The 15th Meeting of the APSN Council took place on October 26-27, 2023. Council Members, Advisory Board Members and Corporate Members from Canada; China; Hong Kong, China; Japan; Korea; Malaysia; New Zealand; the Philippines; Singapore; Thailand, the United States and Viet Nam and the Secretariat were in attendance.
Ms. Sonya Read, Acting President of the APSN Council, chaired the meeting and welcomed all participants to the Council Meeting. At the meeting, the Council elected Ms. Sonya Read as the President of the APSN Council for a two year term. The Council also elected Capt. Mohamad Halim Ahmed (Malaysia) as the 1st Vice President of the APSN Council and Mr. Jiravich Klomperee (Thailand) as the 2nd Vice President of the APSN Council. The Council appointed Dr. Li Qing (China) to be the Secretary-General of APSN. Ms. Read, Capt. Halim, Mr. Klomperee and Dr. Li thanked the Council for its trust and expressed commitment to serve the Council in the coming years. The Council expressed appreciation to Mr. Marc-Yves Bertin, former President of APSN Council, Mr. Tan Cheng Peng, former First Vice President of the APSN Council and Dr. Jia Dashan, former Secretary-General of APSN, for their contributions to the development of the APSN over the past few years.
The meeting considered and adopted the 2023 Work Report by the Secretary-General. The Council noted with appreciation that the Secretariat continued to engage with all Council Members to furthering the mandate of the APSN in 2023. The Council recognized that the Secretariat worked jointly with the PAT to successfully host the APSN Forum on Innovative Ports for a Low-Carbon and Digital Future this October, which enhanced the capacity building of the APEC ports and port-related industries and provided a timely and important platform for communication and collaboration among various stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region.
At the meeting, the Council also considered and adopted the APSN Five-Year Strategic Plan (2024-2028), the APSN Action Plan for 2024, the APSN Budget for 2024 as well as the Update on the APEC Port Study Center and the APSN Green Port Award System (GPAS). The Council decided that the APSN events 2024 will be held in Malaysia. The Council welcomed the economy reports on port developments by Hong Kong, China; Thailand and Viet Nam. The Council also discussed the outcome of the 12th Advisory Board Meeting reported by the AB Chair and update report on MEG Activities by the Chair of MEG, APEC TPTWG.
The President thanked all participants for attending the Council Meeting. The Council expressed its gratitude to the President and the Secretariat for their hard work in ensuring another successful Council Meeting.
