Both agreements with MFTA and IAPCO were signed at ICCA’s recent congress in Abu Dhabi.
The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and Macau Fair & Trade Association (MFTA) have joined forces to help local Macanese and those in the Greater Bay Area further their careers in the events industry.
MFTA will host training sessions for ICCASkills, ICCA’s professional certification programme aimed at all industry suppliers, allowing MICE professionals in the region and beyond to access ICCA’s programme. The sessions will run for two years across 2025 and 2026.
The partnership relates to the delivery of on-site training programmes to become a Certified International Convention Specialist (CICS) or Certified International Convention Executive (CICE) as part of ICCASkills, bringing together industry providers and local authorities. This is the second agreement ICCA has signed with MFTA, following a successful event in September 2024.
Senthil Gopinath, CEO of ICCA said: “This agreement recognises MFTA’s commitment and investment in capacity-building alongside ICCA to provide high-quality continuing education programmes to our community, and expand the reach of ICCASkills around the world. We’re so excited to work with MFTA to further deploy our programme in the region and contribute to enriching the careers of business events professionals.”
ICCA has also partnered with IAPCO, the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers, to promote the value of business events through shared resources, workshops and educational sessions. The two organisations said they would work together to create a ‘PCO (professional conference organiser) capacity-building programme’ recognising the need to support the development and sustainability of the meetings industry in underserved areas.
ICCA and IAPCO will conduct research to determine specific locations where capacity-building would be most effective and have the most impact, with the aim of targeting professionals in the area for development and ultimately advocate for the value of DMCs and PCOs.
The initiatives with MFTA and IAPCO were agreed at the 63rd ICCA Congress, which recently concluded in Abu Dhabi.