| THE
MINUTES OF FACS 35th EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING Mariot Hotel, Cebu, the Philippines
May 26, 1999, 09.00-17.00
PRESENT
EXCO members
PROF. HITOSHI OHTAKI(Japan)
President
DR. FORTUNATO SEVILLA III(the Philippines) Past-President
PROF. YOSHITO TAKEUCHI(Japan) Secretary-General
MR. LIM TECK THAI(Malaysia) Treasurer
PROF. BARRY N. NOLLER(Australia) Coordinator of Projects
PROF. HAJIME AKIMOTO(Japan) Chairman of the Publishing Committee
Observers
PROF. KAN-NAN CHEN(Taiwan)
DATUK DR. MOHINDER SINGH(Malaysia)
PROF. FABIAN DAYRIT(the Philippines)
APOLOGIES
DR. JOHNSEE LEE(Taiwan)
President-Elect
AGENDA
1 Opening Remarks by President
Prof. Ohtaki, the President,
declared the opening of 35th EXCO meeting with special thanks to Integrated Chemists of
the Philippines and Prof. Fabian Dayrit, the co-chair of the 15th Philippine Chemistry
Congress for their kindest hospitality,
Apologies from Dr. Lee were reported.
2 Approval of Minutes of Council Meeting
The Minutes of Council Meeting
(Singapore) was approved after correction of typological errors.
It was understood that the final approval of the application of
Mendeleev Russian Chemical Society was suspended, but the invitation to the General
Assembly as an observer in addition to the invitation to 8ACC would be sent to them. Final
approval at the General Assembly would make the Mendeleev Russian Chemical Society as a
full member.
It was also understood that the Mendeleev Russian Chemical Society,
after final approval, will be the 2nd category Lim supported; others seconded.
3 Report of President
Prof. Ohtaki expressed that there would
be no special report except that he made a notice to Prof. Chen to the effect that if the
next President, Dr. Lee, wanted to attend the meeting of Presidents of Chemical Societies
and Regional Chemical Federations which might be held in conjunction with IUPAC General
Assembly, Taiwan should prepare the expenses since there was no financial support
available for the attendance within the budget of FACS.
4 Report of President-Elect (including the preparation of 8ACC)
The President asked Prof. Chen to make
the report of 8ACC as item 12.
5 Report of Secretary-General
Prof. Takeuchi, the Secretary-General
submitted a one-page rep ort, which included such items as below:
(1) Report on the application of various FACS Awards. 15 applications
had been received.
(2) Application from Mongolian chemical Society wishing to join FACS was
received and the documents containing their constitution had been distributed to member
societies. TheSecretary-General had so far received no objection.
(3) A few applications for personal membership have been received. It
was noticed that from individuals a personal check should not be received because the
handling charge is usually much higher than annual fee of personal membership. The best
way is the applicant pay the money to their societies, and the societies send it together
with their annual fee to the Treasurer.
(4) Annual fee to the membership of FACS (USD 50) to IUPAC has been paid
through the Treasurer.
6 Report of Treasurer
Mr. Lim, the Treasurer, submitted 6
page report. There included reports for member societies who unpaid their fees, and
individual cases were separately discussed. Prof. Ohtaki promised to write letters of
reminder to the societies whose fees had not been paid.
The case of Iraq was discussed in detail. Iraq. They did not pay their
fees for 10 years, and Prof. Ohtaki suggested them to the effect that FACS was ready to
waive the rest of unpaid fee of Iraq if they paid the annual fee of 500 USD (category 1)
for 1999 with the understanding that the category may be changed from 1st to 3rd from
2000. To this proposal they replied that they could not afford 500 USD for 1999, and
requested to reduce the category even for 1999 (which means the fee is 120 USD). After
some discussion it was finally decided that their reply would be accepted in view of their
contribution to FACS at the earlier stage. It was also understood that a rule should be
set up so that the cases of unpaid fees could more automatically be handled.
Prof. Ohtaki pointed out that the waiver of the fee admitted for the
societies holding the FACS office is rather confusing since in 1997 both the Philippines
and Japan, and for 1999 both Japan and Taiwan seems to be exempted.
