Dear friends and colleagues,
I would like to start by thanking our President, Burton Conrod, Executive Director, David Alexander and ERO President Patrick Hescot, all the members of the board, the opportunity to present my candidacy to President-elect of the FDI.
Orlando Monteiro da Silva doing is speech of candidature to the position of FDI World President Elect
Also a special address to our friends hosting this meeting from Italy and their hospitality.
Institutions are made by people.
So, I have decided to create a website to explain, in as much detail as possible, what my experience is and how I think.
- Since 1998 I have closely followed FDI matters;
- I have been elected President of the Portuguese Dental Association since 2000;
- Also since 2000 I have been a delegate of my national dental association at the FDI an I carried out one term as FDI Councillor.
I am currently, as you know, President of the Council of European Dentists. I have announced on the last General Assembly, in Brussels, that I would not run for re-election after I finish my term in November this year.
I am available to occupy a position for which I feel experienced enough, capable of fulfilling and which motivates me.
I’m totally independent, free of compromises and conflicts of interest.
My soul commitment is with the profession!
I have always carried out my positions with complete dedication and enthusiasm until the end of the terms.
I am not the kind of person who waits their turn to be a candidate. If that was the case, I would have accepted the invitation that I received twice from someone, at the time, with a lot of influence in the FDI, to become treasurer and candidate to Council re-election. I am available now because I have the will, the support and the availability at every level to become President-elect of the FDI.
I can guarantee I will do everything to help improve this Institution.
I plan to collaborate and count with the support of many people who have plenty to offer the FDI and want an FDI that is closer to the people and renovated.
But, in a representation,strategical and political way.
That’s my calling!
The FDI is a structure with tremendous potential and is, as I see it, underused.
The FDI has to be especially focused on what is going on in dentistry now-a-days.
The growing Mobility of professionals and patients, the aspects linked with the Quality of practice, the role of Third Parties between dentistry and the public, the Organization and the Evolution of Dentistry, Patient Safety, Statistics, Manpower and so on.
I believe in an FDI that promotes oral health in all its aspects: education, promotion, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. Focused on the importance and on the opportunities that the different aspects of oral health provide and in the quality of life of populations, straight away!
ERO participants
The FDI must promote regular visits to the dentist in its every message.
It has to increase the promotion of dentistry and its techniques to the different societies of the whole world.
It has to promote these in its web site in the largest number of languages possible.
It has to be a truly global organization, World Dental Association and assume itself as such.
The FDI has to look for new partnerships. In Foundations, for example. In Governments and others.
The FDI should constitute itself as an “Fondation Dentaire International” (International Dental Foundation) to pursue some of its purposes.
The FDI should
- Make from every dentist an effective participator
- From Every association a point of contact
- In each region a delegation of the FDI
- From every congress a deeper moment of celebration, with the participation free of cost for those who promote the Congress in a non-profitable and generous way and contribute to the Institution, the member associations through their delegates.
We live in a moment of change in society, which goes beyond the economic, financial and social crisis.
The FDI has to be prepared to face the new challenges and embrace the New Opportunities it will come across.
And it is very possible that the results end up being positive!
Thank you for your attention!
Orlando Monteiro da Silva
Sunny days in Rome during ERO
Orlando Monteiro da Silva with Lena Hosseinzadeh (at left), Immediate Past President of the European Dental Students Association (EDSA) and Emiliya Taneva (at right), EDSA Executive Committee 2008/09 President
European Regional Organization of FDI in Rome, the 17th Abril
Orlando Monteiro da Silva 