The Confédération Internationale des Accordéonistes (CIA) held its 119th General Assembly of Delegates 'Winter Congress' in Skopje, Macedonia, hosted by the Association of Accordionists from the Republic of Macedonia.

Picture of Congress participants above.

In addition to the General Assembly, association President Zorica Karakutovska, Vice President Elizabeta Ilievska, Public Relations Manager Anica Karakutovska and Secretary Biljana Mladenovska provided an exciting array of activities including meetings, sightseeing, a reception with the Mayor of Skopje Mr. Trifun Kostovski, visits and meetings at the school and university, a formal concert of Professor Karakutovska's students, as well as an evening of Macedonian entertainment.

Nineteen Delegates from around the world traveled to Skopje to attend this first CIA function held in Macedonia. During the Congress, two new associations were accepted for CIA membership including the Associação dos Acordeonistas do Brasil (AAB) - President: Lauro Valerio, and the Italian Accordion Culture (IAC) - President: Federica Celesti.

The CIA Merit Award, in recognition of outstanding contributions to the International accordion movement were accepted to be awarded to renowned concert artist and teacher Friedrich Lips (Russia - picture above left) and to Manfred Gäbler (Germany) the organizer of the Klingenthal International Accordion Competition for more than 40 years. The Honored Friend of the Accordion Award was accepted to be awarded to Friedl Preisl and Herwig Peychär (Austria), Silvio De Pra (New Zealand - picture above right) and Sylvia Prior (USA - photo below), recognizing their lifelong work on behalf of the accordion in their respective countries.

Members of the Music Committee worked in person and via electronic communication to finalize competition guidelines for the 2008 Coupe Mondiale to be held in Glasgow, Scotland (poster left) from the October 22nd to 27th, and all information can be found at www.coupemondiale.org