Chen Foo Yan
NACA Coordinator
It is also my pleasure to welcome you, on behalf of NACA, to the Third Meeting of the Provisional Governing Council. I also extend a special welcome to the delegates who are attending the NACA Council Meeting for the first time. We are grateful to the Honourable Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, for sparing the time to grace this occasion despite his very busy schedule. As a man with great experience in the educational field, his presence has set the pace for a fruitful and meaningful meeting. Through you, Mr. Deputy Minister, Sir, I would like to express our gratitude to the Royal Thai Government for making the arrangements to have this meeting held in Thailand for the second consecutive year.
I shall be reporting the progress of NACA activities later this morning. However, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight two significant developments.
Firstly, NACA as you know has come of age; it is set to become an autonomous intergovernmental institution. Secondly, the Asian Aquaculture Network has greatly expanded with the incorporation of the Regional Seafarming Development and Demonstration Project under NACA's management. With this development, the Network has widened its scope with greater access to more institutional and human resources in the region. This will enable the Intergovernmental NACA to implement more effectively TCDC activities in the region and provide greater assistance to governments in aquaculture development.
These two important developments, among others, have been achieved largely through the strong supporting collaboration of all concerned, especially the cohesive partnership of the governments, UNDP and FAO.
I would like to acknowledge the collaboration of colleagues in other organizations and institutions and, last but not least, the untiring efforts of colleagues in the NACA family - both the Centre's staff and the Project staff.
With the establishment of the independent regional organization of NACA, it is hoped that a wider base for support will be created; unhealthy competition for limited resources and for recognition-to the detriment of the interests of governments-will be avoided; and that complementarity and collaboration will prevail for the benefits of the peoples of the Region.
