First ICSU Regional Meeting for Asiaand the Pacific

The First International Council for Science(ICSU) Regional Meeting for Asia and the Pacific was held from April 25-27, 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The meeting was hosted by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Malaysia and the Academy of Sciences Malaysia. Welcoming remarks were delivered by Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Ahmad Zaharudin Idrus, President,Academy of Sciences Malaysia and Prof. Thomas Rosswall, Executive Director,ICSU. His Excellency Dato‘ Sri Dr. Jamaludin Jarjis, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia opened the meeting.About 40 participants attended the meeting,representing national science academies from the Asia Pacific and international scientific unions that are active in the region. The International Union of Geological Sciences(IUGS) was represented by the President,Prof. Zhang Hongren. Dr. Joy Pereira, Chair of the IUGS Commission on Geoscience for Environmental Management (IUGS-GEM)also attended the meeting as an Observer.