Having held a first joint event at the 2006 FIE World Championships in Turin the new agreement, signed during the World Championships in Moscow, aims to strengthen their common goal of promoting and developing the sport.

“It is another historical step forward, with the signature of the FIE-IWAS convention,” Frederic Pietruszka, FIE secretary general, said.

“We had a chance to discuss in detail about our targets, our expectations, but also about our fears.

“This allows us to go to a common direction and develop further our sport.

“We are sure that the outcome of the convention will give full satisfaction to everybody.”

While both Federations will remain independent they have agreed to organise joint meetings, as well as training camps, competitions and demonstrations.

One of the key focuses of the partnership will be to improve the training and development of fencers, in a bid to continue to increase the standard and number of athletes participating in competitions.

Additionally, to ensure that athletes will be given the best quality training and standards of officiating at tournaments remains high, training and education of coaches and referees are also due to be an area which the both parties will work together on.

IWAS chief executive Charmaine Hooper praised the work of Jakub Norwicki, chairman of IWAS Wheelchair Fencing,  for his work in ensuring the parties could come to a milestone agreement.

“We are looking forward to further develop our co-operation to promote participation in wheelchair fencing on all continents,” Hooper said.