9^th OFFICIAL MEETING OF

WORLD LEADERS AUTOGRAPH SOCIETY

Tbilisi, Georgia

12^th August 2023

hosted by:     Jan Syvertsen, Norway     

                     Michal Dominik, Slovakia

written by: Jan Syvertsen, Norway and Michal Dominik, Slovakia

participants:  Jan Syvertsen, Norway

                                                                             Michal Dominik, Slovakia                                    

                                                                                      Rune Moe, Norway

                                                        David, Czech Republic

                                                                                      Christer Danielsson, Sweden                      

                                                                                      Karl, Austria

                                                                                      Maciej Olbert, Poland

                                                                                      Stefan André Krosvik, Norway

                                                                                      Anders, Norway

                                                        Dag, Norway

                                                                                      Heinz-Ulrich Kammeier, Germany

The 9th meeting was held 11th-13th August 2022 in Tbilisi, Georgia in the hotel Holiday Inn Express Tbilisi Avlabari. This year there were 14 participants  from 7 countries - 11 collectors and 3 family members or friends. Some members used the opportunity to meet in Tbilisi for the visit of other countries in this region or for travelling around Georgia.

Our society WLAS was founded in 2013 in Krakow, so this year we celebrated our 10th anniversary. Next year we will celebrate the anniversary of the 10th WLAS-meeting in Prishtina, Kosovo after the meetings organized in Krakow, Oslo, Žilina-Kunerád, Leipzig, Belgrade, Minsk, Sofia, Sarajevo and Tbilisi.

The first event for the participants was organized on Friday evening in the restaurant Marakesh in the old town of Tbilisi.

The annual meeting in Tbilisi was realized on Saturday since 10am to ca 6pm with the coffee break at 11:45am and lunch in Cafe Palermo at 1:30pm. The program schedule was very interesting. We started with the obligatory round about our successes and challenges the past year. We could hear 3 interesting lectures, the first about the history of the hosting country (by Christer from Sweden), the second about the autographs received via the contact with the secretary of the former Czech president (by David from the Czech republic) and the third about credentials and cabinet photos (by Heinz-Ulrich Kammeier from Germany).

Anders from Norway realized the traditional autograph quiz, which was won by the team „Czechoslovakia“. Michal Dominik from Slovakia informed about the official webpage and insights about traffic and mainly about the work with invitations and contacts with Georgian former leaders.  He compared how it was reaching out to politicians in Sarajevo vs Tbilisi.

This year we included also some new activities. Maciej from Poland presented signed items from Georgia belonging to WLAS members and Anders from Norway organized some video greetings from members, who were not able to participate in Tbilisi.

Prishtina, the capital of Kosovo was chosen for the 10th meeting by the participants in the traditional election (the city most voted for in our Facebook poll was Bucharest). This election was organized by Anders. The meeting will be held 10th-12th August 2024 and we hope to see many of members.

The highlight of the 9th conference was the meeting with the former Prime Minister of Georgia Mr. Mamuka Bakhtadze, who generously spent 3 hours with our company. The meeting started at 5pm in the conference room with the discussion led by Anders as a moderator, then we organized the photo and autograph session and we finished the program in the restaurant Maspindzelo with the drinks and later with the dinner. We all enjoyed the meeting with the former prime minister, who was our 7th distinguished guest.

We tried to invite also other former leaders - former presidents, prime ministers or foreign ministers. Some of them apologized because they stayed outside Tbilisi and some of them were willing to sign for us. We have finally received the autographs of the former president Giorgi Margvelashvili and of the former prime minister Giorgi Gakharia.

SOME INTERESTING MOMENTS FROM THE MEETING IN TBILISI 2023