1. Background and Objectives

ICMICA Asia has organized three regional programs:

1. a Human Rights Workshop in Bangkok, Thailand in August 1997
2. the Manila Forum on the Asian Synod in March 1998 and
3. the Seoul Forum on the Asian Economic Crisis in August 1998.

These initiatives have been successful in that dynamism was revitalized amongst Catholic professionals and intellectuals as well as amongst other like-minded lay organizations at the regional level. Furthermore, despite some limitations and shortcomings, they were very much appreciated by many people inside and outside Asia as they were a timely response to the emerging challenges in the region. On the other hand, the need to critically assess the impact of the programs and their follow-up has been increasingly felt in order to make future programs more relevant to the changing reality. Thus, the Hong Kong Forum was organized with the following objectives, in combination with the bi-annual Asian Youth International Catholic Organizations' (AYICO) consultation meeting (May 27 to 29, 1999).

1. To assess the impact and follow-up process of the ICMICA-initiated meetings such as the Bangkok Human Rights Workshop (August 1997), the Manila Forum on the Asian Synod (March 1998) and the Seoul Forum on the Asian Economic Crisis (August 1998)
2. To continue to deepen our analysis of the ongoing issues in the region such as the economic crisis in Asia, the Synod of Bishop for Asia, etc.
3. To develop mid-term and long-term strategies for the Jubilee year 2000 and beyond,
4. To evaluate the Asian Synod process, and discuss its follow-up,
5. To prepare for the General Assembly of ICOs (Lebanon, October, 1999),
6. To prepare for the Plenary Assembly of the FABC (Thailand, January 2000), and
7. To discuss the preparation for the NGO Forum on ASEM III (Seoul, April, 2000)