A nostalgic trip down memory lane takes me to the year 2000, when I undertook the responsibilities of President of the Indian Actuarial body, then called Actuarial Society of India (now Institute of Actuaries of India).
Amongst a lot of possible progressive paths that were on my radar, one was to take the Indian actuarial profession closer to the world’s leading actuarial bodies.
The East Asian Actuarial Congress (EAAC), the actuarial body that used to conduct three days of biennial conference called East Asian Actuarial Conference, came on our radar.
The EAAC, a conglomerate of 12 actuarial bodies today, representing as many nations of the East Asia, was created in 1981 with eight members initially. The Actuarial Society of India was admitted as EAAC Member on 7th October, 2003 by EAAC Board as its 10th Member.
Moving from biennial to annual
EAAC used to have its conference once every two years and that was the only core function it used to have. Now it is organised once a year, since 2013, moving from country to country in alphabetical order of the name of the country.
After the admittance of India, the event was in held in Bali, Indonesia in 2005. With India country’s name starting with “I” and the event being biennial, I had hardly imagined, though longed for it that the event will take place in India, during my active lifetime: I am now 75 years young!
But things do happen even though it were only a dream once. The EAAC Board decided in 2011 to hold the event once a year and in 2014, it decided to change the name to Asian Actuarial Congress (AAC) thus enveloping the whole of Asia.
Gurugram
It was just my fortune that I was representing the Indian actuarial body in Kuala Lumper in 2011 and also in Taipei in 2014, when the above two landmark decisions were taken. And here I am playing a role in organising the 20th Asian Actuarial Congress (20th AAC) as the event is christened now and with extreme gratitude to fate and with a heart full of warmth, I welcome all to attend the event in Gurugram, ex-Gurgaon, National Capital Region, India.
The city, on the outskirts of the capital of India, Delhi/New Delhi, is sprawling and fast growing, hosting multinational corporations, has capacious conference facilities. The conference venue is Hyatt Regency Gurgaon and the 20th AAC Organising Committee expects 1,000+ participants and top government leaders to bless the event. The previous event 19th AAC in Bangkok had witnessed 800 plus participants. The event goes to China next year.
The AAC has 12 members, Australia and China were admitted after the admission gate was opened in 2003 for India.
With 52 countries in Asia and just 23 actuarial bodies, the scope for growth of the actuarial profession in Asia is huge for taking on board the existing 11 non-AAC member associations and developing the actuarial profession in rest of the Asian countries.
From the perspective of networking and tourism opportunities, Gurugram is connected with Delhi, Agra and Jaipur by road, the places of immense historical importance and of course the New Delhi International Airport is just few kilometres away.
The November weather is pleasant and enjoyable.
Welcome!
Mr Liyaquat Khan, Chair of the 20th AAC Organising Committee on Financial Resources and Budgets.