The XXVI Session of the Asian-Pacific Federation Executive Board Meeting was successfully held at the UN Plaza, Almaty, Kazakhstan on April 2, 2023. The event was organized by Kazakhstan National Federation under the chairmanship of Mr. Bolat Akchulakov and with a generous support of the Kazakhstan National Commission for UNESCO and ICESCO and the UNESCO Almaty Office.

Representatives from the following member-states were present: Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, the Philippines, Vietnam including observers from UNESCO Secretariat, UNESCO Almaty Office, World Federation of Clubs and Associations for UNESCO, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and Russia.

Secretary General of Kazakhstan National Commission Ms. Aliya Baisabayeva, Liaison Officer of the National Commissions and Fellowships Unit, Sector for priority Africa and External Relations of UNESCO Ms. Assel Utegenova and acting President of the World Federation of Clubs and Associations for UNESCO Mr. Mustapha Badreddine addressed the participants during the opening ceremony and highlighted the importance of the mutual understanding and cooperation among states for the achievement of key UNESCO goals at the grassroot level through clubs activities.

The outgoing President of AFUCA Mr. Bolat Akchulakov emphasized that under the Kazakhstan chairmanship, we have managed to expand the coverage of the organization’s members to five new countries and bring key projects of the Federation to a new interregional level.

The agenda included such important items as reports of the AFUCA Members for the period of 2021-2022, report from the AFUCA Secretariat, presentation of UNESCO Secretariat on Clubs Regulations and amendments of AFUCA Constitution. The final and most crucial part of the current Executive Board Meeting was the election of a new President and vice-presidents of the Asian-Pacific Federation.

In accordance with the voting results, Ms. Sunjoo Lee from Korea was elected as a new AFUCA President and Vice-presidents posts received Mr. Tran Van Manh from Vietnam and Mr. Ananda Raj Tripathi from Nepal.