board for its leadership and direction, the FIDIC staff for their dedication throughout the pandemic and to members and
stakeholders for their ongoing support.
A key part of FIDIC’s response to the crisis was the organisation, at very short notice, of an extremely successful Covid-19 webinar series.
In just ten weeks, 18 events attracted more than 9,000 attendees from 150 countries across the globe to listen to international line-ups
of expert speakers from all parts of the engineering, construction and infrastructure industry. This was a magnificent effort and particular
note should be made of the support provided by FIDIC board members under the leadership of the then president Bill Howard, who
participated in all 18 webinars plus three additional webinars delivered by FIDIC Future Leaders.
FIDIC’s contracts committee, risk liability and quality committee and the business practice committee also stepped up to the plate by
rapidly responding with the production of appropriate guidance notes to support the industry in dealing with the impact of Covid-19 on
project delivery across the world. In total, during 2020 FIDIC had more than 15,000 people who registered to take part in its webinars,
which represented an amazing reach for FIDIC into the industry.
They say that in times of adversity, organisations and individuals show their true metal and during the pandemic years we certainly saw
that at FIDIC and indeed across the industry. In extremely challenging times, FIDIC found a way to increase its profile, be more visible and
enhance its influence in the global construction, engineering and infrastructure sector. The way that the whole FIDIC organisation pulled
together for the greater good during that period bodes extremely well for the future and the challenges that the industry now faces in a
post-Covid world.
During the pandemic period, it is no exaggeration to say that FIDIC had never been more visible in the industry as a result of the events
it organised and its increased communications outreach, which enabled the organisation to engage more stakeholders than ever before.
During the pandemic, FIDIC effectively became a virtual organisation and the investment that the organisation had made in technology
and its digital platforms over previous years leading up to Covid really paid off, enabling FIDIC to be productive in an increasingly online
environment. Of course, this way of working has continued and, in many ways, become the ‘new normal’ and FIDIC has continued to
invest in the latest technologies and communications techniques to spread its message even further.
The agility and initiative that FIDIC showed during the pandemic period has undoubtedly stood the organisation in good stead for the
future and the organisation emerged from it stronger and more capable of meeting future challenges, which have come thick and fast
whether these be geopolitical in origin like the war in the Ukraine or the linked global energy crisis and rising inflation which have placed
increased pressure on the global industry. As ever, FIDIC responded to these events with speed and fortitude, producing valuable and
much-needed guidance for the industry and promoting it to stakeholders around the globe.
In many ways, the pandemic response showed just how valuable and influential an organisation FIDIC has become and as it faces up to
the future, it can do so with some confidence that it is in good shape to deal with whatever comes its way, something that we shall explore
in the next section of this publication.
81
11
Thanking the FIDIC
board at 110
82
Thanking the FIDIC board at 110
FIDIC Board
Catherine Karakatsanis
Anthony Barry
Chief Operating Officer, Morrison
Senior Consultant, Aurecon (Australia)
Hershfield Group Inc. (Canada)
Sarwono Hardjomuljadi
Luis Villarroya
FIDIC Contract Specialist, Mott
President, EPTISA (Spain)
MacDonald Indonesia (Indonesia)
Chantal Dagnaud
James N. Mwangi
President, Institutions & Stratégies SAS,
CEO, Kurrent Technologies (Kenya)
France
Martina Hess Alfredo Ingletti

Director CES Zambia, CES Consulting Chairman, 3TI Progetti Italia Ingegneria
Engineers Salzgitter GmbH (Zambia) Integrata Spa (Italy)
Manish Kothari José Joaquín Ortiz García

President and CEO, Sheladia Associates, Chairman of the Board, Joyco SAS BIC
Inc. (United States) (Colombia)
83
Thanking the FIDIC board at 110
Risk & Audit Committee (RAC)
Luis Villarroya
Sarwono Hardjomuljadi Governance Committee (GC)
FIDIC Contract Specialist, Mott MacDonald Indonesia
(Indonesia) Catherine Karakatsanis
Chief Operating Officer, Morrison Hershfield Group Inc.
James N. Mwangi (Canada)
James N. Mwangi
Martina Hess CEO, Kurrent Technologies (Kenya)
Director CES Zambia, CES Consulting Engineers Salzgitter
GmbH (Zambia) Martina Hess
Alfredo Ingletti GmbH (Zambia)
Chairman, 3TI Progetti Italia Ingegneria Integrata Spa (Italy)
Manish Kothari
President and CEO, Sheladia Associates, Inc. (United States)
FIDIC Past President Council
William Howard (United States)

Alain Bentéjac (France)
Jae-Wan Lee (Republic of Korea)
FIDIC Board Pablo Bueno (Spain)
Committees Geoffrey French (United Kingdom)

