At the end of 2017, we’ve asked the Secretary General Alessandro Sambuco for an analysis of the year from the point of view of the General Secreteriat, which has its headquarters at Rome, in Italy. Here is his analysis. The year that has just ended has had as a high point the 2017 FIM Europe Congress in Rome. The General Secretariat was directly involved in the organization after the cancellation of the Congress scheduled in Luxembourg. In reality we are always busy organizing the Congresses but normally we are joined by the FMN hosting them. For the Rome Congress we have met every need with the limited human resources we have available, ensuring at the same time ordinary (and sometimes extraordinary) activities. The result has however filled me with pride and for this I thank the staff once again. My glance at the recent past cannot but dwell once again