Brussels, 7 December 2011: On 5 December 2011, the European Poplar Association, Pro-Populus, held an extraordinary General Assembly in the CEI-Bois premises in Brussels. On this occasion, the members have chosen Mrs Nicoletta Azzi as the new President of the Association. She replaces Mr Bernard Mourlan, who was holding this function since the creation of Pro-Populus three years ago. Mrs Nicoletta Azzi, Italian member of Pro-Populus and representative of the company Panguaneta will be assisted by vice-presidents Mr Pedro Garnica (ES), Mr Bernard Mourlan (FR) and Mr Fabio Boccalari (IT) as well as by Board members Mr Marc De Bock (BE), Mr André Deterck (BE) and Mr Hervé Drouin (FR).

Earlier this year, during its General Assembly in Mantova (IT), Pro-Populus appointed Mr François Sougnez as their new Secretary General, thereby maintaining the link with the European Confederation of Woodworking industries (CEI-Bois), which keeps on supporting Pro-Populus and hosting its headquarters.

The new direction will carry on with the activities initialised in the past years and pursue the overall goals of Pro-Populus, i.e.:

- Position poplar as a strategic raw material;

- Gather, promote, defend and represent the production and use of poplar;

- Present a platform for information exchange;

- Study any question of interest to the poplar sector.

In the coming months, the members have agreed to:

- Draft a multilingual document presenting the different aspects of the poplar culture;

- Enlarge the membership by welcoming new members;

- Meet the national and European authorities to further sensitise them.

Pro-Populus offers an opportunity to anyone working with or interested in poplar to join the association and to contribute to its activities. This can be as a full member or as a sponsor/contributor.

For more information, please contact Mr François Sougnez (françois.sougnez@cei-bois.org), Secretary General of Pro-Populus.