Gregs Thomopulos (United States)
John Boyd (Canada)
Richard A. Kell (Australia)
Engel Steen Peterson (Denmark)
Wayne Bowes (Canada)
Operations Oversight Committee (OOC)
Nomination Committee (NC) Anthony Barry

Senior Consultant, Aurecon (Australia)
James N. Mwangi
CEO, Kurrent Technologies (Kenya) Catherine Karakatsanis
Chief Operating Officer, Morrison Hershfield Group Inc.
Sarwono Hardjomuljadi (Canada)
FIDIC Contract Specialist, Mott MacDonald Indonesia
(Indonesia) Luis Villarroya
Chantal Dagnaud
President, Institutions & Stratégies SAS, France James N. Mwangi
Martina Hess
GmbH (Zambia)
Alfredo Ingletti
Chairman, 3TI Progetti Italia Ingegneria Integrata Spa (Italy)
84
12
Thanking all our volunteers
85
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council (DEIAC)
Michele Kruger (Chair) Charlotte Downes

Advisor to the Minister of Water and Programme Director, The Diversity Agenda,
Sanitation and Head of Advisory, Water, New Zealand
SMEC, South Africa
Dirk Smith
Katharine Mottley Technical Directot, Aurecon, Australia
Vice President, Tax and Regulatory
Tina Albrechtsen
Affairs, American Council of Engineering
Director, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion,
Companies, USA
Ramboll, Denmark
Joost Merema
Scott Motley
Project manager, PRO6 Managers,
Head of Programme, Project and Cost
Netherlands
Management, AECOM, UK
Gloria Kemigisha Mwebaze
Claudia Ackermann
Structural Engineer, American Tower,
Director, HR and strategy , GOPA,
Uganda
Germany
Future Leaders Advisory Council (FLAC)
Rodrigo Juarez (Chair) LaToya Ouna

Consultant , FOA Consulting, Mexico Structural Engineer and Construction
Contracts Specialist, AR-Engineering,
Artur Henrique de Morais Brito
Kenya
(Vice Chair)
FIDIC Project Manager, TPF Engenharia, Brasil Koray Ates
Advisory Michael Walker
Deputy Tender Manager, Yüksel Proje A.Ş.,
Turkey
Manager, Regional Infrastructure,
Councils Associated Engineering (Sask.) Ltd., Yasuaki Wadasaki
Canada Engineer, Nippon Koei Co., Ltd., Japan
Mads Brandt Rasmussen Gloria Kemigisha Mwebaze
Associate Project Director/Lead Civil/Structural Engineer, NSSF / NUDIEL,
Consultant, COWI A/S, Denmark Uganda
Directors and Secretaries Advisory Council (DNSAC)
Chris Campbell (Chair) Chituwa Sinkala Chulu

CEO, SESA, South Africa CEO , ACEZ, Zambia
Helen Davidson (Vice Chair) Noé Becerra Álvarez
CEO, ACENZ, New Zealand CEO , CNEC, Mexico
John Gamble (Vice Chair) Linda Bauer Darr, CEO
CEO, ACEC Canada, Canada ACEC, USA
Mario Marti Edmond Mirzakhanian
CEO, USIC, Switzerland Managing Director, SAT Consulting
Engineers, Islamic Republic of Iran
Stephen Marcos Jones
CEO , ACE UK, UK Yoshi Yamashita
Senior Adviser, ECFAJ, Japan
Helena Soimakallio
Managing Director / CEO, SKOL, Finland Prashant Kapila
Managing Director, Intercontinental
Jonathan Cartledge
Consultants and Technocrats Private
CEO , Consult Australia, Australia
Limited, India
86
Senate Chancellor
Chris Cole
Chairman of the Board, WSP Global Inc.
Senate Members
Nelson Ogunshakin José Joaquín Ortiz García

Chief Executive, FIDIC - International Board Member, Joyco
Federation of Consulting Engineers
Anne Kerr
Catherine Karakatsanis Managing Director Greater China and
Chief Operating Officer, Morrison Hershfield Global Head, Mott MacDonald
Group Inc.
Kourosh Kayvani
Stephane Giraud Partner, HKA
Founder & CEO, Plan J Consulting
Daduna Kokhreidze
Christopher Seppälä General Counsel, FIDIC - International
Partner, White & Case LLP Federation of Consulting Engineers
Discipline Heads
Michele Kruger Harriett Hindmarsh