It was pointed out that three consecutive year exemption for the
Philippines is rather exceptional and it was understood that Japan should pay 1997
fee(i.e., additional 500 USD). (After investigation it was found that Japan paid the 1997
fee). Prof. Ohtaki explained that this kind of confusion would come from the period of
terms of the Secretariat. Presently the alternation of the President, as well as other
EXCO officers and FACS secretariat, took place at the biennial General Assembly. This made
the length of term of Presidency variable. In the case of Japan the term is two years and
a half, while in the case of Taiwan it will be one year and a half on the basis of the
present rule. Prof. Ohtaki liked to propose that the term of Presidency should coincide
with the fiscal year, i.e., Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 of the next year. Prof. Noller and some
others expressed their opinions to the effect that so far the present rule had worked
properly and that there was no need to change the rule. It was understood that Prof.
Ohtaki would distribute his opinion to member societies and that the issue would be
discussed at the General Assembly.
Dr. Singh proposed to invest FACS money properly so that some interests
could be obtained; the saving account of Arab Marchant Bank should be closed and the money
may be deposited to another bank which gave a higher interest. Some worries based on the
previous loss was disclosed and Prof. Ohtaki concluded that the Treasurer was responsible
for the matter and to try his best while care should be taken not to lose money again
since the purpose of FACS is not to increase its money.
It was found that the Indian Society of Analytical Chemistry did not
pay the fee at all since its membership started. Mr. Lim promised to send them a letter of
notice , adding that their category may be 3rd. It was understood that the other cases
should be treated on the basis on the guideline to be discussed later. It was understood
that information concerning on the unpaid societies are to be collected when possible.
7. Report of Coordinator of Projects
Prof. Noller, the Coordinator of
Projects, submitted 4-page report of the latest APFAN. Concerning the FACS homepage, he
was planning to meet with Dr. Winkler in June or July, 1999.
Prof. Noller requested use of FACS money (1000 USD) to ACGC for
publishing Proceedings of Natural Product Conference held in Vietnam.
It was pointed out by Prof. Ohtaki and others that FACS already
supported ACGC Research Communication by giving 500 USD for 1998 and 500 USD for 1999, and
furthermore, there is the Natural Product Project within the frame of FACS, which seemed
responsible for Vietnam Conference.
It was understood that ACGC had already received a substantial support
from FACS, and further support was not appropriate. FACS would have no objection if the
Natural Product project would support the publication of Proceedings within their budget.
It was pointed out that since Prof. Noller would be the President-Elect
from Nov. 1999, his successor as the Coordinator of Projects had to be found. It was
understood that, though the task was very difficult and required a lot of expertise, it
would not be appropriate for Australia to select another Australian. In that case four out
of seven EXCO members will be Australian. Even though Australian would fulfil their duties
in a fair way, such one-sided geographical distribution of officers of any international
organization is was just beyond commonsense of an international organization. Prof. Ohtaki
welcomed many suggestions to come on this issue.
8. Report of Chairman of Publications Committee
Prof. Akimoto, the Chairman of
Publication Committee, reported that the next issue of Newsletter would be published in
summer before 8ACC. The Newsletter would include a detailed announcement of 8ACC. Prof.
Utta-Ur-Rahamn, the preceding awardee of the Foundation Lectureship of FACS would
contribute to the coming Newsletter by writing results of his research.
Prof. Akimoto proposed that the logo should be newly made because the
map design in logo is strange and too much different from the real. It was understood that
Prof. Akimoto would try to obtain a better picture.
Publication of Newsletter by means of electronic publishing is under
progress though some time would be required before it would be done.
9. Decision of Awardees of FACS Awards
Prof. Ohtaki reported that the
selection was made yesterday by him and Prof. Sevilla, III, the Past-President because Dr.
Lee, the President Elect, was absent. Firstly Prof. Ohtaki introduced the guideline which
was used for the selection, the copies of which were distributed. It was understood that
the guideline was useful and might be kept as such in future. Prof. Ohtaki stressed
the importance of appropriate geographical distribution. A list of 15 applicants was also
distributed. It was confirmed that not only a society but also an individual could
recommend
candidates. Societies which failed to pay the fees could also recommend as far as the
present rule was concerned.
Prof. Fortunate, III reported the selected awardees.
(1) Foundation Lectureship to Prof. Akira Fujishima (the University of
Tokyo, recommended by the Chemical Society of Japan) based on his extremely high
scientific achievement and contribution to FACS as an invited lecturer at the xth ACC (in
Beijing) and the organizer of a symposium at the 7th ACC.
(2) FACS Distinguished Young Chemist Award will be awarded to Dr.
Chung-Shi Yang (Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, recommended by Chemical
Society Located in Taipei, China) on the basis of his high quality contribution to
chemistry.
(3) FACS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Economic Advancement
will be awarded to Dato Dr. Abdul Razak Mohd. Ali (Forest Research Institute, Malaysia,
recommended by Institiut Kimia Malaysia) on the basis of his contribution to the
development of Malaysian economy.
