ASSA 40 is hosted and organized by Malaysian  Employee Prevention Fund (EPF), shall take place for 3 days from November 20-22, with the overarching theme "Respecting diversity, building a shared future "divide". The conference contains the following contents: social protection for formal workers, pension reform and the flexibility of cross-border social security welfare.

Illustrative image (VSS)

On November 20^th, the opening ceremony of ASSA Board Meeting was solemnly organized and attended by 20 social security organizations from 10 ASEAN coutries. Attending the meeting, Malaysian Government: Datuk Seri Haji Ahmad Maslan, Malaysia’s Deputy Minister of Finance;  Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohammed Azman Dato’ Aziz Mohammed, ISSA’s chairman; and ISSA’s members contain Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohammed Azman Dato’ Aziz Mohammed – ISSA’s chairman;   

Member organizations contain Mrs Keo Chanthavixay- Director General of Laos Social Security, ASSA’s incumbent chairman; Tan Sri Ahmad Badri Mohd Zahir – EDF chairman, ASSA incumbent deputy chairman; the representative leaders and international speakers from 10 ASEAN countries: Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippin, Singapore, Myanmar, Campuchia, Thailand và Vietnam.

At the Meeting’s conference, the representatives listened to experiences on social protection for informal employees from the Australian National University’s professor, stable social security from Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Malaysia Pension Fund), pension reform of Employment Board, employmnet and social issues of OECD and society’s cross-border  flexibility of ISSA. In the conference’s framework, the representatives of ASSA member presented pratical experience that is successfully applied and implemented in 2023. VSS’representatives shared experience on “Restructure procedures on social and health insurance satisfy the requirements of administrative reform resolution via digital environment”. The representatives highly evaluated and acknowledged VSS’ efforts on administrative reform to better meet the need of people and enterprises.

Members from countries attend the 40th ASEAN Executive Committee Board Meeting  (VSS)

In particular, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of ASSA Association, at the Conference, the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding between ASSA Association and ISSA Association took place. This is the first time the signing of a cooperation agreement has taken place between ISSA, the world's largest multilateral forum on social security, including 338 member organizations from 157 countries, and ASSA, a multilateral Forum on social security - The only social security Forum in the ASEAN region. The Memorandum of Understanding aims to establish joint coordination between the two Associations to promote and strengthen cooperation between the parties with the following priorities: Coordinating to organize international events, conferences, and seminars to share experiences; promote the exchange of effective practices and creative solutions in social protection; build a network of social security experts to help strengthen the professional capacity of ASEAN social security organizations; promote the application of ISSA Guidelines in operational management and increase the presence of ASSA members on ISSA’s Technical and Governance Committees. To implement the contents of the Memorandum of Understanding, an annual meeting between the Secretary General of ISSA and the ASSA Secretariat will be held to plan cooperative activities for the year. The ASSA’s focal officers at the ASEAN region will be responsible for exchanging information, coordinating and promoting activities between the two Associations. The signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between ISSA and ASSA affirms the effectiveness of the Association's activities in recent times, becoming a united and strong community in social security in the region and the world. , in an effort to promote social security of member countries and commit to expanding cooperation and deeper integration with the region and the world.

VSS' delegations

After the conference session, on November 21st, the ASSA 40 Executive Committee and the Secretariat will hold a conference to review, evaluate, and resolve various important issues under the framework of the Association's activities in 2023 - 2024; transfer of positions signed for the term of 2023-2024, propose many solutions and activities in the coming time and especially celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of ASSA Association with many cultural and artistic  activities./ .