FIDIC
Function General Manager (Water Chief Marketing Officer, AECOM Academy
Infrastructure), SMEC
Dilek Macit
Andrea Reed Assistant Director General, Food and
Managing Director, Pederson Read Agriculture Organization
Consulting Electrical Engineers
Tom Smith
Nino Tsaturova Global Director, Property & Buildings, WSP
Head of Legal, Intelligent Solution – LLC
Julianna Fox
Abdel Hafiz Abdel Moniem Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer /
General Manager, Alliance Engineering Co General Counsel Global Legal Operations,
WSP
Javier Sánchez Llopes
Operations Director, Driver Trett Jeshika (Ramchund) Moonsamy
Principal Engineer Infrastructure
Prashant Kapila
Development, Climate & Sustainability, Mott
Managing Director, Intercontinental
MacDonald
Consultants & Technocrats
Nita Rabadia
Liam Hayes
Leadership Coach & Mentor
Chief People Officer, Aurecon
Clare B Marshall
Adam Bialachowski
Partner, 2MPy
CEO, B-Act Quantum Vintage
Thea Weeks
Michael Walker
Committee Member, Coalition of Women
Municipal Infrastructure Manager,
in Africa for Peace and Sustainable
Associated Engineering
Development
Joanne Carmichael
Director, Cities, Planning and Design, Global
Transport Planning Skills Leader, Arup
87
Contracts Committee
International Financial Institutions Committee Vincent Leloup (Chair)

Founding and Managing Partner ,
Suraj Rana (Chair) Libby Paholski Exequatur, France
MD, DT Global UK, DT Global, UK Functional General Manager, SMEC,
Mahmoud Abu Hussein (Vice Chair)
Australia
Cristina Ginés Pallarés Procurement and Contracts Manager,
Business Development Director Europe, Nora Fung Dolphin Energy Limited , United Arab
SENER, Ingeniería y Sistemas, S.A., Spain Senior Counsel, Legal Group, Arup, UK Emirates
Johnny Ojeil Patrick Wambulwa Adriana Spassova (Vice Chair)
Director Transport Planning, Ramboll, UK Chairman, Tertiary Consulting Engineers, Civil Engineer, Founder and Partner of
Kenya EQE Control, Bulgaria
Juan Carlos Sierra
CNEC, President , Mexico Vera Monika Masurat Husni Madi
Senior Consultant, GOPA, Germany Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Khalid Saleem Shura Construction Management
Country Leader, Arup, Indonesia
Membership Committee
Enni Soetanto (Chair) Ali Jaber

Managing Director of PT. Mott Senior Project Manager, Millennium
MacDonald Indonesia, PT. Mott Development International, Lebanon FIDIC
MacDonald Indonesia, Indonesia
Aziz Karavdic Committee
Kiran Kumar Kapila (Vice Chair) CEO, AIK Inžinjering d.o.o. Banovići,
Chairman & Managing Director, ICT, India Bosnia and Herzegovina Members
Amr Abdel Jalil (Vice Chair) Yassin Dullaur
Contracts Manager, Parsons Director, Yas Consulting Engineer, Mauritius
International, Kuwait
Business Practice Leadership Committee
Manuel Perez (Chair) Zanda Zariņa

CEO, WSP, Spain Sustainable Development Committee
Strategic Development Manager,
Neil Harvey Jurisconsultus SIA, Latvia Tracy Ryan (Chair)
Director, Arup, Vietnam Bryan Chin Managing Director, Aurecon, New
VP Building and Places, AECOM, Zealand
Asifa Samji
EVP, Chief People & Inclusion Officer, Singapore Natalie Muir (Vice Chair)
Stantec, Canada Olu Soluade Manager - South East Queensland,
Director, AOS Consulting, South Africa Cardno, Australia
Mads Brandt Rasmussen
Associate Project and Market Director , Lars Ostenfeld Robert Spencer (Vice Chair)
COWI, Denmark Executive Director, Ramboll, Denmark AECOM, Director, Sustainable
Development, Aecom, United Kingdom
Idriss Kathrada
Associate Director, Novasirhe , France
Sudhir Dhawan
CEO, AETHER Engineering Solutions Pvt.
Ltd., India
88
Kiri Parr
Director, Kirri Parr Ltd , Australia
Deryl L. Earsom
Deputy General Counsel, Jacobs
Engineering Group Inc., USA Digital Transformation Committee
Peter Collie Stacy Sinclair (Chair) Fabian Sommer
Barrister, 3PB Barristers , United Kingdom Partner | Head of Technology & Innovation, Project Manager, Head of Section,
Koray Ates Fenwick Elliott, UK Lombardi, Switzerland
Deputy Tender Manager, Yüksel Proje A.Ş., Yoshihiro Katsuhama (Vice Chair) Tony Scott
Turkey Acting General Manager, Nippon Koei Co., CEO and CIO for NeuralRays AI Ltd,
Jafar Khan Ltd., Japan NeuralRays AI, UK
Regional Head of Legal, Mott MacDonald, Bram Mommers Andrew Maher
United Arab Emirates Global Technology Officer, Arcadis, Group Managing Principal, Aurecongroup,
Netherlands Australia
Marcial Rivera Jiangbo Dong
Head, Process Engineering Department, CFIA Senior Expert of Design Institute, China
(One of our Costa Rican MAs), Costa Rica Mobile Group Design Institute Co., Ltd.,
China
Gianluca Genova
Head of IDALab, Basler & Hofmann AG,
Switzerland
Integrity Management Committee
Richard Stump (Chair) Ahmed Stifi

