AAA Executive Council Meeting (2016) Minutes

Jeddah Hilton Hotel, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

11:00-13:00 April 26th, 2016

Attendance:

Prof. Siriwat Wongsiri, President

Other delegates from member countries

Asian Apicultural Association (AAA) Executive Council Meeting was held on April 26th, 2016 in Jeddah Hilton Hotel. Executive Committee Members from Thailand, Korea, India, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Pakistan, Indonesia, China and Chapters Delegates from other member countries attended the meeting.

The meeting started with the opening speech by Prof. Siriwat Wongsiri, President of AAA. He welcomed all the participants and expressed sincere appreciation to the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Government and King Saud University, the local organizing committee of the 13th AAA Conference, especially Prof. Ahmad A. Al Ghamdi, for his enormous effort in organizing the 13th AAA Conference and providing the meeting room.

 He introduced the AAA objectives, history and the executive council members.

 Prof. Ahmad reported the 13th AAA 2016 Conference and agreed to provide 10000USD fund to AAA.

 Prof. Siriwat Wongsiri reported the minutes of AAA committee meeting in the APIMONDIA Congress 2015.

 Prof. Siriwat Wongsiri recommended Dr. Hlaing MinOo from Myanmart to be the new AAA's Deputy Secretary General but Hlaing MinOo was not able to present. However, he agreed to help organize the future AAA conferences.

Somang Yang, Senior Manager of the Advocacy & Stakeholder Relations reported the proposal of Crop-Life Asia joint project with AAA. She suggested to develop a uniform validated model to capture bee species and pollinators over the world and would like to provide initial seed funding and collaborate with AAA.

India and Indonesia bid for the 14th AAA Conference and made their presentation respectively. Secret ballot was conducted afterward. There were 7 effective votes in total, with 2 for India, 5 for Indonesia. Prof. Siriwat announced the result and congratulated Indonesia for winning the bid for the 14th AAA Conference. The 14th AAA Conference will be held in Indonesia.

There are 2 new international individual members joining AAA this year: Yemen and Republic of Lebanon. Prof. Chen Lihong announced the membership fee and encouraged new members to pay the membership fee on time.

Prof. Chen Lihong invited all the country members to submit the Beekeeping introduction of each country so that Beekeeping book in Asia can be published soon. In addition, she suggested AAA to organize an expert group to assist and promote Asia beekeeping, especially in developing countries. She suggested carrying out Asia-wide activities such as Honey Show, Work show in the gap year of AAA conference. She also stressed that AAA should focus on one special issue each year.

Prof. Siriwat Wongsiri welcomed countries outside Asia to join AAA. He suggested that AAA website should be updated frequently.

Prof. Nicleo proposed to have country reports and make them available online.

Prof. Siriwat Wongsiri said AAA journal is currently in Korea and suggested to have the online version.

Prof. Siriwat Wongsiri said he would write a letter to all the member countries. He expressed regret to India and encouraged Indonesia to get prepared for the next AAA conference.