Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology
Report 2003
| I. | PREAMBLE |
| This Annual Report of the Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology (APAGE) covers the period from January 1 to December 31, 2003. | |
| II. | MEMBERSHIP |
| The Association's membership consisted of the following
national societies/bodies of the Asian Pacific region:
Bangladesh Gastroenterological Society |
| 1. | The following were the Council Members for the 2003 session:- | ||
| Professor Shiu Kum Lam Professor Kwong Ming Fock Professor Ken Kimura Dr. Wai Mo Hui Professor Ding Shinn Chen Dr. Mark Lane Professor Shu Dong Xiao Professor Jose Sollano Professor Neville Yeomans Professor Geoffrey Farrell Dr. Chin Kong Yap Professor Hardjodisastro Daldiyono Professor Janaka De Silva Professor Khean Lee Goh Professor Mahmud Hasan Professor Muhammas Saeed Khokhar Professor Masaki Kitajima Professor Pinit Kullavanijaya Professor San Ren Lin Professor Xuan Huyen Nguyen Professor In Sung Song Professor Rakesh Tandon Professor Khin Maung Win |
President Vice-President Secretary-General Treasurer Chairman, Programme Advisory Committee Chairman, Ethics Committee Chairman, International Liaison Committee President, APDW2004 Chairman, Awards Committee Chairman, Education & Research Committee Representative, Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology Foundation President, APDW2003 Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member |
Hong Kong Singapore Tochigi Hong Kong Taipei Auckland Shanghai Manila Victoria Sydney Singapore Jakarta Ragama Kuala Lumpur Dhaka Lahore Tokyo Bangkok Beijing Hanoi Seoul New Delhi Yangon |
|
| 2. | During the year, the APAGE had one Council Meeting, an Extraordinary General Meeting, an Annual General Meeting and one meeting of the APDW Steering Committee. | ||
| III. | APAGE HEADQUARTERS & SECRETARIAT |
| The APAGE Headquarters & Permanent Secretariat continued to operate in the office of The Hong Kong Society of Gastroenterology at Room 1203 Bank of America Tower, 12 Harcourt Road, Central, Hong Kong. Through its Headquarters in Hong Kong, the Association continued to carry out its primary objectives of promoting the advancement of gastroenterology and making the Asian Pacific region excel in education and research in this field. These were achieved through the coordinated and collaborative efforts of organizations, individual members, the biomedical industry (BMI) and other authorities interested in digestive health. The Permanent Secretariat continued to provide administrative support to the Association and acted as the resource and liaison centre between member societies/other A-P regional bodies and APAGE. It also served temporarily as an APDW contact base. | |
| IV. | INTERNATIONAL/REGIONAL CONFERENCE |
|
APAGE was well represented in international/regional meetings conducted
during Year 2003 as follows: |
|
| V. | APDW2003 |
 APDW
was organized on September 27-30, 2003 in Singapore. The GI Endoscopy
Workshop went very well with 142 participants. The Workshop in Animal
Lab was fully subscribed. On the basis of the general preference for
a shorter meeting, the main programme for APDW2003 covered only 3
days. As for organized activities, sponsors were clearly informed
not to organize any meetings, functions, sightseeing tours etc. during
the official programme that would draw delegates from the organized
scientific and social programmes. This included industry-sponsored
lunch or evening symposium organized in conjunction with the congress.
Members defaulting would have their exhibition booth closed for the
rest of the congress and/or would be barred from participating in
future congresses. These companies would be blacklisted say, for 3
years or they would be allocated poor exhibition sites. This was considered
a very effective penalty as the BMI looked upon APDW to be a very
important meeting in Asia to market their new products. This congress
saw the active participation of a number of regional bosses e.g. from
AstraZeneca, Eisai, Takeda and other companies which was very important
in their sponsoring delegates and promoting APDW. The total paid-up
number was 1276 majority of which were from China, Indonesia, India
and other parts of the region. There were 117 local delegates. 90%
of the speakers turned up and no sponsors pulled out due to the rescheduling.
It was indeed a very successful regional meeting. |
|
| VI. | APAGE MEETINGS |
| A. | Council Meeting |
| Chaired by Professor S K Lam, a Council Meeting was held on September 27, 2003 at 4:00 p.m. in the Bonham Room, Raffles City Convention Centre in Singapore. The meeting began with Prof. Fock reporting on the success of APDW2003 despite its postponement as a result of the occurrence of SARS. This was followed by a progess report on APDW2004 by Prof. Xiao who stressed the need to change the date of APDW2004 to autumn because of the deferment of APDW2003. APDW2004 was rescheduled to October 4-7, 2004 with the venue at BICC unchanged. Several meetings on the logistics of APDW2004 were already held. The Scientific Committee was working on an intensive and stimulating programme. The Education & Research Committee undertook to organize, by coordinated efforts of the various sub-committees a training workshop to be launched during APDW2004. The meeting endorsed the proposed amendments to the M&AA as presented and appointment of the official auditor for APAGE 2003/04 - Michael Tsoi & Company. To enhance the future role of APAGE on training and research, Chairman requested sub-committees to hold regular meetings and delivery activity reports to the Council and at AGM. He also requested Council Members who were directors of APAGE to provide their personal particulars as required under the Hong Kong Company Ordinance and information on their national scientific meetings, latter to facilitate decisions on dates of future APDWs. | |
| B. | Extraordinary General Meeting |
| The Extraordinary General Meeting was held on September 29, 2003 at 4:00p.m. in the Bonham Room, Raffles City Convention Centre in Singapore. 22 representatives from 15 Member Societies attended. Members endorsed the proposed amendments to the Memorandum and Articles of Association in fulfilment of the requirement of the Inland Revenue Department for application for exemption under Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance. | |
| C. | Annual General Meeting |
 The
Annual General Meeting was held on September 29, 2003 at 4:15 p.m.
