Before IAMMST-9, 12 meetings were organized, including Meetings of ASEAN sub-committees, Meeting of ASEAN Business Advisory Council (BAC), COST-71 Conference and ASEAN Meetings with ASEAN dialogue partners, which consisted of the US and Japan. In these meetings, the parties actively discussed the implementation status of cooperation activities, joint projects and cooperation directions for the coming time. In addition, the Awarding Ceremony, including the ASEAN – US Awards for female scientists 2016, ASEAN – US Awards for Innovation Challenges for Southeast Asian Young Leaders, Da Vinci Award and Scholarship of Center ASEAN+3 the Gifted in Science (ACGS) was honorably organized.
Results achieved in COST-71 Conference and related meeting have been presented in IAMMST-9 Meeting. IAMMST-9 Meeting was chaired by H.E. Dr. Cham Prasidh, Minister of Industry and Handicraft with the participation of leaders in charge Science and Technology of ASEAN member countries and ASEAN General Secretary. Viet Nam’s delegation led by Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Quoc Khanh participated in the Meeting. In this Meeting, the leaders actively discussed relating issues in order to effectively implement APASTI. Accordingly, the leaders agreed to approve the APASTI Action Plan (IAP). This was the important document for specific activities, measures and implementation roadmaps for each Sub-committees/ agencies under COST, in order to realize objectives set out in APASTI for the 2016-2025 period. Especially, the leaders welcomed the commitment from Thailand and Philippines of contributing USD 1 million to the Initiative of ASEAN Science, Technology and Innovation Partnership Fund, which was initiated by the two countries expressed their hope that other ASEAN member countries would participate on the voluntary and flexible basis in order to strengthen STI cooperation resources in ASEAN. In addition, the leaders also emphasized important roles of ASEAN young researchers in the new economic context and affirmed that reform and innovation are necessary factors for improving the competitiveness of ASEAN Community.
It is expected that the 17th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting of Science and Technology, the 10th ASEAN Science and Technology Week and relating meetings would be organized in Myanmar in later half of 2017.