Date:September 10, 2007 Time 13-00 and 15-00 hours
Venue:Room number Room 203 A, TICC, X Asian Congress, Taipei
Agenda 1. Adoption of Agenda
Agenda 2. Adoption of Agenda, Welcome Address by President of FANS
Agenda 3. FANS progress report by Secretary General of FANS
Agenda 4. Venue of XI Asian Congress : proposal received from Singapore
Agenda 5. Venue of XII Asian Congress
Agenda 6. Election of Executive Council
Agenda 7. Matters to be discussed during FANS/IUNS joint meeting to be held on September 11, 2007 at 18.00 -20.00 hours at TICC South Lounge
Agenda 8. Other matters
Chair: Dr. Kamala Krishnaswami, President, Nutrition Society of India, on behalf of Dr. C. Gopalan, President, FANS.
Present: Names of the countries represented and delegates present in indicated in Annexure 1
Agenda 1. Adoption of agenda
he Secretary General placed the agenda of business prepared by him in consultation with the members two months before the meeting, and requested for its adoption during the meeting with changes if any. I believe this enquiry was for hosting the next ACN and not the agenda. In its absence the agenda prepared was adopted.
Agenda 2. Dr. Kamala Krishnaswamy, President, Nutrition Society of India, who had been authorised by Dr. C. Gopalan, President, FANS, to preside on his behalf as he was unable to attend the FANS General Assembly, welcomed the delegates.
Agenda 3. Dr. Ramesh V. Bhat, Secretary General, FANS presented the progress report of the FANS for the period 2003-2007. Full text of the report is enclosed as annexure 2. The Malaysian representative pointed out minor typographical errors in the report. The Sri delegate suggested that the statues and by-laws of the FANS need to be widely disseminated. The Malaysian representative proposed approval of the report. It was seconded by the representative from Philippines.
Agenda 4. Did the FANS Secretariat received any other nominations from other member countries? If not, this should be mentioned in the minutes to indicate that we follow the correct procedure. Ms Cyndy Au, Chairperson, XI Asian Congress of Nutrition Bidding Committee and Honorary Secretary, SNDA, Singapore made a power point presentation regarding the preparations for the Congress to be held in Singapore during 2011. The theme of the proposed congress to be held in Singapore during September 26-29, 2011 is “Good nutrition for progressive Asia”. The proposal to hold the XI Asian Congress of Nutrition in Singapore was endorsed by the delegates of India, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand and unanimously accepted.
Agenda 5. Dr. Ramesh V. Bhat, Secretary General of FANS introduced the subject of choosing Venue of XII Asian Congress to be held during 2015. He reminded the Assembly that during the FANS General Assembly held on August 31, 1999 at Seoul, Korea it was agreed that the venue of the A C N should be decided well in advance and the Secretariat should receive written application for holding the congress eight years ahead. The Sri delegate suggested Colombo, Sri Lanka as avenue. The Japanese delegation also offered to host the Congress in Japan. Malaysian delegate suggested that an opportunity be given to all FANS member countries to host the congress in future. Thailand delegate expressed the view that since other countries may be interested in hosting the Congress, all interested countries should be provided with the opportunity to submit applications. It was unanimously decided to take a final decision by 2009 regarding the venue for hosting the XII ACN during 2015.
Agenda 6. Election to Executive council was held.
As per the statues and by-laws the following are the office bearers for EC for 2007-2011
President: Dr. Po-Chao Huang, Taiwan
Secretary General: Dr. Ching-jang Huang, Taiwan
Immediate Past President: Dr. C. Gopalan
Honorary Council members: Dr. R. Seebakti, Indonesia, Dr. Aree Valyasevi, Thailand, Dr. Masao Kanamori, Japan, Dr. Mohd Ismail Noor, Malaysia, Dr. Xiaoshu Chen, China
The following were unanimously chosen as the member, EC.
1.Ms Cyndy Au – Singapore
2.Dr. T. Miyazawa - Japan
3.Dr. Kamala Krishnaswamy - India
4.Dr. Janaki Gooneratne – Sri Lanka
Agenda 7. Dr. Kamala Krishnaswamy, India informed the members that a FANS/IUNS joint meeting will be held on September 11, 2007 and matters of mutual interest will be discussed.
Agenda 8. Other matters
- Dr. Ramesh V. Bhat placed before the Assembly the request received from Dr Peter Roth, Associate Director, Product Management, S. Karger A G Medical and Scientific Publishers, Basel, Switzerland whether FANS would be disposed to accept Annals of Nutrition and Dietetics as their official journal. What are the implications? enquired the Thailand delegation. FANS should also explore the possibility of Asian Journal of Nutrition was the view of Malaysian delegation. It was unanimously decided to defer the decision.