Vice President, RS&H, USA Compliance Officer, Ingérop, Germany
Juliana Fox (Vice Chair) Pawel Samborski
WSP, Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Advocate, Baker McKenzie, Poland
Canada
Jai-young Bang
Lyndon White (Vice Chair) CEO, Young International Co., Ltd, Korea,
ADR Practitioner, Corporate and South
Contracts Advisor,
Yinghua Ma
Dial Before You Dispute Pty Ltd, Australia
Babak Banijamali Director of international cooperation
Deputy Managing Director, Darya-Bandar John Ritchie and exchange center, CCCC Highway
Consulting Engineers (DBC), Iran Consultant, Independent Consultant, Consultants CO., Ltd, China
Canada
Maria Rozpide
Director of the Environmental Consultancy
and Assessment Department TYPSA,
TYPSA Group, Spain
Feng Tian
General Manager, Chelbi Engineering
Consultants, Inc. , China
Anders Persson
Director of public affairs, Federation of
Swedish Innovation Companies , Sweden
Stéphanie Groen
Partner, Low Carbon Economy Transition
South & East Asia, ERM, Singapore
89
FCL Management Board
Sir Vivian Ramsey (Chair) Consulting Professional Programme Committee

Chair of FCL Management board & International judge,
Singapore International Commercial Court, Singapore Michele Kruger
Functional General Manage at SMEC & Chair of FIDIC's
Luis Villaroya
Diversity and Inclusion Council, South Africa
President of EPTISA & FIDIC Board VP, Spain
Hu Zhangxi
Gregs Thomopulos
Vice President, Shanghai Tunnel Engineering & FIDIC
Former Chairman of the American Council of Engineering
Certified Trainer, China
Companies (ACEC), USA
Tian Feng
Nelson Ogunshakin
General Manager, CHELBI Engineering Consultants Inc &
FIDIC CEO, Switzerland
FIDIC Certified Trainer, China
Grace Bema
Jomanah Al-Btoush
Partner at Brian Colquhoun Hugh O’Donnell & Partners
Project Management Specialist, USAID, Jordan
(BCHOD Consulting Engineers), Zimbabwe
Cosmin Tobolcea
John Uff
Founder & General Manager of PROTOBY, Romania
Emeritus Professor of Engineering Law at King's College,
London, UK
Madam Dan Yang
Director General of the Facilities and Administration Services
Department at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB),
China
FCL
Management
Board and
Contract Manager Programme Committee
Committees
Ron Watermeyer
Founder, Infrastructure Options (Pty) Ltd, South Africa
Bayo Adeola
Vice Chair of FCL Certification board & Chairman of CPMS,
Nigeria
Salvador Castro
Founder, SPCastro & Associates Inc & FIDIC Certified Trainer,
Philippines Consulting Engineer Programme Committee
Patrizia Palmitessa-Savric
Director and Head of Contracts and Dispute Resolution at Cosmin Tobolcea
Ginder Palmitessa & FIDIC Certified Adjudicator & Trainer, Founder & General Manager of PROTOBY, Romania
Botswana Tian Feng
Cyril Chern General Manager, CHELBI Engineering Consultants Inc &
Barrister & Abritrator, Ireland FIDIC Certified Trainer, China
Ron Watermeyer
Founder, Infrastructure Options (Pty) Ltd, South Africa
Hu Zhangxi
Vice President, Shanghai Tunnel Engineering & FIDIC
Certified Trainer, China
90
FCL Professional Conduct and Complaints Committee
Luis Villaroya
Adjudicator Programme Committee
Gregs Thomopulos
Former Chairman of the American Council of Engineering Lindy Patterson (Chair)
Companies (ACEC), USA Barrister (KC) at 39 Essex Chambers & Chair of the FCL
Adjudicator Programme, UK
Nelson Ogunshakin
FIDIC CEO, Switzerland Henry Musonda
Projects Director at KM Associates & FIDIC Certified
Adjudicator, Zambia
Stephane Giraud
Founder & CEO of Plan J Consulting, and Chair of FIDIC's
Capacity Building Committee, France
FCL Nominations Committee Qingkang Dai
Attorney at Beijing DHH Law Firm (Nanjing) Office, & Associate
Grace Bema
Professor at Southeast University, Nanjin, China
(BCHOD Consulting Engineers), Zimbabwe Cagdas Bayrak
Construction lawyer & & FIDIC Certified Adjudicator, Qatar
Gregs Thomopulos
Former Chairman of the American Council of Engineering
Nelson Ogunshakin
FCL Certification Board
John Uff (Chair)

