BestCities recognizes International Diabetes Federation with Client Award

FRANKFURT, Germany – BestCities Global Alliance is delighted to announce that the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has been named recipient of the inaugural BestCities Client Recognition Award.

FRANKFURT, Germany – BestCities Global Alliance is delighted to announce that the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has been named recipient of the inaugural BestCities Client Recognition Award.

Presenting the award at IMEX Frankfurt, BestCities Board Chair Ms. Neeta Lachmandas congratulated the International Diabetes Federation and said they had been chosen based on their record-breaking congress in Dubai in 2011 and their recent announcement that Vancouver will become the fourth BestCities to host the World Diabetes Congress in 2015.

โ€œAs one of the largest health-related congresses in the world and a leading global meeting for diabetes, the World Diabetes Congress is an important event for any destination that has the honor of hosting it and we are proud that four of our alliance partners have now been selected by IDF,โ€ said Ms. Lachmandas.

To be eligible to receive the BestCities Client Recognition Award, an association must meet five set standards which include the selection of a minimum four BestCities destinations; international rotation; minimum 1,000 delegates; and the unanimous vote of the Alliance committee as well as leaving a lasting legacy at the previous destination.

โ€œNot only did IDF meet all five criteria, but the outstanding success of the 2011 World Diabetes Congress in Dubai, which attracted an unprecedented 15,100 delegates, made them a very worthy candidate,โ€ said Ms. Lachmandas.

Accepting the award, Mr. Mario Fetz, Director External Relations for the International Diabetes Federation thanked BestCities for recognizing the work of IDF in Cape Town and Dubai and for supporting their upcoming congresses in Melbourne (2013) and Vancouver (2015).

โ€œIDF is an umbrella organization of over 200 national diabetes associations in over 160 countries. It represents the interests of the growing number of people with diabetes and those at risk. The cities selected to host our world congress put our key regions in the global health spotlight and help us to attract delegates – making location and accessibility an important part of our decision making process,โ€ said Mr. Fetz.

โ€œIn 2006, Cape Town hosted the largest World Diabetes Congress ever held in Africa and the largest organized outside Europe. The World Diabetes Congress in Dubai was the largest in IDF history, and with more than a third of all people with diabetes found in the Western Pacific Region, Melbourne is the perfect choice to host the congress later this year,โ€ said Mr. Fetz.

โ€œIn 2015, IDF will bring the World Diabetes Congress to Vancouver. We estimate that in North America one in ten adults has diabetes. The city itself has an exceptionally good track record in hosting ground breaking events and has linguistic and logistical advantages for thousands of IDFโ€™s global delegates.โ€

โ€œAlthough we were aware of BestCities, we did not set out to consciously choose four of their partners. However, we found that the destination expertise, planning and bid assistance we received at each of the bureaus gave us the added assurance that we were in the right place. Now that we have worked with them over a number of years, we understand better how their quality management system works and the continuity between partners is particularly welcome with a meeting of our size and complexity,โ€ he said.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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