Dr. Ramesh V. Bhat placed before the assembly the letter he had received from Dr. Hamid Ullah Shah, Secretary General, Nutrition Society of Pakistan. “ My suggestion is that why are you not inviting the secretary General of the Nutrition society along with President of each country to the meeting. As you know that every thing is written and prepared by the secretary. This matter should be discussed in the coming agenda”. Opinion was expressed that there is no harm in sending the invitation to both the President and Secretary of the member countries, for logistic reasons, generally letters are sent to President.
Dr. Kraisid Tontisirin of Thailand passed the message that the Assembly of the 19th International Congress of Nutrition will be held in Bangkok, Thailand during October 4-9, 2009. He requested that all the FANS community should participate in the event.
The Nutrition Association of Vietnam established in 2001 and having a membership of 500 members was admitted as a member country.
The meeting ended with a vote of thanks proposed by Ramesh V. Bhat, Secretary General, FANS.
Note: A day after the General Assembly, Dr. Ramesh V. Bhat, received an e mail from Iran offering to host the XII ACN during 2015 in Teheran, Iran. The official bid is in Annexure 3. It was communicated to the newly elected Secretary General of FANS.
Annexure 1. Members present during the General Assembly
India : Dr. Kamala Krishnaswami, Dr. Ramesh V. Bhat, Dr. B. Sesikeran
Japan: Dr. S. Homma, Dr. T. Miyazawa, Dr. M. Kadowaki
Korea: Dr. Namsoo Chang
Malaysia: Dr. M. Ismail Noor
Philippines: Dr. Rodolfo Florentino
Singapore: Ms Cyndy Au, Ms Gladys Wong, Ms Chow Pek Yee
Sri Lanka: Dr. Janaki Gooneratne
Taiwan: Dr. Po-Chao Huang, Dr. Ching-jang Huang
Thailand: Dr. Pattanee Winichagoon
Observers from:
Bangladesh: Dr. Quamarun Nahar
Vietnam: Dr. H. H. Khoi, Dr. Nguyen Cong Khan, N. T. Lam, L. T. Hop
Absent: China, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan
Annexure 2. Report of the Secretary General presented by Dr. Ramesh V. Bhat (rameshvbhat@yahoo.com) on September 10, 2007 at the General Assembly
Greetings from Dr. C. Gopalan founder President of the Federation of Asian Nutrition Societies. Dr. Gopalan has been attending every Asian Congress held since the first one in 1971 at Hyderabad, India. This is the first time that he is unable to participate in the ACN and the General Assembly, but has sent his greetings.
During the last four years, the FANS have been active in achieving its objectives viz., fostering international fellowship among nutrition scientists of the region, exchanging information. Periodic holding of the Asian Congress of Nutrition is one of its objectives and I am pleased to note that this has been achieved successfully so far.
The past Asian Congresses were held in Hyderabad, India, 1971, Manila, Philippines 1973, Jakarta, Indonesia 1980, Bangkok, Thailand, 1983, Osaka, Japan 1987, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1991, Beijing, China 1995, Seoul, Korea, 1999 and New Delhi, India 2003. The X Asian Congress is now being held in Taipei during 2007.
No new Asian country has adhered to the FANS as a member through its principal Nutrition Society during the period 2003-2007. In fact no application for admission, withdrawal or other changes in membership has been received.
It is pertinent to point out here that East and South Asian countries have been active in the area of Nutrition. The countries of West Asia such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Israel and Cyprus, South and East Asian countries like Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar, Vietnam the Central Asian Republics like Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are yet to join the FANS. Of course the problems of modern Nutrition such as lifestyle diseases- obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases are the same everywhere.
During the last few years I had made attempts to involve nutritionists from the Central Asian Republics and West Asia into the main stream. I had visited Mongolia on several occasions and attempted to organize a Mongolian Nutrition Society. They also helped me and provided the names of contact persons in Central Asian republics who could be nodal persons in establishing Nutrition Societies in their respective countries and taking forward our mission. These names include:
Mongolia:Dr. Khainzan Jambalmaae mail id jambalmaa@yahoo.com
Azerbaijan:Dr. Tahmina Taghizada,4, Kichik Deniz Str., 370014, Baku, Azerbaijan994 12 980 293
e mail id tahmina@comp-tel.com
Kyrgyz Republic:Dr. Artur Buiuklianov535, Frunze St 720033 Bishkek Kyrgyz Republic996 312 661 108Fax 996 312 660 538
e mail id jfpr9005@transfer.kg
Tajikistan:Dr. Vokhidov Abdusolom31, Tursun-Zad Str. 734024 Dushanbe, Tajikistan992 372 274 868fax 992 372 233 766
e mail id cpo@jfpr 9005.tajik.net
Uzbekistan:Dr. Amankul Baikulov46, Halqlar Dostligi 700097, Tashkent Uzbekistan998 712 784 663 or 998 712 144 1041
Kazakhistan:Dr. Tazhibayer Shamil Saginovich,Director, Centre of International Programme,Kazakhstan Nutrition Academy 66, Klotchkov Str. 480008, Almaty, Kazakhstan7 3272 429 766 or 7 3272 429 203
e mail id tazhybaev@nursat.kz
My visit to Iran on couple of occasions revealed the great potential Iran has in galvanizing action in this part of the world. However my visit to countries like Bhutan and Nepal indicated the problem of sufficient number of nutritionists in those countries needed to form the Society. The International agencies like FAO, WHO, UNICEF which are active in many of the countries can, play an active role by assisting the FANS in furthering its objectives in these countries. As far as WHO is concerned, the Asian countries fall at least under three different regional offices such as SEARO based in Delhi, WPRO based in Manila and Middle east region based in Cairo besides their Headquarters in Geneva.
