Two new national federations were recognized at this FISA congress: Cambodia and Guinea... the total number of national federations is now 153

The International Federation of Remo, the FISA, held the 2017 Ordinary Congress in Sarasota-Bradenton, USA, after the successful 2017 World Championship. President Jean- Christophe Rolland opened the Congress by delivering honour medals to the representatives of the counties of Sarasota and Manatee, as well as to Randy Benderson and Paul Blackketter for their work to create the installation where the championship has been developed. She also recognized the Executive Director of the Organizing Committee of the World Championship, Meredith Scerba. This was followed by reports of the President, Members of the Executive Committee, Chairmen of the Specialized Committees and Continental Representatives.

After a long process of consultation with all the national federations present, the FISA Congress voted to amend the Rule 36 - World Remo Championships Program for the Senior, Para-Rowing, Sub-23 and Juvenile categories. The Executive Director, Matt Smith, gave a detailed explanation of the Council's recommendation for each of the open-weight, light and para-rolling events.

The Council required a two-thirds majority to change Rule 36. And with 137 votes in favour, and six votes against, Congress approved the new World Championship program by 95.8%. The program brings gender equality in all the championships and you can see in detail here: New Rule 36

The Congress unanimously re-elected the following persons for a further four-year term:

President: Jean-Christophe Rolland (FRA)
Vice-President: Tricia Smith (CAN)
Treasurer: Mike Williams (GBR)

The following persons were elected to the Executive Committee for a term of four years as chairpersons of commissions:

Lenka Dienstbach-Wech (GER), President of the Commission on Athletes
Patrick Rombaut (BEL), Chairman of the Arbitration Commission
Mike Tanner (HKG), Chairman of the Events Commission

The Congress also attributed the next world rowing events:

The World Championships of the Senior category (non-Olympic modalities), Sub-23 and Junior 2020 received offers from three Organizing Committees: Plovdiv (BUL), Poznan (POL) and Bled (SLO). The offer of Plovdiv (BUL) was withdrawn, leaving the congress to vote on the two remaining offers. Congress attributed the event to Bled (SLO) with 94 votes out of 57 votes for Poznan (POL). Shanghai (CHN) was granted the organization of the 2021 Senior World Championship with a unanimous vote. The Council granted the following events:

World Tour of Remo de Mar 2018 - Costa Brava - Catalonia, Spain
Junior World Championship 2019 - Tokyo, Japan
I World Cup 2019 - Plovdiv, Bulgaria
II World Cup 2019 - Poznan, Poland
III World Cup 2019 - Rotterdam, Netherlands
World Sea Remo Championship 2019 - Hong Kong China
2020 Masters Regatta - Linz-Ottensheim, Austria

Immediately at the end of the Congress, the FISA organized a National Conference of Federations at which delegates discussed the Olympic rating system for the 2020 games, updates of the review projects on light weights and for-rolling, a proposal by FISA for more independent anti-doping control, and a new strategic framework for the allocation of events. Finally, the delegates attributed the 2018 Ordinary Congress to Plovdiv, Bulgaria, to be held on 17 September 2018.