The 35th ASEAN Social Security Association (ASSA) Board Meeting will take place from September 17 – 21 in Nha Trang, the resort city of Khanh Hoa in central Vietnam.

The event will be hosted by the Vietnam Social Security (VSS), which will take over the rotating ASSA chairmanship in 2018. The VSS will also host celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the ASSA this year.

It is the fifth time the VSS has chaired the ASSA Board Meeting. It first undertook the chairmanship during the 2002 – 2003 term and successfully organised the ASSA Board Meeting in 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2010.

This year’s meeting, themed “The 4th Industrial Revolution and ASEAN Social Security Development”, is expected to bring together 170 delegates, including representatives from the Vietnamese Government, ASSA President and Secretary General, leaders of national social security institutions and diplomats from ASEAN member states. 

Speakers from the International Social Security Association (ISSA), the World Bank, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the South Korea National Pension Service (NPS), and the University of Waikato in New Zealand are also scheduled to participate in the event.

The ASSA was found in 1998 following the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement in Bangkok, Thailand on February 13 that year, involving heads of social security institutions from five countries - the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Representatives from Laos and Vietnam also attended the signing ceremony as observers. 

Later the year, the VSS became a member of ASSA.

The association was formed to promote the development of social security in the region in consonance with the aspirations, laws and regulations of the member countries; promote regional cooperation in all areas of social security; and exchange experience and information on social security.

It works in cooperation with other social security institutions in the region and East Asia, and with similar or related organisations of social security in any part of the world; and cooperates in the protection, promotion and development of social security schemes through training, seminars, consultations and dialogues, among others.

Its members now comprise 19 social security institutions from ten ASEAN nations.

VNA