The European Federation of the Associations of Professional Congress Organisers, EFAPCO, has become the 12th major conference industry organisation to join the global membership of the Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC).

"We were delighted to accept JMIC's invitation to join their network," said EFAPCO President Nicolas Le Brun. "In just six short years we appear to have made great progress in forging strong links with the EU, and we hope that will help to reinforce JMIC's drive to gain greater recognition for the meetings and events industry, worldwide, as well as across Europe. We look forward to making an active contribution to the work undertaken by JMIC".

JMIC President Leigh Harry said: "We want to ensure that JMIC has the ability to represent the interests of the full spectrum of international industry organizations, and the addition of EFAPCO to our ranks is a further strengthening in that regard. As we have said previously, it is important that we can, as an industry, present a strong and united front when the need arises, and our sense is that time is now.

"JMIC's primary role and opportunity is to create an overall voice for the industry and to provide a mechanism for collective action in areas where this is required", said Harry. "As a Council, it is very much dependent on the support of its members for the actions it undertakes, and we expect that once consensus is achieved, much of the actual delivery will take place via those member organisations that are best positioned to get results. In this regard, the access and relationships that organisations like EFAPCO can bring to the table will be extremely valuable in advancing overall industry interests".

Along with its existing industry networking, awards and advocacy programming, JMIC is now advancing the exchange of information and programming among various industry sectors, creating a more powerful and effective collective voice to address key issues, advancing industry value measurement and staging an industry Summit to address key issues and increase industry profile.

These programmes are being developed with the support of new JMIC partners IMEX and Reed Travel Exhibitions, who are working actively with the coalition to help it achieve its goals.