Gold Pins were presented to the retiring World Board and World Council members in recognition of their contributions to the BWI. Also to two women.
These included Ruud Baars, FNV The Netherlands, Bert van der Spek, ACV Netherlands, Joshua Ansah, TWU Ghana, Haruyoshi Iwasaki, SINRIN ROREN, Japan, Tess Borgonos, KAMAO-Philippines, Crosby Mpoxo, NUM South Africa and Elena Tan from BWI office Malaysia for her loyalty and long career in IFBWW and BWI.
With regard to the venue for the next World Congress - Brazil was chosen to host the 5th BWI World Congress in 2021. The proposal was put forth by the new Vice-President for Latin America and Caribbean region Saul Mendez.
The youth ceremony included youth talks on the future vision of the BWI by the next generation of BWI leaders. The youth cited the Hollywood culture and movies which contributed to shape perception of women as weak. “Youth should be in power; youth is the most informed generation and information is power”.
The Congress was officially closed by Per-Olof Sjöö, President of the BWI, who promised to take the organisation one step further.