(4) FACS Citations for Contributions to Chemistry and the Chemical
Profession will be awarded to Prof. Philip J. Marriott (Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology, Australia, recommended by RACI) on the basis of his long-term contribution to
FACS as treasurer and other activities.
Prof. Ohtaki suggested that the name of citation was rather misleading
since citation is now more widely used in conjunction with Citation Index . Moreover, due
to this reason, the contribution of the candidates to FACS was not emphasized in the
application form of the FACS Citations for Contributions to Chemistry and the Chemical
Profession in some cases.
It was also argued that the word citation had been used for the
recognition or like that. It was understood that if there would make further
misunderstandings due to the naming and the definition as of citation award, some
consideration should be taken.
It was understood that Prof. Takeuchi would inform the result to the
applicants and their societies.
10. Application from the Mongolian Chemical Society
Prof. Takeuchi explained that the
constitution was distributed among member societies but no response against it was
received. Since their application was provisionally accepted and they should be invited to
the General Assembly at 8ACC as an observer. Their membership would be formally approved
at the General Assembly. The category for them would be 3rd one.
11. Discussion on Handling the Societies of Unpaid Fees
On the basis of the brief draft
prepared by Mr. Lim, the procedure how to treat the societies of unpaid fees was
discussed. It was generally understood that a procedure to eliminate societies who did not
pay the fees for many years from FACS should be established though the procedure should be
rather mild and stepwise. The procedure was formulated in a separate paper.
It was understood that the procedure would be circulated among member
societies and opinions would be gathered before the General Assembly.
12 The Preparation of 8ACC
Prof. Chen explained the general
situation. There were a few comments.
(1) General Assembly and the 36th EXCO would preferably be held in
different days.
(2) Foundation lecture would better be scheduled for the 1st day
together with other two Plenary lectures by Nobel Laureates. It would be appropriate if
Prof. Y. T. Lee would give a lecture on the last day.
(3) More sessions could be held in parallel to save time. Otherwise it
would be difficult to find time for lectures of other awardees.
13. Progress of 9ACC and World Chemistry Congress 2001
Prof. Noller explained the situation,
and it seemed that many problems pointed out at Council Meeting had been solved.
Nevertheless, FACS still tended to be shadowed by a large IUPAC. Prof. Noller and Prof.
Ohtaki promised to do their best to establish the identity of FACS.
14 Venues of 37th EXCO and Council Meetings
It was pointed out that Dr. Lee should
consider the places of forthcoming meetings, which should be presented at 36th EXCO.
Some possible locations had been discussed.
15. Discussion on FACS Laboratory Excellence Achievement Award
This issue was discussed at the Council
Meeting in Singapore with an almost unanimous conclusion that the proposed award is not
appropriate for an International Organization. It was admitted that Prof. Noller drafted
the outline of the award, and this draft should have been distributed among member
societies for collection of opinion before this EXCO. Prof. Noller failed to prepare the
draft in time, and the draft was discussed at EXCO.
Prof. Ohtaki summarized the discussion in Singapore and explains that
the draft did not seem to answer all doubts and problems pointed out at the EXCO meeting
in Singapore. It was understood that Prof. Takeuchi would distribute the draft of the
proposal together with comments previously disclosed to member societies to collect
opinions before the General Assembly.
16 New/Old Projects
No reply had come form Prof.
Atta-ur-Rahman to the questions given at the Council Meeting in Singapore concerning his
proposals. Prof. Ohtaki decided that the proposals by Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman at the EXCO
meeting in Karachi should now be regarded as canceled. Prof. Noller promised to continue
efforts to contact with Dr. Winkler on ChIN and FACS web.
17. Others
Prof. Ohtaki explained the present
situation about the proposal for the establishment of the Organization for the Development
of Chemistry and Chemical Technology in Asia (ODCA) in some detail. In the proposal
Thailand had been chosen as the venue of the research center. Prof. Ohtaki emphasized that
ODCA should be very helpful for the advancement of chemistry in
developing countries. He added that chemical societies rather than the governments of each
country should be involved in the process of application of projects from developing
countries. Prof. Ohtaki hoped that ODCA might have some financial supports for organizing
international conferences in Asia. ACC could be one of the candidates.
18. Closing Remark
Prof. Ohtaki adjourned the 35th EXCO
with thanks to all EXCO members and observers, and expressed his particular thanks to the
Integrated Chemists of the Philippines for their hospitality given to the FACS.
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