The 17th ASSA Board Meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam.

Employees Trust Fund (ETF), Brunei hosted the 17 th ASSA Board Meeting form 6 - 9 March 2006. The meeting was held Rizqun, the Mall Gadong in Bandar Seri Begawan, which representatives of the 8 countries members to ASSA as well as distinguished speakers have attended more than 40 people.

Before the Board Meeting commenced, a one-day ASSA Secretariat Meeting, chaired by Mr. Padeumphone Sonthany, ASSA Secretary General and Deputy Director General of Lao SSO, was held in Ministry of Finance on 6 March 2006. The meeting discussed on the issues to be submitted to the ASSA Board Meeting such as: Training for ASSA members as well as development of ASSA logo and Website.

On 8 Mach 2006, a Pre-ASSA Board Meeting Seminar was held where participants heard and learned about experiences and lessons regarding social security and investment from 5 invited speakers.

On 9 Mach 2006, the 17 th ASSA Board Meeting, chaired by Mr. Azlan Zainol, ASSA Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Employees Provident Fund of Malaysia, was officially commenced. The meeting started with the presentations on Good Practices from 3 representatives of ASSA Member Institutions that were PT.ASKES (Persero), Indonesia; Vietnam Social Security (VSS), Vietnam; and Employees Trust Fund (ETF), Brunei. After that, Mr. Azlan Zainol, ASSA Vice-Chairman made his speech to officially declare the commencement of the meeting. The meeting has been conducted under a very interesting and important agenda. Importantly, the meeting unanimously approved the Minutes of the 16 th ASSA Board Meeting held in Vientiane, Laos in September 2005. The Meeting also discussed on the possibility of training for ASSA member institutions, which is agreed in the meeting that the ASSA Secretary General shall coordinate with the International Social Security Association (ISSA) and ILO to find trainings available for ASSA members. Furthermore, it was also agreed upon that ASSA Website be developed in some particular points to facilitate the communication among the ASSA Members.

The next ASSA Board Meeting, 18 th ASSA Board Meeting will be held in Penang, Malaysia.