On 25<sup>th</sup> May 2018, Marco Buoni was elected President of AREA on the occasion of the AREA General Assembly spring meeting in Vienna. Grzegorz Michalski (KFCh, Poland) and former President Gerhard Neuhauser (ÖKKV, Austria) joined the Board whilst Coen van der Sande (NVKL, Netherlands) and Wolfgang Zaremski (VDKF, Germany), stepped down.
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<em>Photo – AREA Board 2018-2020 (left to right): Grzegorz Michalski, Per Jonasson, Marco Buoni, Gerhard Neuhauser and Graeme Fox (N.B.: missing: Stig Rath)</em>
22 national associations and close to 40 delegates gathered in Vienna on the occasion of the biggest AREA spring General Assembly meeting. The event was hosted by the Austrian association ÖKKV. Marco Buoni (ATF, Italy) was unanimously elected President. After thanking Per Jonasson for his outstanding achievements in the past 4 years, Mr. Buoni, who has been an active member of AREA for 14 years, gave the motto of his Presidency:
In his introductory speech, Mr. Buoni underlined the importance of the AREA network. “We have seen the growing importance of our association and of our national associations, the AREA members. We are stronger united.” He went on, listing the challenges that the industry faces: the safety issues related to new alternative refrigerants, the standards, reliability, recovery and recycling, energy efficiency and technical competence achieved through professional training regarding all refrigerants, including flammables in particular. Mr. Buoni also noted that he intends to continue AREA work at international level: “We should also strive for global acceptance of what we have achieved and its successful operation in Europe.”