Chair of FCL Certification board & Emeritus
Professor of Engineering Law at King's College
London, UK
Bayo Adeola (Vice Chair)
Vice Chair of FCL Certification board & Chairman of
CPMS, Nigeria
FCL Challenges and Appeals Committee
Lindy Patterson
Luis Villaroya Barrister (KC) at 39 Essex Chambers, UK
Stephane Giraud
Gregs Thomopulos Founder & CEO of Plan J Consulting, and Chair of
Former Chairman of the American Council of Engineering FIDIC's Capacity Building Committee, France
Ron Watermeyer
Nelson Ogunshakin Founder, Infrastructure Options (Pty) Ltd, South Africa
Cosmin Tobolcea
Grace Bema Founder & General Manager of PROTOBY, Romania
(BCHOD Consulting Engineers), Zimbabwe Michele Kruger
Functional General Manage at SMEC & Chair of
FIDIC's Diversity and Inclusion Council, South Africa
91
Global
Leadership
Forum Advisory
Board
Anthony Barry (FIDIC president) Chris Lewis

Senior Consultant, Aurecon, Australia Global Head of Infrastructure, EY, United Kingdom
Catherine Karakatsanis (FIDIC vice president) Mark Naysmith
Chief Operating Officer, Morrison Hershfield Group Inc., Canada CEO, UK & EMEA, WSP, United Kingdom
Luis Villarroya (FIDIC vice president) Malani Padayachee-Saman
President, EPTISA, Spain CEO, MPAMOT (Pty) Ltd., South Africa
Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE (FIDIC CEO) Nandita Parshad
Switzerland Managing Director, Sustainable Infrastructure, European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), United Kingdom
Jose Aparicio
Managing Director / VP Generation Latin America, Siemens Lara Poloni
Energy, Mexico Global President, AECOM, Australia
Anthony Bouchard Fang Qiuchen
President and COO, CDM Smith, United States Chairman, CHINCA, China
Alan Brookes Susan Reisbord
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Board, Executive Vice President, Environmental Services, Cardno,
Arcadis, United Kingdom United States
William Cox Fidel Saenz de Ormijana
Chief Executive Officer, Aurecon, Australia Chief Technical Officer, Ferrovial Construction, Spain
Robin Greenleaf Jens-Peter Saul
Executive Vice President, Architectural Engineers, Inc., Group CEO, Ramboll Group, Denmark
United States
Fuat Savas
Michael Haigh Managing Director//Co-head, Infrastructure Finance & Advisory,
Former Chief Executive, Mott MacDonald, United Kingdom J.P. Morgan, United States
Jim Johnson André Schneider
Director, Arup, United Kingdom CEO, Genève Aéroport, Switzerland
92
13
Looking to the future
93
FIDIC’s CEO Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE offers

some closing thoughts on where FIDIC finds
itself today as it faces up to future challenges in a
changing industry.
In its 110th anniversary year, FIDIC finds itself in a stronger

