Prof. Kwong Ming FOCK
Chief of Medicine
Chairman Medical Board
Changi General Hospital

It gives me great pleasure to write a message for the APAGE webpage.

At the APDW 2004 in Beijing, I was given the honour of taking over from Professor
S.K. Lam as the 12th President of the APAGE. I shall give my time and my best effort to APAGE in its pursuit of excellence in clinical practice and education of digestive health in the Asia Pacific Region.

APAGE has come a long way since its birth in 1961 in Tokyo. It changed its Constitution in 2001 so that the Council is representative of the Asia Pacific Region. Every country has at least a member on the Council. This would attract gastroenterologists to come forward and contribute because there is a feeling of ownership. APAGE together with APASL has started a regional journal, Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (JGH) 2 decades ago and will celebrate its 20th anniversary in Seoul. There was also a newsletter APDN (Asia Pacific Digestive News) which it shares with APASL, APSDE and ISDS. This newsletter lapsed into slumber after 2003 in the aftermath of SARS. It will be revived in the near future.

APAGE has also initiated the APDW together with APSDE, APASL and ISDS in 2001. APDW 2005 in Seoul will be our 5th Conference. Setting up APDW creates the opportunity for regional co-operation. It allows gastroenterologists, surgeons, hepatologists, and endoscopists to come together and exchange scientific ideas and progress in science and technology. The biomedical industry can also schedule their product launch in the region at the APDW. This concept is firmly entrenched and currently the world of gastroenterology is divided into 3 regions with 3 regional meetings, namely Americas - DDW, Europe – EUGW, Asia Pacific – APDW.

Since its election in Nov. 2004 the Council has held a strategic planning meeting in July 2005. Two strategic thrusts have been identified that APDW will focus on. The first initiative is to promote post-graduate education and training in the region so that more clinician scientists with a flair for academic medicine can be nurtured. To this end, APAGE will provide financial support for gastroenterologists who wish to pursue clinician scientist training within Asia after their exit certification in gastroenterology. The terms and conditions of the award will be discussed at the AGM and the details will be released on this website.

The second initiative of APAGE is to collaborate with the member societies in terms of skills training. An APAGE co-ordinated Train the Trainers programme for Asians together with member societies have been proposed as a collaborative project A revived APDN with full participation from member societies has also been proposed.

The proposals from the Council Members are excellent ideas but they will remain as ideas and concepts in the mind, until they are implemented.

We need enthusiastic volunteers to bring these ideas to fruition. We also need feedback on the relevance and viability of these initiatives during the planning phase.
I hope that together we will progress and make the 21st Century the golden period for gastroenterology in the Asia Pacific.

Prof. Shiu Kum LAM
Professor & Dean
Faculty of Medicine
University of Hong Kong

It gives me great pleasure and pride to announce the launching of our new and first APAGE Web Page. Let me begin this message by saying, some 40 years ago the first Asian Pacific Congress was held in Tokyo in 1961. There have been 11 congresses since. In fact these are now metamorphosed into an annual Asian Pacific Digestive Week (APDW), the first of which will be held this September in Sydney under the leadership of Professor Geoffrey Farrell, our APDW2001 President. Are we not all excited about this!

I must stress there have been three important changes in the past 40 years in Asian gastroenterology. First, the Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology (APAGE) has become democratic through new constitutions, hence more representative of the Asian Pacific region. This naturally attracts worthy leaders to step forward and contribute, creating at the same time the feeling of ownership. Secondly, a regional journal, the Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology (JGH) has emerged and has been in operation for 16 years. It has become a forum for professional interactions in the Asian Pacific Region and the world. Thirdly, the world of gastroenterology has aligned itself into three zones: Europe, America and Asia. The buzzword nowsdays is regionalization. Every year we have UEGW in Europe and its journal GUT, DDW in America and its journal Gastroenterology and now we have APDW in Asia and its journal JGH. This is really good news. Our gastroenterologists can meet each other every year and talk about progress in science and technology. Our partners in the biomedical industries can plan their strategies and concentrate their efforts on one umbrella meeting in each zone.

It took UEGW in Europe 8 years to become what they are today. With our new infrastructure, I am sure it will take us less time to become what they will be tomorrow. This is because Asia has half the world's population and our good Asian values and Confusianism are always with us. The 19th century was a European century, and the 20th century was an American century. There is no doubt that this new century is the Asian century and we, gastroeneterologists in the Asian Pacific region will lead the way in medicine.

Coming back, the launching of this web site represents another milestone in the advancement of APAGE. The quick, easy and ready access to information exchange and dissemination will serve to enhance the relationship and communication among member societies and regional bodies in digestive health and draw the parties closer towards collaboration and unity. Needless to say, JGH and the Asian Pacific Gastroenterology News will continue their vital roles of being APAGE's official publication and general interest newsletter respectively.

I am glad that The Chinese Society of Gastroenterology (CSGE) has recently become a member of APAGE. On behalf of the Association, may I extend to the President and members of CSGE our congratulations and welcome. We hope more and more Asian Pacific countries will be joining us in our endeavour to bring about the highest quality of healthcare in this field of medicine.

The past year has been a most active and fruitful year for APAGE. Several important meetings were held between March and August of the year. These included the General Assembly Meeting, Meeting on Financial Relationship between APAGE and the World Organization of Gastroenterology (OMGE), informal business meeting, Council Meeting and APDW Steering Committee Meeting.

A big event took place in March in Hong Kong. This was the one-week international congress entitled "Striving for the New Millennium - 2000 11th Asian Pacific Congress of Gastroenterlogy and 8th Asian Pacific Congress of Digestive Endoscopy" which covered all key and clinically related areas of GE and hepatology. The conference was attended by some 1500 international participants and 100 invited speakers whose active participation and enlightening presentations contributed to its great success.

The APAGE Mission, Vision and Strategic Retreat was organized on August 5 - 6, 2000 in Hangzhou for member countries to get together and spend two days brainstorming and discussing APAGE's future directions and developments. The meeting identified a number of essential elements attributing to APAGE's vision, mission and strategic goals and set its future blue prints. We were glad to have with us Mr. Marc Merckx, General Secretary of the International Pharmaceutical Congress Advisory Association (IPCAA) who shed light on the future relationship between international conferences and the biomedical industry. It is pleasing to note delegates found the two-day programme well-structured and stimulating

As a means to promoting cooperative research, the JGH Trust has been providing opportunity for training and education for young medical doctors in GE and related areas through such sponsorships as awards, grants and lectureship. These aside, a number of projects are now in the pipeline such as future APDWs, APDW bidding guidelines, APAGE Incorporation etc.

Last but not least, I wish to stress the success of these events owes much to the unfailing efforts and enthusiastic support of our Council Members, representatives of member societies and regional associations and, all people interested in digestive health. May I hereby give them my heartfelt thanks and hope they will continue to assist and support future APAGE activities. My thanks go in no lesser degree to the sponsoring pharmaceutical companies without whose great support and generous contribution, the success of APAGE would not have been possible.

In joint hands we progress with confidence that the 21st century is a promise of great future and prosperity for APAGE.