CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Western Pacific Regional Branch
to the 2nd AGM
7 March 2007, Manila, Philippines
The first Annual General Meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Branch (WPRB) of IGA washeld in Auckland in November.
Key activities at the first AGM were as follows:1.

Formalisation and ratification of the By-Laws
Formalisation and ratification of the membership of the Forum, as follows:
Jim Lawless
Alimin Ginting
Glen Golla
Toshi Uchida
Tingshan Tian
Kevin Brown

2.
3.
4.

New Zealand Chairman
Indonesia
Philippines
JapanChina
New Zealand Treasurer

Establishment of schedule of fees
Agreement of the location and timing of 2007 AGM and Regional Conference
Appointment of Permanent Committees

Subsequent and forthcoming activities are as follows:
1.

2.
3.
4.

5.
6.

7.

8.

Establishment as an Incorporated Society. Application has been made to register theRegional Branch an Incorporated Society in New Zealand. This has proven moretroublesome than expected and at the time of writing has not been accomplished, but
we expect progress soon
Opening a bank account. Application has been made to open a bank account inAuckland. This cannot proceed until the incorporation is accomplished.
The IGA Board have formally approved the WPRB By-Laws and Schedule of Feesfor 2007.
Establishment of membership lists. Official membership lists of the WPRB havebeen established for Japan, China, New Zealand and the Philippines, and othercountries in the Region who do not have affiliated organisations, but are not yet
available from Indonesia. The Philippine association has agreed to join the Regional
Branch en masse, in the other countries approximately half of the eligible persons
have joined so far. The official lists have been sent to the IGA secretariat. The
current number of members is 447, but that is without Indonesia.
Invoicing for annual fees. Statements have been sent to each of the relevant affiliatedorganisations as to the amount of annual membership fees to be collected. Those are
due to be paid by the end or March, 2007.
Visit by Chinese delegation to New Zealand. A number of Chinese geothermal
experts under the leadership of Dr Keyan Zhang will be visiting New Zealand inApril 2007. We have arranged for them to give an update in Auckland on geothermalenergy use in China, as a WPRB event.
Election of Forum. The election of Forum members for the next 3 years will proceed
after the IGA Board election is completed in June 2007, since it is the IGA Board
who select the Chairman of the WPRB, and there is a considerable advantage in theForum members as far as possible also being IGA Board members.
The Indonesian Geothermal Association has agreed to host the 2008 WPRB AGM
and Regional Conference in Bali, but a date has yet to be set. It will be in the firsthalf of 2008.

Overall, we have made reasonable progress in getting the Regional Branch established but havenot proceeded as quickly as I would have liked. Once we have the incorporation completed andare able to handle finances we can start being more pro-active.
Future activities. Things being considered once the WPRB is up and running include:A website (with links to IGA etc)
A Regional newsletterA register of members, possibly including a skills databaseA Regional Trade Directory, which could be a source of fundingEducational seminars, similar to the European Branch Summer Schools, if
external funding can be obtained. There has been discussions within the New
Zealand Geothermal Association as to possible topics that could be offered. It
would be good to get suggestions from other countries also. Even if we do not
do anything earlier, at the latest we will hold a Short Course at the 2008 RegionalConference.
Scholarships
Other suggestions are very welcome.
Jim LawlessChairman

Jakarta, 22 February 2007