position than it has ever been in its history. We occupy an
increasingly influential place in the engineering, construction
and infrastructure industry and our member associations and
their member firms are playing a leading role in helping to plan,
shape and build the global infrastructure the world depends on
to support and sustain quality of life and prosperity into
the future. DR NELSON OGUNSHAKIN OBE
Chief Executive Officer, FIDIC
As the global representative body for national associations of
consulting engineers, FIDIC now represents over one million
engineering professionals and 40,000 firms in around 100 countries worldwide. With the buildings and infrastructure sector in
which FIDIC members work contributing at least – and probably a lot more – than US$36trillion to global GDP, our sector is clearly
a crucial one for the world economy. As a result, FIDIC’s responsibilities in representing the sector are greater than they have
ever been and we are responding to that by improving and expanding the range of our work to keep pace with an ever-changing
industry landscape and new challenges.
Over recent years, FIDIC has looked to professionalise its approach to put the organisation on a firmer footing to face future
challenges. We have done this and are now able to look forward with a sense of real optimism about the future, especially given
the way we responded to the pandemic, continuing to work in an agile and flexible way to ensure that FIDIC delivered on behalf
of members and the wider global industry. FIDIC’s response to the Covid pandemic, followed by the impact of the war in Ukraine,
global energy crisis, rising inflation and a potential global recession, has resulted in the organisation adopting technology-based
delivery of services to members and stakeholders. A new business model, coupled with hybrid working, is now the new normal
and offers us a clear way forward for the future. As a result, FIDIC faces the future in better shape than it has ever been before.
Its committees and advisory councils, all newly revamped and refocused, continue to do important work, reaching out to key
stakeholders and developing plans and strategies to address the key issues facing the engineering, construction and infrastructure
sector. We have also taken steps to take more control of FIDIC’s key activities and events, with the bringing in-house of the
organisation of our Official FIDIC Contract Users’ Conferences, thus beginning the process of bringing this contract users
community closer to FIDIC and putting them at the centre of these important events for the industry.
A key priority for FIDIC is the diversity and inclusion agenda. We have put steps in place to ensure that our board and committees
better represent the industry and some key steps forward have been taken in this area. Backed up by a revitalised and modernised
governance structure, which is now working throughout the organisation, FIDIC is much better placed to deal with the challenge
of change. There is still a road to travel on diversity - and not just in the area of gender, as we need to be aware of geography too
– but I sense a growing confidence throughout the organisation that the measures that we have put in place will see further strides
forward in the future. The appointment of Catherine Karakatsanis as the first woman as FIDIC president in 2023 is obviously an
important milestone in this regard, but rest assured that there will be no resting on laurels in this crucial area.
Communications remain super-important for FIDIC as we strive to do more and make an even greater impact. The monthly CEO’s
Update issued to all members and stakeholders during the year keeps key audiences informed and updated on a regular basis
and further steps are underway to improve FIDIC’s communications and marketing output and impact. In addition to improvements
to the FIDIC website and YouTube output, our online news and information platform Infrastructure Global is also carving out a
niche in the market and FIDIC’s social media is thriving and vibrant.
As always, FIDIC remains focused on delivering on behalf of its member associations. In everything that we do we are constantly
thinking about how we can leverage our advocacy for the benefit of our MAs, whether they are large, medium or small. FIDIC’s
smaller MAs need specific assistance and that is why we are taking steps to improve and enhance the collectivising of the
experience and knowledge of our wider group of MAs and committees to ensure that outputs are tailored and designed for use
by all members. The increased resources developed over the last two years, which now form part of an expanded FIDIC Body of
94
Knowledge, in terms of webinars delivered, State of the World reports, briefing notes and bulletins produced, are all available on
the FIDIC website or YouTube for download by MAs for use at national level. The pandemic and the post-Covid period have seen
many changes in the leaderships of a number of member associations and FIDIC is taking steps to ensure that we are able to
assist these new leaders by reaching out to them to ensure that everyone can learn from the collective experience within the
FIDIC organisation.
Financially, FIDIC faces the future in a relatively healthy position. This is thanks to the hard work of everyone involved in the
organisation, but given the future challenges ahead, we cannot rest on our laurels. We are continuing to invest in our training, via
the FIDIC Academy, our conference platform which will help to deliver even more successful future events, as well as developing
new contracts and standards and improving FIDIC’s publications sales platform to ensure that we can reduce our dependence
on subscription income and thereby provide better value to members and stakeholders. A new FIDIC Strategic Plan will also help
keep the organisation on track beyond 2024 as we look to build and run an organisation that is connected, effective, efficient and
proactive in engaging with all its key stakeholders.
When considering the next strategic plan there will be challenges on the horizon that were less of a consideration in 2020. For
example, artificial intelligence could significantly change the way that MAs and the sector works, the industry is no longer operating
in a low-interest rate environment, the SDGs will need to be delivered in only six years and net zero will be a far more important
driver of project development and investment. It is important that FIDIC continues to understand these challenges and develops
with the same conviction and determination that has helped deliver the current plan.
FIDIC is proud to be a global organisation that brings people, businesses and cultures together. Indeed, it’s embedded in our DNA
as an organisation. Leadership is also critical and our recently created FIDIC Global Leadership Forum will enable us to be even
better connected with important large firms internationally so that we can feed this knowledge and influence back into our MAs so
we can leverage that collective experience on behalf of the global industry.
So, FIDIC is better positioned than ever before to take advantage of the opportunities and challenges facing the global industry.
Through our work, connections and people, we have the potential to make a real difference to those we represent. FIDIC aspires
to be the go-to organisation for the global engineering, construction and infrastructure sector and this will continue to be the
organisation’s aim as we rise to new challenges to provide the leadership and vibrant network that the industry needs in the
years ahead.
With a professional and growing staff team, driving better and more effective stakeholder engagement, strong and effective
leadership at all levels, a more diverse and inclusive approach and more effective communications, FIDIC finds itself positioned
as a forward-looking and dynamic global organisation that is well equipped to face the challenges of the next 110 years -
and beyond!
95
14
Conclusion
from the president
96
Conclusion from the president
There is no better way to conclude this book,

