Letter from the President

Emilio COLÓN

I am proud to be a civil engineer, but I am very proud to have been elected President of the new emerging World Council of Civil Engineers, after so many years of struggling.

Our founding members have expressed their preference to be real leaders in the civil engineering arena instead of playing the role of simple followers of predominant organisations. Unless we begin to lead effectively we will be let, with little opportunity to influence the choice of path.

WCCE pretends to facilitate a global platform where all the members are equal, regardless of their origin. Our council is open to all the existing organisations involved directly or indirectly in the civil engineering and construction business, willing to collaborate in a positive way in the achievement of our common goals.

However, WCCE is not a one-man show. It must be a team effort, with the effective contribution of all our members. We are lucky to start with a small but great team, working together, and also an efficient staff team.

We consider Internet as the most effective tool, being the easiest and most stable way of transferring information and exchanging knowledge, even in the most remote areas.

As civil engineers we are very satisfied of being part of a highly creative profession, that leaves along our daily performance a permanent record of achievements. The real high level of standard of living of our civilisation is mainly due to civil engineers and what they create.

Our Council will act as a promoter for the exchange of ideas, the communication of technological information and the development of civil engineering standards. We will try to foster co-operation between civil engineering organisations, to further their formation, to support the membership of women and young engineers, to safeguard quality of life, to promote health and safety, summarizing we want to raise the role of civil engineers as inspirational and reliable leaders, using their imagination and creativity in the mastery and domination of technology, to tackle successfully the important challenges of our community.

We need to use our engineering know-how to help influence and educate decision makers and we will, on behalf of the global civil engineering community, act as an advisor in public and private matters. Our future code of conduct will reflect the core values like trust and honesty, integrity and ethical behaviour, high standards, quality and professionalism,  including fighting corruption in engineering and construction.

The governance structure of the WCCE ensures transparency and accountability, with a minimum of bureaucracy. The central WCCE Secretariat is based in Madrid, at the headquarters of the Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, where a small professional team ensures its day to day planning and operations, under the guidance of the Executive Director.

It has taken a huge effort to reach this point. However, we still need to go a long way and hopefully this will be done with the help from civil engineers, either individually or through the organisations and companies all over the world.

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