Though FANS did not have much interaction with the IUNS, it is hoped to solve this problem with the joint IUNS/FANS meeting scheduled on September 11, 2007 in this venue.
The world of internet has made a considerable difference and has brought the members of the FANS nearer. It is suggested that each year the member countries should share the annual report of their respective societies with other adhering bodies. An attempt has been made during the year and hope this practice will continue. Still there are some problems like contact point in some countries not opening their e mails and not responding to letters sent by post/courier.
I wish to bring to your notice the issue of membership of Hong Kong and New Zealand to the FANS. As far as the list of member countries handed over to me by the Dr. Sook H Kim, past President of the FANS during 2003 Hong Kong and New Zealand are not members of the FANS. In the FANS Executive Council meeting held on 29 September 1993, Adelaide Australia, the admission of the Nutrition Society of Hong Kong into FANS was deferred. The Secretary General informed members that the action is in line with the IUNS decision to closely follow the developments in the British colony.
The Taipei Congress Organizers have included Hong Kong Nutrition Association Ltd. as an adhering Body in a list of adhering bodies of FANS, sent during January 2006, with the following contact address. Dr. Warren T K Lee President Elect, Hong Kong Nutrition Association Ltd C/O Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 5/F Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin N.T. e mail info@hkna.org.hk 852/26323309 852 2637 7889. I had sent an e mail to the Hong Kong Nutrition Association that they should apply for the membership of the FANS by providing the details of their association. I had indicated that it would be circulated among the Executive Council members of the FANS for their consideration for admitting Hong Kong as a member country of Federation of Asian Nutrition Societies (FANS). But the mail had bounced back. I had subsequently brought this to the notice of the Taiwanese organizers who had included Hong Kong Nutrition Association Ltd. as an adhering Body in a list of adhering bodies of FANS, sent during January 2006. The Hong Kong should follow the bylaws and appropriately apply for the membership of FANS.
The FANS newsletter No 7, August 2001 includes details of Nutrition Society of New Zealand under reports of FANS member countries and Districts. During the FANS executive Council meeting held in Australia on 29 August 2001, the Secretary General, Dr. Yang Cha Lee Kim informed that, along with other members of FANS, New Zealand (Oceania) reported its activities for the 2001 FANS newsletter.
As per the statutes and by-laws of FANS the membership of the FANS is open to any Asian country. As per article III, Membership, an Asian country shall adhere as a member through its principal Nutrition Society or other appropriate scientific group duly recognized specifically as an adhering body by the FANS executive council. The term “country” shall be understood to include nutrition scientists and societies representing a defined geographical area (or areas) in Asia which has an independent budget for scientific purposes: there shall be only one voting member representing such area or scientific community. The power to approve subsequent admissions, withdrawals or other changes in membership shall be vested in the executive council and shall become effective only upon the unanimous vote of the council members. A written absentia vote shall be allowed for this purpose. Thus as per the Statutes of the FANS, New Zealand can not be member of FANS.
During the FANS General Assembly held on 31 August 1999 in Seoul, Korea, the delegates agreed that the venue of ACN should be decided ahead as IUNS did. The Secretariat should receive written application for holding the Congress before 8 years. This means by 2007 countries should bid to host the XII Asian Congress of Nutrition in 2015. Past Congresses were held in EAST ASIA/ SOUTH ASIA but not in West or Central Asia. It is now time to prepare Central /West Asian countries to actively consider the bidding process for the 2015 Asian Congress of Nutrition. In the past on several of occasions even as back as in 1970’s, Iran had proposed to organize the Congress in Iran, but it never materialized so far. I hope during the current session General Assembly will take appropriate decision.
The 19th International Congress of Nutrition will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, during 4-9, October 2009, with the theme of Global Nutrition Initiative. It is hoped that the next General Assembly of the FANS will be held coinciding with ICN
I wish to thank Dr.C Gopalan for his continued guidance. I would also like to thank all the affiliated societies, office bearers of FANS and particularly Dr. Po-Chao Huang and Dr. Ching-jang Huang and the other organizers of the ACN for their valuable cooperation.
