Carnival is the time of celebration in Brazil and IAPCO and Rio de Janeiro have plenty to celebrate.

IAPCO (The International Association of Professional Congress Organisers) and the Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau announced today the signing of a collaboration partnership agreement.

Strategically, IAPCO has been focused on expanding its outreach in Latin America, having established destination partnerships in Europe, North America, Asia, Middle East and Australasia. Rio completes IAPCO’s stable of exclusive global partnerships, and together they are able to create high quality platforms for the exchange of knowledge, business and cultural understanding,

IAPCO, with 118 members across 41 countries, representing more than 5000 meeting professionals, has the potential to bring major International Association business to the city and region.

“It is essential that we, as PCOs, are kept up-to-date with developments, facilities and benefits that will assist us in making key recommendations for our clients,” said Jan Tonkin, President of IAPCO. “We are extremely excited about this collaboration and look forward to working closely with this vibrant and forward thinking city”.

“Rio de Janeiro, as well as a post card from Brazil to the world, has great potential to receive international events from various spheres and has recently proved to have great organizing capacity to host world events”, commented Vinícius Lummertz, President of Embratur. “The title received by the city is an acknowledgment of the entity for years of professional efforts of the Carioca trade. The co-operation agreement signed between the Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau and IAPCO will be very important to consolidate Rio de Janeiro’s capital as a protagonist of the Event Tourism segment in South America.”

“Having the Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau as a member of IAPCO is extremely important for Rio de Janeiro, not just for the fact that the city is the only representative in Latin America, but also for the exclusive range of opportunities and advantages that this partnership provides us, to showcase the unique congress and events infrastructure that city has. The Importance of being able to network and to exchange destination experiences and evolve jointly with the new tendencies IAPCO bring is unique, declared Sonia Chami, President of Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau. “There is no doubt that as a partner of IAPCO we will consolidate Rio as one of the most desired destinations in the world for meetings, congresses and events”.

“Partnerships such as these provide IAPCO members with knowledge and first-hand information empowering them to make informed decisions and raise Rio’s profile as an international meetings destination,” added Michael Nagy, Director of Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau. “We are thrilled about this partnership and look forward to working closely with IAPCO members”.

About IAPCO
IAPCO (International Association of Professional Congress Organisers) is the leading international association for professional conference organisers, representing today 118 companies comprised of over 5000 professional congress organisers, meeting planners and managers of international and national congresses, conventions and special events from 41 countries Email: www.iapco.org