8th Annual IAP Asia Pacific and Middle East Regional Conference Hosted in Taipei
The 8th International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) Asia Pacific and Middle East Regional Conference came to a successful conclusion on April 19th. Approximately 90 foreign guests from a total of 34 countries and regions attended the event. Attendees included chief prosecutors from four nations: Jordan, Bahrain, Nicaragua, and the United Arab Emirates. Also in attendance were figures from the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Prosecutors from throughout the world gathered at the Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel in Taipei to share and exchange experiences from their own nations on the conference theme: Combating Economic Crimes through Asset Recovery. The conference revolved around the current situation of international economic crimes and integrated key components of Taiwan’s judicial culture. In addition to presenting a completed view of Taiwan’s outstanding judicial system to the world, the event also showcased Taiwan’s professional capability in planning and hosting international conferences.
Taiwan’s Professional Judicial and MICE Hosting Capabilities Internationally Recognized
The IAP is the first and also the only international prosecutors’ organization, with approximately 200,000 prosecutors in its member base across more than 140 nations. Due to the rapid growth of major international crime activities stemming from globalization, the IAP hopes to facilitate widespread cooperation among prosecutors from all nations. The exchanges that take place during the conference are in the interest of enhancing the efficiency of global judicial mutual aid, cooperation on tracking down criminals, and other forms of international cooperation.
With Taiwan’s active participation in international judicial conferences in recent years, Taiwan has been praised and recognized by many nations for how the judicial system values and protects human rights. As legal affairs are a key aspect of a nation’s governance and involve national security, few such conferences are held around the world. Taiwan made the effort to bid for hosting the IAP this time in the hope that it would also expand the international horizons of Taiwanese prosecutors, let them engage in exchange and cooperation with their counterparts around the world, enhance Taiwan’s profile, and introduce Taiwan’s prosecution and judicial system to the world. The organizer stated that Taiwan won the bid as host nation despite the fierce competition because of international recognition of Taiwan’s prosecution and judicial system, an environment that meets international standards, and prior experience hosting international MICE events.
As the founding chairman of the Prosecutors Association, ROC (Taiwan), Counselor Chen Wen-chi of the Ministry of Justice explained, obtaining permission to host the conference first required consent from the IAP committee. The largest challenge was that the decision had to be unanimous amongst committee members without any votes against the country. After countless negotiations and communications, total consensus from the committee was obtained and permission won to host the conference.
The Meeting Plans Included Showcasing Diverse Perspectives of Taiwanese Culture
This meeting was jointly hosted by the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office and the Prosecutors Association, ROC (Taiwan), with support from the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office. To ensure that conference preparations were complete, many prosecutors from the Department of Justice and Prosecutors Association were deeply involved in conference planning. In addition, prosecutors with excellent language skills and a passion to help were recruited from all over Taiwan to serve as volunteers.
The event was co-organized by Intercon Convention Management Consultancy. The general manager, Samuel Wang, stated that firsthand information that the prosecutors provided on social behavior enabled the company to provide better tailored services during post-conference event arrangements. Special arrangements were made for participants to visit a Taiwanese prison, so they could learn more about the system used by Taiwan’s Agency of Corrections. They also paid a visit to Yilan to tour the green architecture of the District Prosecutors Office. These field visits conveyed a comprehensive perspective on how Taiwanese correctional and prosecution facilities are operating, and they garnered unanimous approval from the foreign guests present.
In other site visits, arrangements were made for the group to travel to Longshan Temple, National Palace Museum, National Center for Traditional Arts, and other representative sightseeing locations. This enabled prosecutors from all over the world to learn more about Taiwanese culture from multiple perspectives. Thorough arrangements were made for these itineraries to ensure that Taiwan’s first major judicial-related conference was a complete success. Not only has this set a major benchmark for the Taiwanese judicial system successfully entering the world stage, it also proved Taiwan’s all-round capacity to plan and host international MICE events to the world.
