Asean Federation of Mining Association (AFMA), an organization established by mining industry representatives across ASEAN, held Executive Council Meeting 2024 on 11 June in the Indonesian Mining Association (API-IMA). This meeting was held both hybrid and offline by the Head of API-IMA, Head of Malaysia Chamber of Mines (MCOM), MCOM Executive Director, API Executive Director, several API-IMA staff as well as executives of Mining Industry Council of Thailand (MICT), Chambers of Mines of the Phillipines (CMP) who participated online.
The main agenda of this Executive Council Meeting concerns AFMA’s activity report that was under MCOM’s responsibility on the previous term as well as the handover of Chairmanship from MCOM to IMA. Dato’ Seri Mohd Ajib Anuar, head of MCOM as well as the President of AFMA during the previous term, handed over AFMA chairmanship to head of IMA Rachmat Makkasau.
The Executive Council Meeting (ECM) that was held on June 11th 2024 in the IMA Secretariate office was a follow up to ECM AFMA 2023 that was held via hybrid in January 2023 in which Mr. Djoko Widajatno also participated in. Mr. Djoko also participated in various AFMA agendas including the AFMA meeting in Nanning, China (China-ASEAN Mining Cooperation Forum & Exhibition).
IMA will manage all secretariates of AFMA effective 11th June 2024 until 31st Desember 2026. The new AFMA management comprises of IMA Head Rachmat Makkasau as President of AFMA, MICT Head Anchalee Trakuldit as AFMA Vice President, and IMA Executive Director Hendra Sinadia as AFMA General Secretary.
AFMA is a non-profit organization that was founded 39 years ago through the joint efforts of its 4 founders IMA, MCOM, MICT, and CMP and strives for the existence of mining industries in ASEAN member countries. AFMA would grow even further with the participation of other ASEAN mining associates such as Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Myanmar. AFMA also has a good relationship with nations outside ASEAN such as China.
The head of IMA that is also the head of AFMA for the 2024 – 2026 period wants to push mineral downstreaming development, especially industries that absorbs processed mineral products in Southeast Asia, as a top priority for this term. In the age of energy transition, IMA will keep campaigning the importance of coal in energy security not just in Indonesia but in other ASEAN countries such as Malaysia, Phillipines, and Vietnam.
During IMA’s chairmanship period, mineral and coal mining industries will be pushed to maximize decarbonization and the reduction of carbon footprints. AFMA will form cooperations with various persons in charge in both national and regional levels. AFMA will also cooperate with the Government of the Republic of Indonesia, mainly with the ESDM (Energy & Mineral Resources) Ministry as well as the ASEAN Secretary that is positioned in Jakarta.
