January 2007
LAC Meeting @ Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok Thailand

1. 4th AOGS Scientific Sessions
2. Meeting of the Local Advisory Committee at Bangkok
3. Site of the 5th AOGS Meeting

1. 4th AOGS Scientific Sessions
One hundred and three sessions have been accepted for the 4th AOGS meeting this year. The breakdown according to the Sections is shown in this table. A few more sessions are still being reviewed and are expected to be added shortly.

For the list of sessions, their descriptions, organizers and to submit your papers, please visit:
http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2007/sessionschedule.asp

2. Meeting of the Local Advisory Committee at Bangkok

The Local Advisory Committee (LAC) for the fourth AOCG meeting met on November 22, 2006, at the Chulalongkorn University. This LAC has been formed to collaborate with AOCG by advising on the presentation of the Thai geosciences activity in the program and on the solicitation of support by government and private sector in Thailand. It is chaired by Prof. Piamsak Menasveta, Dean of the Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University. The meeting was attended by 28 people who were from universities, governmental institutions, and industries.

After a brief introduction of AOGS by A. Nishida (President) and K. Satake (Deputy Secretary General), the meeting went through the list of the sessions that had been accepted by the time of the meeting so as to see if they provide a suitable framework for representing the geosciences in Thailand. There were ten sessions where Thai scientists were either conveners or co-conveners. When any areas were found that did not seem to be adequately represented, AOGS requested the LAC to propose more sessions and, when necessary, encourage the scientists not represented at the meeting to do so.

AOGS also asked the participants from government institutions and private sectors to introduce its activity to respective organizations so that AOGS could request their financial support. Schemes for support that included Commercial Exhibits were explained in the brochure that was distributed.

At the closing, the AOGS President thanked Prof. Piamsak and other members for the participation and wished for a continuing collaboration to make the AOGS 2007 a legendary success.

After the LAC meeting, A. Nishida and K. Satake visited governmental departments on the oil and resources and talked to its Executive who had geology background. Our requests for them to be co-organizer of the 4th AOGS meeting were well taken and they were going to introduce us to the oil and gas industries.

3. Site of the 5th AOGS Meeting

On December 7, 2006, A. Nishida (President) and W. Ip (Vice President) visited BEXCO, the meeting convention center in Busan, Korea. C.-H. Khoo of Meet Matt accompanied. It is a spacious and modern facility and well qualified to meet the requirement of our AOGS meeting. Consequently, a letter of intent was signed so as to secure the 16 meeting rooms and the grand ballroom, in choice locations within the convention center for the interval of 16 – 20 June 2008.