The head of the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP), the Swiss-based international organization responsible for the World Stamp Championship, has announced his intention to run for re-election in August.
Bernie Beston, the FIP president since January 2019, will now run for the 2022-26 term, beginning at the 76th FIP Congress on Aug. 9 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Beston visited Toronto for the seventh FIP Jury Academy session – an initiative he said he wants to continue – during National Stamp Collecting Month in October 2019. He also called for an international single-frame exhibition, a first-of-its-kind format that later became CAPEX 22, when he was first elected at the 75th FIP Congress in 2018.
During his presidency, he visited several other countries, including the United States, Vietnam, China, Croatia, Italy, Moldova, Russia, Slovenia and Switzerland, on philatelic business.
His re-election platform includes launching two new commissions for open philately and picture postcards, creating new exhibit classes for first-day covers and cinderellas, increasing the FIP’s financial sponsorship of regional exhibitions and developing “firm” regulations and guidelines for digital literature exhibits, among other points.