The 66th CCOP Steering Committee Meeting, 9-11 March 2016, Siem Reap, Cambodia

The 66th CCOP Steering Committee (SC) Meeting was held at the Sokha Angkor Resort, Siem Reap, Cambodia on 9-11 March 2016. The Meeting was attended by delegates of the following Member Countries (MC):  CAMBODIA, CHINA, INDONESIA, JAPAN, REPUBLIC OF KOREA, LAO PDR, MALAYSIA, MYANMAR, PHILIPPINES, THAILAND, TIMOR-LESTE and VIETNAM.  Also present was Dato’ Yunus Abdul Razak, member of the Advisory Group (AG) and the Director and staff of the CCOP Technical Secretariat (CCOP TS).

Welcoming remarks were made by H.E. LY Samreth, Deputy Governor of Siem Reap Province and H.E. Cheap Sour, Permanent Representative of Cambodia to CCOP and Director-General, General Department of Petroleum, Ministry of Mines and Energy.  Dr Eikichi Tsukuda, CCOP SC Chairman for year 2014 to 2015, officially handed over the chairmanship to Dr. Kyu Han Kim, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to CCOP and President of Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM).  Dr Kyu Han Kim delivered his acceptance speech as SC Chairman from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017.  H.E. SOK Khavan, Secretary of State, Ministry of Mines and Energy, Cambodia officially opened the 66th CCOP Steering Committee Meeting.  

Aside from the endorsed Revised Workplan 2016 the following decisions were made by the Meeting.

On the recruitment of the CCOP Headquarter-based Regional Expert for the period 16 August 2016 to 15 August 2018, the Meeting agreed that Dr Kamaludin Bin Hassan will be appointed the position to replace Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc.  

The Meeting accepted the proposal of the CCOP TS for the Pacific Community (SPC) in the Pacific Islands and Territories Region as CCOP Cooperating Organization.  The MoU Signing Ceremony between CCOP and SPC is planned to be held during the 67th CCOP Steering Committee Meeting planned to be held on 4-5 November 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand.   

The Meeting accepted the proposals of Indonesia for Dr Sukhyar, former Permanent Representative of Indonesia to CCOP, and of Malaysia for Dato’ Yunus Abdul Razak, former Permanent Representative of Malaysia to CCOP, as CCOP Honorary Advisers.  The Meeting recognized the outstanding contributions of Dr Sukhyar and Dato’ Yunus Abdul Razak to CCOP’s endeavors, and welcomed them as CCOP Honorary Advisers from today onwards.

The Meeting endorsed the proposed future collaboration between CCOP and BGR in Risk-Sensitive Spatial Planning, and tasked the CCOP TS to work closely with BGR and the Member Countries on the contents of the training course.

China Delegation reported to the Meeting that the Geological Society of China nominated Prof Dr He Qingcheng, former CCOP TS Director, to run as Secretary-General of the IUGS Executive Committee for the term 2016-2020, and appreciates the support of the Member Countries.  The CCOP TS Director requested China to provide more information on the voting process, and will remind the Member Countries on this matter.

Dr Adichat Surinkum presented at the Meeting a way of standardizing the member country cash contribution using the United Nation’s Human Development Index (HDI), which was proposed by Dr Hee-Young Chun, former CCOPTS Director during his term.  The Meeting noted the proposal of the CCOP TS Director in standardizing the member country’s annual cash contribution using the HDI, and tasked the CCOP TS to explore other ways of standardizing the annual cash contribution in collaboration with the Member Countries.

The Thailand Delegation informed the Meeting that the 52nd CCOP Annual Session and the 67th CCOP Steering Committee Meeting will be held at the Berkeley Hotel Pratunam, Bangkok, Thailand on 30 October to 3 November 2016 and 4-5 November 2016 respectively.    They will continue to work closely with the CCOP TS in the preparations and arrangements needed for the meeting as well as the activities for the celebration of CCOP’s 50th year anniversary.   The Philippines Delegation informed that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) already approved the proposal of hosting the 53rd CCOP Annual Session (2017) and the 69th Steering Committee Meeting in October or November 2017.  The proposal has already been submitted to the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Budget and Management office, for the Philippine Congress approval of the 2017 budget. Once approved, the Philippines will inform the CCOP Technical Secretariat.