in the Bonham Room, Raffles CityConvention Centre in Singapore. 22
representatives from 15 Member Societies attended. Members noted APDW2003
was a very successful meeting despite its postponement as a result
of SARS. The total number of participants was 1276 and some surplus
was expected. They were informed of the rescheduling of APDW2004 held
in BICC, Beijing to October 4-7 of the year. Members endorsed the
Annual Report for 2002, the two Financial Statements of 15th June
2001 (date of incorporation) to 31st March 2002 and 1st April, 2002
to 31st March, 2003 as well as the appointment of Michael Tsoi &
Company in Hong Kong to be the Association's official auditor for
2003/04. |
|
| D. | APDW Steering Committee Meeting |
| The APDW Steering Committee Meeting was
held on September 30, 2003 at 4:00 p.m. in the Bonham Room, Raffles
City Convention Centre in Singapore. The meeting started with a presentation
on the proposed APDW2005 by two Societies as follows: 1) The Indonesian Society of Gastroenterology Professor Hardiojodisastro Daldiyino, President, accompanied by Dr. Chudahman Manan, VP of Indonesian Society of Gastroenterology and Ms. Intan T, Senduk, project manager gave a 10- minute presentation on Indonesia's proposal to host APDW2005. 2) The Korean Society of Gastroenterology The Korean proposal was presented by Professor Young Il Min, President of Korean Society of Gastroenterology and his colleague Professor In Sung Song, Chairman of Boards and Professor Ki Baik Hahm, Chairman of International Affairs Boards of KSGE. Upon careful deliberation, Members agreed to award APDW2005 to Korea to be held September 25-28, 2005 in Seoul. The meeting reviewed APDW2003 and congratulated Dr. Yap, Prof. Fock and their team for a successful first coordinated regional meeting. Prof. Xiao informed Members the dates of APDW2004 to be October 4-7 and reported on its progress. Major discussions were held on the dates of this and future meetings. It was resolved, after considering the pros and cons of a spring or autumn meeting, that future APDWs would be held between mid August and mid October. Prof. Fock was nominated the Secretary-General of the APDW Steering Committee. Subject to further amendments as proposed, an APDW logo and the APDW guidelines were endorsed. |
|
| E. | Meeting with the Biomedical Industry |
| An APDW-BMI meeting chaired by Prof. Fock and attended by the Chairman and Members of the Steering Committee together with 17 pharmaceutical company representatives, was held on the last day and after the APDW Steering Committee to review APDW2003 and discuss future collaborations between APDW and the industry. The Steering Committee received a number of useful feedback from the companies on matters such as the workshop fee, number of invited faculty, turnout rate for evening symposia etc. which would be taken into consideration in future APDW planning. Prof. Xiao informed representatives present the date, time, venue etc. of APDW2004 and answered a couple of questions on the spot. It was felt difficult, for visas and other reasons, if business meetings to update the industry of major issues were held in China and suggested these to be in Hong Kong. It was stressed the collaboration should ensue with the Committee overseeing the scientific contents of the meeting while the sponsors would continue to support the activities. Companies were however welcome to provide useful feedback and suggestions. | |
| VII. | MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS |
| A. | APAGE Web Page |
| The APAGE website www.apage.org launched in March 2001
continued to serve as a quick and readily accessible channel of communication
and information exchange among the member societies and regional bodies
in the Asian Pacific region with even closer collaboration and unity.
In its role of promoting and developing digestive health, this web had reached out to world gastroenterological associations, concerned groups and individuals. The number of persons visiting and utilizing this web had been increasing. Relevant materials, feedback and suggestions were constantly received through the web email apage@apage.org. A separate page was assigned to APDWs containing information on APDW and its two guidelines: APDW Bidding Guidelines and Guidelines for the Conduct of an APDW. Information on APDW2004 was also available though this web. Technology information in gastroenterology was seen fast and effectively developing in Asia Pacific and beyond. |
|
| B. | Asia Pacific Digestive News |
| Asia Pacific Digestive News continued to be an independent newsletter endorsed by the Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology, the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver and the Asian Pacific Association for Digestive Endoscopy. Its website www.apdnews.net enabled news and story updates to reach more colleagues than would otherwise be possible. Active links to article features and upcoming conferences were set up. The web also provided links to the homepages for member societies throughout the region. Member countries were welcome to utilize the web to promote their activities. | |
| C. | APDW2005 |
| This would be held in September 25-28, 2005 at the COEX Convention Centre, Seoul, Korea. | |
| VIII. | ACKNOWLEDGEMENT |
| The Council expressed its gratitude to The Hong Kong
Society of Gastroenterology for generously extending the free use
of its office subject to review from time to time and to the BMI for
continuously and unstintingly supporting APAGE and APDW activities
in 2003. |