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46th Session of the APO Governing Body
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Dr. Jung-Chiou HwangFellow APO Directors, Mr. Secretary-General, Distinguished Advisers and Observers, Ladies and Gentlemen:
The Republic of China is honored to be accorded this opportunity to serve as the APO Chairman for 2004/2005. My learned colleague, APO Director Hsu Sheng-Hsiung, will serve in this capacity. However, as he is unable to attend this meeting, I will be chairing this meeting on his behalf as the ROC chief delegate and as the APO Alternate Director for the Republic of China. I will endeavor to fulfill my responsibilities to the best of my ability. I would also like to extend my congratulations to Mr. Brian Singh, APO Director for Fiji, and Mr. Lakshmi Chand, APO Director for India, for their appointments as the First and Second Vice Chairmen, respectively. I am looking forward to working closely with them in this meeting and in the future.
On behalf of all the delegates, I would like place on record our gratitude to Dr. Shoaib Ahmed, APO Director for Bangladesh, for his leadership and service as the APO Chairman over the past year. Our thanks also go to Mr. Brian Singh, APO Director for Fiji, for his role as the Second Vice Chairman.
The APO is important for Asia and the Pacific. Through this organization, we are able to come together as a family to share our wisdom and know-how on ways to improve productivity as a core strategy to enhance and hasten socioeconomic growth and development in our respective countries and in the region. In the last few years, we were faced with a number of events that threatened to undo much of the social and economic progress that we had striven so hard to achieve. I am referring to the outbreak of the SARS and avian flu epidemics and the Iraqi war. We worked hard to mitigate their adverse impacts and put our economies on the growth path again. Those APO members most hard-hit by these events are beginning to show a positive turnaround in their economic performances. This is most heartening news for all of us. In those difficult years, productivity growth was an important measure to achieve a rapid recovery. APO members continued to cooperate, encourage, and help each other in this quest. The past few years have confirmed once again the value of the APO. It is in our collective interest to ensure that this organization remains effective by giving it our full support. As members of the Governing Body, we have the responsibility for charting the course that the APO should take. Your wise counsel and guidance will no doubt ensure that APO programs and activities will remain relevant and useful in meeting the needs of member countries in the years ahead.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to take this opportunity to announce that as from January this year, the management of APO matters in the Republic of China has been transferred from the Department of International Cooperation to the Department of Industrial Technologies. Both departments come under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. This change is to the greater advantage of the APO as the Department of Industrial Technologies has more resources and a wider network of contacts in the country.
Fellow delegates, I humbly ask for your kind cooperation and support for the Vice Chairmen and me in discharging our duties in this Governing Body Meeting. I must apologize that I have to return to Taipei tomorrow to attend to some urgent business in my Ministry. The meeting will be in the able hands of Mr. Brian Singh, who will be assisted by Mr. Lakshmi Chand.
Thank you.
