On the occasion of the 53rd Meeting of the ASEAN Committee on Science and Technology (COST), the Senior Officials from the 10 ASEAN Member Countries met in Da Nang, Viet Nam, on 25-27 April 2007 to review the progress of S&T cooperation in ASEAN and to discuss the implementation of activities as directed by ASEAN Leaders and S&T Ministers. The 53rd COST Meeting was preceded by a number of meetings of Sub-Committees, the Advisory Body of the ASEAN Plan of Action (ABAPAST) and the Advisory Body of the ASEAN Science Fund (ABASF). Reports of these Meetings are available.

High on the agenda was the implementation of activities in support of thrusts and actions prescribed in the ASEAN Plan of Action on S&T (APAST) 2007-2011. The APAST 2007-2011 has been endorsed recently by the ASEAN S&T Ministers.

At the Meeting, several Member Countries also provided briefing on the progress of flagship programmes in the fields of:
(i) environment and disaster management (Indonesia),
(ii) new and renewable energy (Malaysia),
(iii) open source software system (Indonesia) and
(iv) food safety and security (Thailand).
Activities under these programmes are expected to commence in the second half of 2007.

A consultation between ASEAN and the US was also conducted during the Meeting to discuss the draft ASEAN-US S&T Agreement. The Agreement, expected to be signed by Ministers from ASEAN and the US during the Singapore Summit in September 2007, will definitely boost the S&T cooperation between ASEAN and the US.

The Meeting also reviewed the preparations for the 10th ASEAN Food Conference which will be held on 21-23 August 2007 in Kuala Lumpur. As a biannual event of COST, the AFC will feature the state-of-the art of technology and information relating to, among others, food safety, processing and marketing, post-harvest technology. Confirmation of participation has been received from within ASEAN and outside ASEAN such as Australia, China, India, Egypt, US, Japan and many other countries.

Also being discussed at the Meeting was the preparations for the 12th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on S&T (AMMST) scheduled to be held in October 2007 in Yangon Myanmar. The date of the 12th IAMMST will be announced soon. The 54th Meeting of COST and related Sub-Committee Meetings will be held back-to-back with the 12th AMMST.

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