than to hear the reflections of Anthony ‘Tony’
Barry, president, as he hands over the baton
in our anniversary year.
I don’t think I am understating it when I say I love FIDIC

and I love the consulting industry. It has provided me with
the most wonderful career opportunities for 40 years. I first
volunteered for my first Consult Australia committee in 1988
and was its president from 2004 – 2006. That was a great
opportunity, also in the midst of a very serious professional
indemnity insurance crisis.
ANTHONY ‘TONY’ BARRY
President, FIDIC, 2021-2023 Volunteering has been a big part of my life and it has helped
shape me as a leader.
So to become FIDIC president is a great opportunity to work with so many great people, to hear their ideas and garner their
thinking and guide and influence the direction of FIDIC, the industry and infrastructure itself. It is on the one hand a great
honour and on the other a great responsibility.
It has also been a wonderful opportunity to represent FIDIC and our industry at so many virtual and in person events, to share
FIDIC’s story and its thinking and to participate in so many discussions focussed on global good.
It has meant a huge amount of work and a lot of sacrifice by my wife, May, dealing with me and all the late nights on FIDIC
calls. However, it has also been really heartening to meet and work with so many outstanding people in our industry and our
global partners and stakeholders. It is a wonderful human experience.
It is hard to talk about my term of office in isolation. I have spent eight years on the board, in various roles and my presidency
has been the culmination of that journey for me. Much of the hard work put in over those years by me and many others has
come to fruition in a very satisfying way.
In the first four years, during the presidencies of Jaewan Lee and Alain Bentejac, we put in place our 2016 Strategic Plan, a
new governance framework and amended statutes and appointed Dr Nelson Ogunshakin as chief executive. We began the
work which resulted in setting up FIDIC Credentialing.
Past president Bill Howard led the development of our 2020-2024 Strategic Plan and no sooner had we laid the
foundation for it, the Covid pandemic was with us. While a very dangerous situation for the world and FIDIC, our response
and that of industry was magnificent. FIDIC stepped up, put out guides for business and for contracts, conducted webinars,
engaged on social media and continued to work feverishly to support the industry. We began to execute our 2020 strategy,
change our statutes further and build our new business model, review our working committee terms of reference, all the
while working from wherever we were. Despite personal difficulties and bereavements Bill’s leadership never wavered.
That was inspirational.
In the past two years, my focus has been on continuing to execute our strategy and the major highlights have been seeing the
FIDIC organisational model in place, the FIDIC team strengthened significantly, the FIDIC Academy coming to fruition, industry
leaders coming together in the Global Leadership Forum and the success of FIDIC Credentialing. The expansion of the FIDIC
President’s List has been fantastic. Lastly, it is an absolute pleasure and a great highlight to see Catherine Karakatsanis being
elected as president-elect, soon to be our first female FIDIC president.
But there have been so many others including: publication of the Climate Change Charter in 2021, seeing the relationships
and collaboration with the multilateral banks flourish and expand, the 2022 Diversity and Inclusion Policy, realising the 2022
reprint and the translations of the FIDIC Contracts, the publication of the FIDIC Contract Guide and seeing work commence
on the collaborative, PPP and turnkey contracts.
97
Conclusion from the president
All of this would not have been possible without a great Board, an outstanding FIDIC CEO and wonderful staff and volunteers.
They are so good.
Covid has continued to be a challenge for FIDIC in a practical and financial sense as it has been for MAs, firms and their
clients. It has required a considerable degree of foresight, agility and commitment by so many in the FIDIC family to handle
change and manage risk, to see opportunities and the take them. It has significantly changed what we do and how we do it. It
is a great credit to all as to how they have handled the situation.
Wars and conflicts have also been challenging, of course most notably for those invaded and those caught up in conflicts,
but also for FIDIC, our MAs, the firms and their people. While heart-breaking to see and to speak with those affected, it is also
heartening to see the compassion, support and commitment of so many in our industry towards them, their situation and
their future.
From a global perspective, the impact on climate of infrastructure and the services supported by it has become very real to
me, to FIDIC, to the Global Leadership Forum and the responsibility to lead the world to solutions that will reduce carbon
emissions is immense. Our world has made little progress and many initiatives need to be proven and accelerated if we are to
avoid very serious consequences of climate change. War and conflict further exacerbates the challenge. This has been a very
major focus during my presidency.
The different needs of countries and their MAs require very different responses from FIDIC. At the same time, country and
regional self-interest is never far away. Developing FIDIC‘s regional strategy has been challenging but success is important
if we are to develop capability and capacity in the places and at a price point which is locally relevant and in doing so avoid
economic colonisation.
FIDIC is somewhat unique. It has two strong elements to its purposes, one to be the peak body in the industry and the second
to provide leadership, platforms and support across the world for sustainable infrastructure, so desperately needed to enable
people everywhere to live their best lives and achieve their full potential.
The two working together give the industry an avenue for expression and contribution to a better world. The contribution over
many decades by industry volunteers have built an industry and organisational culture and FIDIC’s reputation, its brand if you
like, which is respected the world over. In many ways, FIDIC is the go-to organisation for infrastructure policy and advice.
FIDIC is much more than a board and a secretariat, it is an industry community with a culture built on three very wholesome
principles, values or pillars: quality, integrity and sustainability.
On its 110th anniversary, I would like to extend my personal gratitude and great respect to the thousands of volunteers and
staff who have made FIDIC what it is today. It is a great organisation and achieves a great deal for our industry and our world.
It plays well above its weight because of the generosity of spirit, the commitment and the very great skill of volunteers and
staff alike.
I urge everybody in the industry to continue generosity of spirit and contribution. It is vital to our world, the regions and our
industry. It is crucial that our board have the best directors we can find, that our CEO and staff are high performing and that
our volunteers are the best the industry can provide. Great leadership, wonderful people, a supportive culture and working
environment is a recipe for success.
Looking forward, 2024 will see a new Strategic Plan published and I am confident FIDIC will adapt and change as it needs to
in addressing the challenges of the years and decades ahead.
98
Disclaimer
This document was produced by FIDIC and is provided for informative purposes only. The contents of this document are general in
nature and therefore should not be applied to the specific circumstances of individuals. Whilst we undertake every effort to ensure
that the information within this document is complete and up to date, it should not be relied upon as the basis for investment,
commercial, professional, or legal decisions.
FIDIC accepts no liability in respect to any direct, implied, statutory and/or consequential loss arising from the use of this document
or its contents. No part of this report may be copied either in whole or in part without the express permission of FIDIC in writing.
Copyright FIDIC © 2023
Published by
International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC)

