KOREA INSTITUTE OF GEOSCIENCE AND MINERAL RESOURCES

The 72nd CCOP Steering Committee Meeting in Thailand

The 72nd CCOP Steering Committee (SC) Meeting was held at Ko Samui Islands in Thailand for 4days from March 4th to 7th. As for KIGAM, it was the first CCOP Steering Committee Meeting outside of Korea since Dr. Bok Chul Kim inaugurated as the KIGAM President on last August 31, 2018. The day before the official SC, the Select Finance Committee (SFC) Meeting was proceeded and mainly discussed about increasing the allocated CCOP contributions & funding for the Member Countries. 

During this SC Meeting, many agendas were discussed. However, the most important event was the inauguration ceremony of the new CCOP Director for the Technical Secretariat (T/S). The current CCOP Director, Dr. Adichat Surimkum, served from the April 1, 2013, then 3 years later Dr. Surinkum was renewed his confidence in his leadership till the end of the March 2019. The New CCOP Director is Dr. Young Joo Lee from KIGAM, and his term is until the end of the March 2022. The permanent representatives from the CCOP Member Countries thanked Dr. Adichat Surimkum for his dedication, and congratulated Dr. Young Joo Lee for his new embark on CCOP activities.  

During the SC Meeting, KIGAM also had the time to explain about the KIGAM-CCOP newly proceeding project, “Constructing GDR System Process in CCOP Region.” On the last day of the SC Meeting (March 7th), the participants had series of Q&A times visiting numerous geological sites. One particular place was the Eastern Water Resources Development and Management (PCL.), where they operated seawater purification systems, providing clean waters to the local communities, especially considering the Ko Samui islands where have been always suffered from the water shortage problems.