The 13th Meeting of the APSN Advisory Board (AB) was successfully held in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia on October 22. Advisory Board Members; Ms. Sonya Read, President of the APSN Council; Dr. Li Qing, Secretary-General of APSN; Mr. Tan Cheng Peng, Senior Consultant of APSN; as well as the Secretariat attended the meeting.

Mr. Bui Van Quy, Chair of the Advisory Board, chaired the meeting. In his opening remarks, Mr. Quy welcomed all participants to attend the 13th AB Meeting and emphasized the critical role APSN plays in promoting cooperation and development among ports in the Asia-Pacific region. Ms. Sonya Read, President of the APSN Council, attended the Opening Session of the AB Meeting. In her remarks, Ms. Read expressed her gratitude to the AB Members for their support to the APSN activities over the past year and encouraged them to continue to contribute to the ongoing development of the APSN.

At this meeting, Ms. Read also chaired the election of the Chair of the AB. Mr. Quy was re-elected as the Chair of the AB for another term. Mr. Quy expressed his thanks to everyone present, and stated that he would continue to contribute to the development of both the Advisory Board and APSN. The Advisory Board discussed on the Issue Scan of the APSN mainly focusing on the following areas: 1) Economic and Trade Development in the APEC region; 2) Port Developments in APEC Member Economies; 3) Proposed Theme/Topic for the APSN Forum 2025; 4) Strengthen the Communication and Cooperation between APSN Members by Organizing Networking Activities; and 5) Expand the Influence of GPAS.

Based on the above discussions, the Chair of the Advisory Board summarized the deliberations and recommendations by this meeting so as to provide them to the Council for its consideration at its 16th Meeting to be held subsequently.