After five years of expectation for the IALA Family to reunite, next year, on May 28^th, this wish will come true with the 20^th IALA Conference in Brazil.

Bathed by South Atlantic blue waters and surrounded by a verdant amphitheater of mountains, Rio de Janeiro is the place where we will meet again.

The 20^th IALA Conference 2023, under the Theme "Marine Aids to Navigation – Innovation for a Sustainable Future", will be an excellent opportunity to bring National, Industrial, as well as Associate and Honorary Members of IALA together, to discuss relevant and current issues on Aids to Navigation.

The conference will address the applicability of latest technologies developed in various fields of human activity, for the benefit of the primary purpose, the comprehensive concept of Safety of Navigation. This is a demand that is growing every day, presenting new challenges to IALA Technical Committees and the IALA World-Wide Academy.

It is worth noting the investment in Aids to Navigation results in better protection of the environment, which is something that has always been done ranging from the simplest Aids to Navigation, like buoys and lighthouses, to larger projects, such as e-navigation.

With the certainty that it is essential to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of Aids to Navigation, the 4^th IALA Heritage Seminar will be held, this time, before the Conference. The goal of this seminar is to understand and revere the paths traced by our predecessors, looking for solutions to preserve this heritage for future generations.

A good example of this is the commemoration of the two-hundred-year mark that the lens developed by the French physicist Augustin Jean Fresnel was installed in the Cordouan Lighthouse, who lent his name to these fantastic lenses that are still used to this day.

The Declaration of Rio de Janeiro, which may be issued by the General Assembly, will be a stimulus to good practices that will permeate the relationship of all those involved in providing navigators a network of quality, effective and efficient Aids to Navigation.

The Brazilian Navy, which is the national Maritime Authority, will be pleased to welcome the entire IALA Family and other worthy representatives of the International Maritime Community, at the 20^th IALA Conference. We will put forth every effort to make this important forum of Global Maritime Industry a successful event, aiming at the improvement of Aids to Navigation and, consequently, raising the level of Safety of Navigation and Environmental Protection worldwide.

See you soon in Brazil!

Rear-Admiral Carlos André Coronha Macedo
Director of Hydrography and Navigation
Brazilian Navy