World Trade Center II P.O. Box 311
1215 Geneva 15, Switzerland
Phone: +41 22 568 0500

E-mail: fidic@fidic.org
Web: www.fidic.org

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Engineering the Future

110 Years of FIDIC

Founded in 1913, FIDIC, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, has

In the pages to follow, we demonstrate how FIDIC continues to underpin global

2 Contracts and standards_________________________________ 21

3 Thoughts on FIDIC at 110________________________________ 27

4 Challenges and opportunities____________________________ 40

6 Member associations and associates_____________________ 48

9 FIDIC staff team and secretariat executives________________ 74

10 Remaining relevant in changing times_____________________ 77

11 Thanking the FIDIC board at 110__________________________ 82

12 Thanking all our volunteers_______________________________ 85

13 Looking to the future____________________________________ 93

14 Conclusion from the president____________________________ 96

1913 FIDIC establishment

Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs

First members were three national

The aim of the proposed new federation was:

To study in fellowship all questions concerning protection and development of the

To group associations of engineers of all languages and countries and to promote

To make known the availability of consulting engineering services to various

1914 First World War

1920s Post-war re-establishment

First FIDIC ‘Year Book’ published

The Dutch and Scandinavian associations

1930s Vienna congress

The 1932 congress lasted for six days,

President P G Hörnell dies.

1939 Second world war

In June 1949, the UK Association of

Paris and The Hague general assemblies

1960s Steady accumulation of member associations

Working committee on professional liability appointed.

FIDIC in numbers - 1967

FIDIC’s total budget amounts to CHF 76,000.

FIDIC represented 10,000 consulting engineers (members)

Working in 5,000 consulting engineering firms

With a total of 125,000 employees

1970s Continued international growth

National associations join FIDIC

1975 GAM held in Paris, France.

ASPAC established to represent

By the end of the 1970s, the FIDIC

FIDIC’s committees have always played a

The 1980s saw further growth of the

The FIDIC History, by Ragnar Widegren of Sweden is published in 1988.

1990s The FIDIC White Book is published

Prangey Award is created

The Louis Prangey Award, the highest recognition

The contracts committee is created

ISCE replaces IACE (Iran) and is granted

By 1995, all FIDIC documents are

In 1996, the guide to ISO 9000 quality

New members join

EC reviews structure of the secretariat. Peter Boswell is appointed as general manager.

Sale of electronic documents begins

Prangey Award Winners in the 1990s:

2000s Move to the World Trade Centre, Geneva