Minutes of the 14th Annual General Meeting

Stan Stewart declared the meeting open at 20.02 BST

Those present:
Stan Stewart – UK, Daryl Holle – USA, Fiona Benson – UK, Rayan Hayder – KSA, Craig Culley – UK, Vivian Diaconescu – Romania, Prof. Khalifa – Egypt

1 – Apologies for Absence
No apologies were received.

2 – Chairman’s Welcome Address
The chairman welcomed all offering special welcome to Vivian Diaconescu who has agreed to lend his extensive business experience as a director.  The chairman also offered a special welcome to Prof. Khalifa following his recent health challenges.

3 – Approval of Minutes AGM 2015
The chairman recorded 5 votes for and one abstention from Vivian, who did not attend last year’s meeting. There were no matters arising from those minutes put forward for discussion.

4 – Chairman’s report
All present confirmed having read the report and there were no comments. Click here to read the Chairman’s report.  All present confirmed having read.

5 – Treasurer’s report
The chairman reported 4 votes in favour and 2 abstentions.  The abstentions were from Craig Culley as the treasurer and creator of the report and Vivian Diaconescu as still unfamiliar with the accounting systems as a new director.   Click here to read the Treasurers report and access to the accounts for the year 2015/2016.

6 – Election of Directors
During the year Vivian Diaconescu was accepted as a new director and Stand Stewart and Prof. Hesham Khalifa agreed to stand again and with no further applications to serve as a director were received and as are willing to continue they are automatically re-elected unopposed.  Our chairman added a comment:  Some of us are getting a bit long in the tooth so some younger blood to continue representing the association would be welcome.

Current Directors – dates represent due to retire and up for re-election:

AGM 2017: Fiona Benson

AGM 2018: Rayan Haydar, Craig Culley, Daryl Holle

AGM 2019: Stan Stewart, Hesham Khalifa, Vivian Diaconescu

As a new director Vivian Diaconescu stated: “I surely hope that I can bring in some fresh new ideas or at least different ways of looking at ostrich commercial farming while hoping to have access to your extensive experience in this field”.

7 – The officers for the coming year
It was agreed that these will remain the same but there is a need to review these posts during the coming year.

8 – Any Other Business
Vivian Diaconescu shared his experiences as fresh to the industry and talking to meat buyers at all levels.  His experiences confirmed all we have discussed and identified over the years – and now how to move forward.