The 55th IFLA World Council meeting will be held this year in Singapore on 16 and 17 July, where the President-elect James Hayter will formally take on his role of global leadership of the profession for the next two years. It is probably said every year, but this is a crucial time for IFLA as it works through a series of challenges around management, finances, effectiveness and perception.

There are several items of interest to the NZILA to be discussed at the WC meeting, including:

• a draft constitution for the IFLA Asia Pacific Region (APR) providing for more autonomy, particularly in financial management, while strongly supporting global initiatives through IFLA;
• the adoption of regional education policy, standards and accreditation procedures (heavily drawn from the NZILA document), to operate as a global benchmark standard for programmes in our region where there is not yet a national system in place;
• reports from each of the IFLA standing committees on their achievements over the last year and plans for the next 12 months (Finance and Business Planning, Education and Academic Affairs, Communication & External Affairs, and Professional Practice & Policy);
• a draft MoU prepared by the NZILA and which could be a global model, structuring the expectations of both NZILA and IFLA for their relationship;

At a regional level, the accreditation review of the landscape programme at Bogor University in Indonesia has come to a successful conclusion, the first such review in the world of a landscape programme on a regional basis.

There are new chairs of the IFLA APR standing committees: Professional Practice and Policy Dr Takanori Fukuoka from Japan, Climate Change Dr Misato Uehara from Japan, and Education and Academic Affairs Mr Chang Chun-Yen from Taiwan. The chair's positions for Landscapes without Borders, and for Finance and Business Planning are still vacant, with the IFLA APR ExCo temporarily taking on those roles. We also have a new treasurer, Dr Wang Kuang-Yu from Taiwan, who will join the other members of the IFLA APR ExCo in guiding the region for the next two years.

Looking ahead, it is possible that we will have a regional congress in the Philippines in 2019, likely to be later in the year, with Malaysia combining the regional and world events in 2020. There are a couple of possibilities for the regional congress in 2021, if you are keen to plan your calendar well in advance, with both Taiwan and Japan under consideration.

I'll send another update after the regional congress, noting the outcomes that are of relevance to the NZILA and the IFLA APR.

Mike B.
NZILA IFLA Delegate
Hon. Secretary IFLA APR