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Unity in Boxing is the new signature line for the International Boxing Association following the completion of the 2008 Executive Committee meeting in Busan, Korea on Monday.

In the final act of the two-day meeting, all AIBA Executive Committee members signed a declaration of unity, "paving the way forward for AIBA to successfully negotiate the important months ahead," AIBA President Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu said. "The AIBA Executive Committee has made a number of crucial decisions, recognizing the need for a united approach to successfully take AIBA forward. This is a very important phase for AIBA and it is imperative that we are all together on the journey. We need a level of togetherness to support AIBA's new direction and must gain momentum together rather than a select few hindering the progress by going against the current."

The approval of new competition rules, a pledge to increase the autonomy of the national federations and the introduction of new continental confederations were some of the key examples of the Executive Committee implementing the AIBA reforms approved at the 2007 Extraordinary Congress.

New competition rules, which come into effect following the 2008 Olympic Games, include the introduction of three rounds of three minutes for elite men (19-34 years of age), four rounds of two minutes for elite women (19-34 years of age), four rounds of two minutes for Youth Boys (17-18 years of age), three rounds of two minutes for Youth Girls (17-18 years of age), three rounds of two minutes for Junior Boys (15-16 years of age) and three rounds of one and a half minutes for Junior Girls (15-16 years of age).

The weight categories for women and youth girls were also aligned more closely with men to feature 11 weight categories: 46 kg 48 kg, 51 kg, 54 kg, 57 kg, 60 kg, 64 kg, 69 kg, 75 kg, 81 kg and +81 kg.

AIBA's five Vice-Presidents were also named as the new AIBA Confederation Presidents following the approval of the selection process - the highest-ranked persons in the Vice-President's elections at the 2006 Congress. Dr Abdellah Bessalem (Algeria), Mr. Jorge Guzman (Cuba), Mr Jianping Chang (China), Dr Humbert Furgoni (France) and Mr. Lohial Nuau (Papua New Guinea) were therefore approved as the Presidents of the new AIBA Confederations, which are an amalgamation of the respective AIBA Continental Bureau and Continental Associations.

Meanwhile, Ningbo City, China and Moscow, Russia were named as hosts of the 2008 Women's World Boxing Championships and the 2008 1st AIBA World Cup respectively while a new event - the AIBA President's Cup - was unveiled to recognise the achievements of the AIBA President and will be held in Taiwan, in May. The host city, meanwhile, for the Youth World Championships is expected to be unveiled at the end of March.