Piccirillo was speaking during his closing speech at the 74th CISM General Assembly and Congress in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

"This 74th GA and Congress was the affirmation of the cohesion uniting the family of CISM, gathered in Ho Chi Minh under our motto 'Friendship by Sport'," he said.

"But, as you will surely have understood through the various interventions that punctuated the programme of our Congress, CISM is at a crossroads. 

"It is now up to us to make the right decisions to ensure the sustainability of our organisation and to apply them with utmost seriousness."

Piccirillo also paid tribute to the organisers of the event, which was spread across six days.

"I would like to express my sincere thanks to the CISM Vietnamese delegation and its chief of delegation, Colonel-in-chief Tran Dang Thanh, Vietnamese Armed Forces and the city of Ho Chi Minh for their unwavering support and hard work in organising this 74th General Assembly and Congress of CISM."

The last day of the event saw the membership applications of Guyana and Mozambique accepted by the General Assembly, increasing to 140 the overall membership.

Also approved was the election of Lieutenant-Colonel Marc De Wagter as the new CISM treasurer general, replacing Colonel Walter Van Velthoven who is leaving after several years of services.

Additionally, a delegation from Kenya took the opportunity to give an overview of the 75th CISM General Assembly and Congress that will take place in the East African nation next year.

The CISM flag was then handed over by Tran to Major General Fatuma Gaiti Ahmed, the chief of the Kenyan delegation.

Van Velthoven was among those awarded a CISM Order of Merit Medal for rendering exceptional service to the organisation’s cause.

He received it from Piccirillo who declared the General Assembly and Congress closed.

Earlier in the week, organisational contracts had been signed for the 2020 CISM World Cadet Games in Russian city Saint Petersburg and for the solidarity plan of the 2019 CISM World Summer Games in Wuhan in China, which will allow 61 countries to participate in this year's event.