Report on the 8th Asia Pacific International Cities Conference

The 8th Asia Pacific International Cities Conference (APICC) that was held in Hong Kong on Tuesday, May 24 was attended by the constituent LOMs (except Singapore City JC) as well as the All China Youth Federation. Lively discussions were held on the role of APICC in dealing with natural disasters, economic issues and aging of the population in Asia, and investment in the future. In terms of international collaborative projects, a report was given on the progress of a joint project between the Tokyo JC and Manila JC. As an outcome, the Taipei JC showed interest in expanding a project to disseminate used computers, the Hong Kong Victoria JC showed the same interest in an Eco-bag project, and the Melbourne JC showed the same interest in kids’ sumo wrestling. A Tokyo JC FY1995 List of Projects (English edition) was also distributed with the aim of developing internationally a business directory (International Policy Committee edition) and other projects which had been strongly requested as economic forums by each of the LOMs previously. At the end of the conference, Tokyo was unanimously accepted as the FY2006 venue so its delegates accepted the conference banner from the current Hong Kong hosts.

Due to the Hong Kong Victoria JC 55th birthday celebration preparations held that night and JCI Hong Kong lending support to the ASPAC Macau Conference, not many campaigners from the main LOMS attended. Also, the only other non-constituent LOM participants were from the All China Youth Federation; no other participants could be attracted from other LOMS, municipal organizations or students. Issues were therefore left unresolved in terms of the mobilization and information offering. Next year the conference will be held in Japan so we would like to pay particular attention to holding a conference that covers a variety of viewpoints and advances international joint projects, and which also involves non-constituent LOMs, other organizations beyond the JC framework, and people from different cities.
I think that each of the participating members fully contributed to the conference this time, and it is my hope that experiencing such projects abroad will benefit the JC in the future.
Finally, I would like to extend my appreciation to the chairperson of the Japan-US Friendship Association and chairperson of the Japan-China Friendship Association, as well as all the senior members, participating members, International Policy Committee members, and staff for their participation and cooperation in the present event.

Masakazu Ikeda
2005year Vice-Chairman, International Policy Committee

Entrance 1. President Greeting 2. Fundamental policies  3. 2006 Tokyo JC policy theme 4. Execuive Vice President 5. Tokyo Junior Chamber, Inc profile 6. What is the Junior Chamber? 7. Tokyo JC Organization Chart 8. A.P.I.C.C. (Asia Pacific International City Conference)