Picture shows Dr.Tong-in Wongsothorn, Chairman of the GMSARN Council of Advisors, Prof. Mario T. Tabucanon (on the left) AIT Provost and GMSARN Director, and GMSARN Council members (below) during the fourth COA meeting.
The Fourth GMSARN Council
of Advisors Meeting
The Greater Mekong Subregion Academic and Research Network (GMSARN) Council of Advisors (COA) is pondering on a possible expansion of GMSARN partnership to more institutions in the GMS countries.
The fourth GMSARN Council of Advisors meeting held at Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) on July 19 considered expanding the partnership of GMSARN to more institutions in GMS. Currently, GMSARN consists of eight academic institutions, which are AIT, Hanoi University of Technology in Vietnam, Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Khon Kaen University and Thammasat University in Thailand, Kunming University of Science and Technology in China, National University of Laos, and Yangon Technological University in Myanmar. The GMSARN Secretariat is currently at AIT.
The GMSARN partnership's expansion could start with the institutions located in the Mekong Delta, including those collaborating with GMSARN in the upcoming Workshop on GMS Water Environment on August 22-23, 2002 to be held at AIT. The GMS Water Environment Workshop, coordinated by Dr. Horoyasu Sahto, is a technical workshop collaborating efforts among GMSARN, with the University of Tokyo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and Chalmers University of Sweden, all members of the Alliance on Global Sustainability (AGS). It aims to identity research projects in water environment issues in the GMS and to identify prospect research fund donors for the identified projects.
The Council on their fourth meeting planned to give advice on the phases of GMSARN in the third joint meeting between the GMSARN International Board and COA on August 16. The Council advised that the chairmanship of the GMSARN Board could be rotated among the members, but the secretariat be maintained at AIT in order to establish continuity of the function. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) representative should be nominated to be on the Board as well because ADB is a partner institute of GMSARN.
Lastly, the Council approved and endorsed the new GMSARN URL (www.gmsarn.org). For GMSARN partners from less advanced countries in terms of internet accessibility, it was advisable that CD-Rom on GMSARN website updates be sent to them.