With great anticipation, we made our way to Yokohama for the 21st FAPA Congress. This was the first FAPA for a couple of the Singapore delegates and we all came with another purpose of promoting FAPA 2008 in Singapore.
There were 3 main symposia and 13 sectional meetings held over the 4-day congress. The main symposia were pretty well attended and the organiser provided simultaneous English and Japanese translations. There were active exchanges of idea and comments during the question and answer times. However, for the sectional meetings, the attendance was generally lower and there tended to a communication issue, as English was not the native language of some countries. Nonetheless, there was still active exchange ideas and at the end of meeting, we have gained a better understanding the practice of our fellow pharmacists in their countries.
After 4 days of intellectual stimulations and exchanges, all delegates gathered together for the farewell dinner. Many delegates come in their traditional customs and evening wears and the Korean female delegates caught the attention of many with their traditional dress. This could be partly due to the popular Korean serial, “Da Chang Jin”. The food was good however many delegates forgo the sumptuous dinner to spend the last few moments with friends at the other tables and taking photo to caught the good times spent together.
As part of the tradition, every country took turn to present an item during the dinner. The Korean and Thai groups stole the limelight with the Korean singing Japanese songs and the Thai performing their traditional dance. We could see many delegates letting their hair down and joined in the Thai delegates in their dance which earned cheers from the audience. The night ended with the Japan delegates leading all in a Japanese song and the promise to meet again in FAPA 2008 in Singapore.
Japan, Korea and Thailand were very prominent in this congress. Korea and Thailand sent the largest number of delegates beside the Japan home delegates. They were also speakers in many of the symposia and sectional meetings. Many Korean might have come to this meeting as they are in close proximity to Japan and also to support Dr Soo Ja Nam as the new President of FAPA; while the Thai delegates might have been attracted to 21st FAPA during the last FAPA held in their own country in 2004.
However, there were only a couple of Australians in the congress possibly because the different healthcare system. While there were only 12 Singapore delegates, we are definitely expecting many more Singapore delegates for the FAPA 2008.
Dr. Lou Huei-Xin
Hon. Secretary, PSS
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