Visit Faroe Islands know how important their local experts are in the mutual effort to bid for congresses and have nominated some of them for “Ambassador of the Year”, “Ambassador Initiative of the Year” and a dedicated “Innovation Prize” at the recent assembly to honor outstanding efforts.
On the 22nd of February 2018 Visit Faroe Islands organized their annual Ambassadors’ Day in the Faroe Islands. Dr. Shahin Gaini, chief physician, was appointed Ambassador of the Year, Katrin Abrahamsen from the Faroese Gymnastic Association received a prize for this year’s Ambassador Initiative (The 2017 Northern European Gymnastics Championships was an artistic gymnastics competition held in the town of Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands) and Jákup Sørensen of NORA was selected for the special innovation prize for the fabulous Blue Fashion Challenge.
Visit Faroe Islands’ Ambassador Network was established 18 March 2016 – presently it includes around 100 ambassadors in different fields. The ambassadors are in boards and working groups, and have the possibility to attract meetings, conferences and sports events to the Faroe Islands.
The ambassador’s day started with a presentation from Mr. Roger Kellerman, publisher of Meetings International, who stated the potential that lies in the meeting market, and how much income this can give to the community in the Faroe Islands.
Dr. Shahin Gaini, who was later appointed Ambassador of the Year, gave a presentation about a
large medical conference, that he hosted in August: www.nscmid2017.com.
All the ambassadors had the opportunity to meet the partners in the Faroe Islands MICE network, such as hotels, venues, airline and dmc’s, during the day.
The following projects won the awards at the Ambassador’s day in Torshavn:
Ambassador of the Year 2018: Shahin Gaini, Chief Physician, PhD
In 2017 Mr. Shahin Gaini was hosting a large medical conference: NSCMID 2017 in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands with a participation of 400 delegates. Dr. Gaini was very enthusiastic about the project and managed to put together a high level program. Also, he was very attentive to make sure to integrate the host destination as much as possible into his conference, so that the delegates would not forget they actually were situated in the Faroe Islands. He integrated local culture and ambiance, with Faroese ring dance and a true Faroese party with local food.
The conference also gave a great example for how to leave a legacy in the destination by creating a mini conference in downtown Tórshavn for the public, where knowledge and interesting findings about bacteria and antibiotics were shared.
Ambassador’s initiative of the year 2018: Katrin Abrahamsen, Faroese Gymnastics Association
Once again the Faroese Gymnastics Association managed to attract an international competition to the Faroe Islands, when the North European Championship 2017, NEC, was held in Tórshavn in Oct
ober 2017. 60 judges, 110 gymnastic athletes as well as a great number of supporters took part in this international event. According to evaluations from the delegates, this was the best NEC competition they ever participated in.
Initiatives from the Faroese Gymnastics Association are always characterized by great professionalism and extremely high quality by giving attention to everything from the overall organization to the smallest details.
Special prize of honor – Innovation prize: Jákup Sørensen, Nora (North Atlantic Cooperation)
The board has decided to give a special award to the innovative initiative of “Blue Fashion Challenge”, that was hosted in the Faroe Islands in August 2017. This initiative highlights in a very different way the natural resources from below seawater, and how to use them in innovative ways.
The unique event celebrates sustainable fashion and the ‘blue bioeconomy’. This design competition was created by NORA and the Faroese Ministry of Fisheries to introduce Nordic fashion designers to marine biomaterials such as fish skin, sealskin and seaweed.
The focus of the initiative was on showcasing how to reuse resources and create new possibilities in sustainable fashion. This special prize of honor is also given since the ambassador has incorporated international PR from the beginning and invited famous fashion photographer Tommy Ton to the event.
More info and pictures on Blue Fashion Challenge following this link.
NORA (North Atlantic Cooperation) is an intergovernmental organisation under the regional cooperation programme of the Nordic Council of Ministers and it brings together Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands and Coastal Norway. The organisation builds on the West Nordic cooperation founded in 1981 and became NORA when Coastal Norway joined in 1996. The NORA countries are interlinked by their geographic location, shared traits and common challenges, in addition to multiple historical, institutional and cultural ties.
Read more Faroe Islands stories on our newsroom at tmf-dialogue.net!
Your contact at Visit Faroe Islands:
Annleyg Lamhauge
MICE Marketing Manager
annleyg@visitfaroeislands.com
tel.: +298 556136
www.visitfaroeislands.com/meetings
Your contact at tmf dialogue marketing:
Ulrike Kiesel
Head of Content & PR
u.kiesel@tmf-dialogue.com
tel. +49 (0)931 9002 114
