39th ACF Partners With 38th Ifawpca

• 31 December 2015
• Association Focus
• 1349 Views

Thanks to the impetus of globalization, the ASEAN Constructors Federation (ACF), which represents contractors in ASEAN, became a member of the International Federation of Asian & Western Pacific Contractors Association (IFAWPCA) to promote harmony among construction-related communities in the Asia Pacific region.

After signing into this cooperation last year, the two groups hosted their respective annual council meetings simultaneously at the same venue attended by a total of 87 overseas delegates from 17 IFAWPCA and ACF members’ associations.

While the 39th ACF Council Members Meeting was hosted on 5 February 2015 for its seven member associations from ASEAN countries (except Myanmar, Laos and Brunei), the 38th IFAWPCA Executive Board Midterm Meeting was also hosted on 6 February 2015 at the same venue in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Both council meetings were hosted by the Master Builders Association of Malaysia (MBAM).

The ACF agenda touched on issues remaining from previous talks. The first issue was updating the ACSTST program as they are currently finalizing the training modules template for six trades; steel reinforcement work, welding, plastering, system formwork, concrete block laying, and structural steel works. They also gave updates on new the ACF membership of Laos and Myanmar as it is now still in progress. The ACF directory was also an important issue because the purpose of printing the ACF directory is to enable ACF to reach out to the ASEAN region and create better recognition for ACF as a union of construction industry champions for ASEAN. The council meeting also agreed to allow Thai Contractors Association (TCA) to chair ACF by end of 2015.

The ACF meeting agreed to host the 40th Council Meeting at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on 7 November 2015 as proposed by MBAM.

The IFAWPCA’s main agenda focused on nominating the rapporteur for the 2015-2016 term, approval of the previous meeting minutes, matters arising from previous meetings such as the association business plan, awards offered to its active members, NZRMBF status, its updated logo and its lifetime membership procedure. The up-coming 42nd IFAWPCA Convention is scheduled for 16–19 November 2015 in Tokyo, Japan with the theme “Partnership and Sustainability”.

The ASEAN Constructors Federation was established on 30 May 1985. It is now the 30th year that the ACF has been continuously holding two council member meetings each year wherein council members discuss business matters arising in the ASEAN construction industry. Its seven constructors associations representing the private construction-related companies in ASEAN are: the Cambodia Constructors Association (CCA), the Indonesian Constructors Association (ICA), the Master Builders Association of Malaysia (MBAM), the Philippine Constructors Association (PCA), the Singapore Contractors Association Limited (SCAL), the Thai Contractors Association (TCA), and the Vietnam Association of Construction Contractors (VACC).

From its inception in Manila, Philippines in 1956, pioneered by only eight founding members, IFAWPCA today groups the fraternity of builders in 17 countries in the region—from Tokyo and Seoul in the North, to Canberra and Wellington down under, from the bustling cities of ASEAN and its neighbors, to the South-Asian capitals of New Delhi and Colombo. Cambodia, through CCA applied to be the latest member of this association last year.