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FACS Newsletter 1/2002
Message from the FACS President
| In July 2001 the transition of the FACS Secretariat was made from Taiwan to Australia. The Royal Australian Chemical Institute
(RACI) will maintain the Secretarial until 10ACC in Hanoi, Vietnam in October 2003 when the Chemical Society of Vietnam will take over. I wish to thank the Taiwan Secretariat under Dr Johnsee Lee for their hard work to make the Secretariat function smoothly. Also to thank are due to Professor Ohtaki who steps down as the Past-President, having been involved with FACS EXCO for the last 6 years. |
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For the RACI this is the second time it has held the Asian Chemical Congress and maintained the FACS Secretariat. The first time was 1989-1991 when Dr Tom Spurling was President and I was Secretary General. I have maintained a constant involvement with the FACS since that time having been Coordinator of Projects 1991-1999, and President-Elect 1999-2001. I am therefore very committed to an effective role and functioning of the FACS in the Asia-Pacific region and to assist the Federation to have a higher profile in its endeavour to promote chemistry and the chemical profession. Our involvement with IUPAC in combining 9ACC with its 38th Congress to hold World Chemistry Congress, was a step in this direction. Although 9ACC¡¯s incorporation into World Chemistry Congress took away some of the prime focus of the ACC, it did serve to bring us closer to IUPAC. It is therefore appropriate to consider bringing ACC together with IUPAC in this fashion from time to time.
A rewarding features of the FACS¡¯s activities during World Chemistry Congress and its activities was the very high level of Member Society participation in the FACS 11th General Assembly and in the 9ACC program. It was clear from the 11th General Assembly that the Member Society interest in holding future ACCs and running the FACS Secretariat is very competitive. Whilst 10ACC at Hanoi, Vietnam in 2003 is confirmed and 11ACC in Korea in 2005 will be confirmed subject to presentation of the detailed proposal in Hanoi, there was clearly a very strong interest to hold 12 ACC in 2007 from a number of societies. I am pleased to see that a number of Member Societies wishing to take on holding the ACC a second or third time. FACS also does not want to exclude the ability of a society to hold ACC for the first time as is shown by the example of the Chemical Society of Vietnam.
This all points to the need for a relevant and functional Federation of our chemical societies. It has become clear over the past decade that electronic communication and the Internet are playing an increasing role in the transfer of information. FACS now has its own www address and will expand its use of the Internet as time goes on. A review has begun on Internet journal applicability. There is a current need for FACS to renew its handling procedures and a review of these will be carried out and discussed at future EXCO meetings.
I look forward to my involvement with the member societies of the FACS over the next 2 years.
Dr. Barry N Noller, President
The Federation of Asian Chemical Societies¡¡
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