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The IPF has informed us that in June 2021 it hosted AAPE 2021, a virtual tri-national stamp exhibition, with the participation of the United Arab Emirates and the United States. The exhibition marked the Abraham Accords peace agreements signed by the three countries in September 2020.  It consisted of 3 competitive classes (Traditional Philately, Postal History and Thematic Philately), and each participating country had to submit 6 exhibits to be judged. There was also a Court of Honor, with a single exhibit from each country, and a non-competitive Picture Postcards section. It was further stipulated that at least half of the exhibits should be related to the Middle East.

The Jury President was Colin Fraser and the Jury Secretary Yigal Nathaniel. There were two groups of judges, each of which included a representative from each  participating country. This structure required a large number of Zoom meetings of each group of judges and then of the entire jury. The quality of exhibits was high – 3 won Large Gold medals while 4 others won Gold. The winner of the Grand Prix award was Thomas Johansen with an exhibit entitled “Muscat 1864 to 1948: The Development of the Indian Post Office in Eastern Arabia“.

AAPE 2021 opened on June 15^th with a ceremony attended by FIP President Bernard Beston. Two seminars were conducted during the exhibition. Tim Bartshe of the US gave a presentation about “Exhibiting Picture Postcards” and answered many questions about this novel exhibiting class, and Colin Fraser gave a lecture about “Titles and Title Pages”. All these events were recoded and are available to view at the exhibition website www.aape2021.com.