Distinguished guests, members of AAACU, ladies and gentlemen:

Two years have passed since the National Chung Hsing University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources hosted the 16th AAACU Biennial Convention.  Since I took over as President of AAACU at the close of that convention, you might ask, how is our Association doing?

Before I list down the accomplishments of the Association during the two-year period, let me refresh your memory of one of the major and difficult decisions we made during the last convention, which was the transfer of the AAACU Secretariat from its former location of 20 years at SEARCA to its new location which is the College of Agriculture at the University of the Philippines Los Banos.  I say difficult because AAACU Secretariat has been with SEARCA since 1986 and pulling it out from its former location entailed a lot of difficult and complicated processes, such as relocating the files to its new office, orienting the new staff, revising board resolutions to identify new bank signatories and transferring the administration of its website to its host. But the transfer has to be effected because SEARCA expressed that its opinion hat it was about time that the Secretariat is handled by a member university.

On the other hand, the transfer of the Secretariat was a welcome development for the College of Agriculture of UPLB because historically, the AAACU Secretariat was initially located at and handled by the UPLB-CA when it was established in 1972.  So it just went back to its original location so to speak.

Given this, let me now inform you of the following accomplishments of the Association during my incumbency as AAACU President:

First, the NCHU hosted the 16th AAACU biennial convention in October 2006.  During that time, we were able to get co-sponsors from other private and government agencies in Taiwan.

Second, the AAACU had produced the proceedings of the 16th biennial convention in electronic form.  The CDs are being distributed to the members during this convention and I understand that a few printed copies are on file with the Secretariat and the NCHU-CANR.

Third, the Secretariat completed the transfer of its office and files from SEARCA to the UPLB-CA.

Fourth, the AAACU Executive Board Meeting was held on 25 August 2007 at UPLB Philippines.

Fifth, the NCHU hosted an international symposium on Bio-industry Development and Post Graduate Workshop on 4-7 December 2007 at NCHU Taiwan in collaboration with the AAACU and the Council of Agriculture of Taiwan.  The activity was intended to attract students and academics to discuss issues pertaining to bioindustry development.

Sixth, the Association through its Secretariat made preparations for the conduct of this 17th biennial convention on 23-25 October 2008 here in Manila Hotel.  Support for the convention were obtained from AAACU and donations from SEARCA, ISAA, Governor’s Office of Cavite, and Cavite State University.

Seventh, as of 30 September 2008, the AAACU has a total accumulated fund of US$ 293,565.65 from annual membership fees, interest income from bank deposits and investments in time deposits.  This amount indicates a 4.7% increase from the September 2007 figure of US# 279,929.89.

As you can see, two years is too short to be able to achieve big things.  However, two years is long enough to plan for big things to happen.  The challenges that the Association faces are enormous in the midst of all these economic difficulties that are felt worldwide.  Allow me to mention these challenges, the responses of which are crucial to the existence of the Association:

1. The active participation of the members in the following:

1. payment of membership fees
2. attendance in AAACU-organized conventions/conferences
3. development of proposals for collaborative research projects
4. implementation of academic exchange among our institutions

2. Review and improvement of the organizational structure of AAACU.  The main issue is how to sustain continuity of activities and re-engage the members to contribute their wisdom and expertise to achieve the ultimate objective of AAACU and that is:  to contribute to the improvement of agriculture and human welfare in Asia.

I, therefore, relay these challenges now to the next administration of AAACU to be led by the next President Dr. Lee Yudin, and to the Executive Board and Governing Council.

Lastly, I wish to thank the AAACU Secretariat for all its support during my term to the officers of the Executive Board and the members of the Council.  Please forgive me for whatever shortcomings I may have had during the 2-year period and hope for your patience and kind understanding of the fact that leading an Association such as AAACU is a daunting task.

Once again, thank you and I wish our Association more success in the future.

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* Report delivered at the business meeting of the AAACU Executive Board during the 17th AAACU Biennial Convention, 23-24 October 2008 at the Manila Hotel, Philippines.