History of AFEO
AFEO has its beginning in 1973; from the engineering convention held between The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) and The Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES). The IEM/IES Engineering Convention was held primarily for the purpose of promoting interaction and rapport for their members in view of their common historical background and geographical similarities. IEM and IES took turns to host the convention. In 1976, while preparing for the 3rd IEM/IES Convention it was decided that all other ASEAN countries would be invited. The ensuring 3rd IEM/IES Engineering Convention in April 1977 saw the participants of other ASEAN engineering bodies with the exception of Brunei. This gave birth to the Convention of Engineering Institutions of South East Asian Nations (CEISEAN) and with it a “Ten-Point Principles” were adopted. The first CEISEAN was to be held in Kuala Lumpur in 1978 and the second CEISEAN held in Manila in 1979.
During the 2nd CEISEAN held in Manila in February 1980, an agreement was reached for the formation of the ASEAN FEDERATION OF ENGINEERING ORGANISATIONS (AFEO) and its constitution was drafted.
At the 3rd CEISEAN held in April 1981, the Guiding Principles for the Conference of AFEO (CAFEO) were adopted. Application to the ASEAN Secretariat was approved and subsequently the 4th CEISEAN held in Indonesia 1982 was renamed: CAFEO 1. The formal date for the establishment of AFEO was taken as the 1st of August, 1982.
Since then, CAFEO has been held annually at the different member institutions in a rotating alphabetical order.
AFEO has grown from five (5) members in 1980 comprising of Persatuan Insinyur Indonesia (PII), the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM), the Philippine Technological Council (PTC), the Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES) and the Engineering Institution of Thailand under H. M. the King Patronage (EIT) to nine (9) in 2001 with the inclusion of Pertubuhan Ukur, Jurutera dan Arkitek (PUJA) Brunei 1984, Vietnam Union of Science and Technological Associations (VUSTA) in 1998, Myanmar Engineering Society in 2000 and the Engineering Institution of Cambodia in 2001. The full membership of ten was achieved when Lao P.D.R was admitted on September 3rd, 2002.
Starting 1998, AFEO embarked on a very important mission with the aim to spearhead and to facilitate the mobility of engineers within the ASEAN Free Trade Area, i.e. AFTA with the formation of the ASEAN Engineers Register i.e. the AER. This is in line with the AFTA’s AFAS – pprogramming for the liberalization of professional services within ASEAN to prepare for globalization under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) initiative.