The Philatelic Webmasters Organization (PWO) is an international philatelic organization that is based in Switzerland and that was created in 2001 by its current president Mr. Victor Manta. Its goal is to encourage the use of advanced information technologies for the promotion and development of philately.

Among its over 350 members there are many collectors with a large experience in philatelic webmastering and who are driven by their passion of sharing with others their knowledge of and love for philately. Some of them are also collectors with important philatelic experience, members of prestigious philatelic organizations who are well known for their competence and have been rewarded with different awards, including those received at FIP websites competitions.

In 2008, the most important philatelic event of the last 50 years, the World Philatelic Exhibition EFIRO 2008, will take place in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. This exhibition will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first Moldavian stamps, the renowned Bull Heads.

The PWO recently suggested the start and coordination of an activity consisting of the presentation of philatelic pages dedicated to Romanian philately at the EFIRO 2008. This initiative is supported by Mr. Wolfgang Maassen, the President of the Association Internationale des Journalistes Philatélique (AIJP), an organization that patronizes this event. AIJP and PWO are convinced that the interest for stamp collecting will be considerably increased by the popularization of philatelic sites that have as subject Romanian postal stamps, and that the presentation of the mentioned philatelic sites at this international exhibition will have an important impact both on Romanian philately and philatelic webmastering worldwide.

The following data illustrate the interest for the presence on the Web of Romanian philately:

• PWO counts at this time five Romanian philatelic webmasters;
• The site of the FFR (Romanian Philatelic Federation) presents six sites dedicated to Romanian philately;
• On the stamps site www.marci-postale.ro Mr. Manta publishes 24 links to sites dedicated to Romanian stamps. Their number is actually higher.

On the month of April 2007 the Organization Committee of EFIRO 2008 approved the project proposed by the PWO. A meeting between leading members of the OC and the PWO took place in the month of May 2007 in Berne, at the International Bureau of the UPU. During this very effective meeting, the participants significantly agreed on their goals and on the different means of achieving them in time.

The next steps to be taken by the organizers of the event (PWO, AIJP, OC - EFIRO 2008) are:

• to publish this press release on their respective sites and in their printed bulletins
• to contact the philatelic press, newsgroups and other media to popularize this project
• to contact directly the authors of different philatelic sites dedicated to Romanian philately and to suggest to them to participate in the event. We are convinced that the webmasters of these sites will be glad to participate
• to suggest to all interested philatelic webmasters worldwide to participate in this event, with new Web pages dedicated to Romanian philately

The presentation will take place at EFIRO 2008, on a computer with a large monitor in an exceptional location well suited for this activity. A poster near the monitor will provide basic information about what is presented. The participation will be free of charge for all. The presentation will remain available on the PWO site after the closing of the exhibition.

The PWO president, Mr. Victor Manta, will personally show the visitors at EFIRO 2008 (in Romanian, German, French, English and Russian) the compiled presentation of Romanian philatelic pages, and will discuss with them the philatelic activity on the Web, which he knows very well because he has been participating in it since 1996.

The interested stamp collectors are already invited to let the PWO know about their intention to participate, by using the e-mail address:efiro-2008@pwmo.org. More specific information about the presentation itself will be published soon on the PWO site (www.pwmo.org ).