On the 10th December 2011 in the City Hall of Kecskemét took place the international year-evaluation conference of the International Tisza Cluster Association (ITCA). The organization was founded exactly 1 year ago in Kecskemét, upon proposal of the following founding countries: Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine, which countries have more than a thousand companies connected in some way to the Tisza Cluster Association and numerous world inventions, and patents are in their possession, especially in regard of waste processing, cleaning up contaminated sites, and converting landfills into a growing area.

The sphere of the participating countries has expanded: during the conference was announced the accession of Croatia, in addition there are ongoing negotiations with Poland, and the successful conclusion of these talks is expected by the first quarter of 2012.

More than 10 countries were represented at the conference, moreover Mongolia's ambassador to Budapest held a speech as well.

The delegation of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta, Federation of the Autonomous Priories (KMFAP) also attended the conference, with the leadership of H.G. Prof. George Popper – Prime Minister, while Pro Deo State University (PDSU) was represented by Sir Dr. Ferenc Kertész-Bakos, senior lecturer.

At the beginning of the opening ceremony the greetings of Pál Schmitt – President of the Republic of Hungary, and of Viktor Orbán – Prime Minister of Hungary were read out. Then Prof. George Popper was called upon to hold the opening speech. In doing so, Prof. Popper said that many members of our Knight Order are involved in the activities of ITCA, who drew our attention to the organization with regard to the common objectives: environmental protection, water resources, renewable green energy, waste recycling, tourism and leisure development.

Prof. George Popper announced officially that KMFAP undertook patronage over the activities of ITCA, and handed over the declaration about it. KMFAP can assist the work of the International Tisza Cluster Association through its knights living in the affected countries.

Through its significant connections in Africa and in other Third World countries KMFAP can also contribute much to the spread of these patents worldwide. We plan to cooperate in the field of education as well, which has a major role in the activities of the Cluster.

The Prime Minister of KMFAP specially mentioned the active work of our Knight – Sir dr. Attila Erdőfi-Szabó and his company, BioLabor Ltd., whose activities are closely related to KMFAP, and also member of ITCA since its foundation.

Professor Popper announced the present guests that the representative of Knights of Malta (KMFAP) also stands for the International Tisza Cluster Association at the UN Climate Session, a 2-week conference of great dimensions, which will start on the 28th November in Durban, South Africa.

Prof. George Popper was accompanied to the ITCA conference by Sir Csaba Kertész, Knight Commander, President of the Hungarian Section of IBSSA, who signed a cooperation agreement with Mr. Béla Berkes, President of ITCA.

Mr. Béla Berkes, president of the International Tisza Cluster Association declared that “forming the organizational frameworks” and determination of the “game rules” have just been completed, so next year ITCA can start broadening the cooperation and executing the sample projects in all the member countries.