International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), the peak body for the global meetings industry, has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Asia Pacific Federation of Association Organisations (APFAO), a leading federation for ‘association for association executives’, at the recently concluded ICCA’s Association Meetings Programme (AMP) on 29 June 2017 in Fukuoka, Japan.
The MoU will pave the way for a pioneering new partnership between both organisations, opening up a myriad of opportunities for cooperation on projects of mutual interest. Work will be built around themes in institutional and capacity building to sustain the growth of the meetings industry and association community, in particular in the Asia Pacific region. The agreement is a small yet crucial step forward in ICCA and APFAO ongoing commitment to support the work by national Destination Marketing Organisations or convention bureau in setting up of a national ‘association of associations’ whose goal is to further professionalize association governance and management in the country. This will enhance connections and collaboration on a wide variety of activities including educational forum or seminar designed towards association executives in the Asia Pacific region. The broad ranging partnership will accelerate efforts of both organisations to advocate for professional and sustainable growth of their respective members.
The signing of the MoU is set to strengthen the excellent relationships which already exist between ICCA and ARFAO. In the past, both organisations had worked together to deliver a programme - ASAE Great Ideas Conference in Association Management Asia Pacific, organised by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). However, the MoU signifies the start of another exciting new chapter and outlines the framework for working more closely in the future for the benefit of members and the associations’ community.
The MoU was signed by ICCA CEO, Martin Sirk and APFAO Pro-Tem Head of Secretariat, Octavio B. Peralta.
