WHO KNEW?

Didn't see it coming, did you Professor?

Apparently regional economic integration efforts in Asia have been around for some time. On July 30, 1969, the governments of Fiji, India, Indonesia, Kiribati, Malaysia, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vanuatu, and Vietnam launched the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community in an effort to foster better production, better processing, better marketing, and coordinated research to acheive dynamic growth in the coconut industry.

In addition to institutionalizing cooperation on coconut policy and sharing coconut technology, the APCC puts out such best selling publications as the bi-monthly newsletter COCOMUNITY and the annual Coconut Statistical Yearbook. The 2004 convention is going on RIGHT NOW in Vanuatu.

Asia exported $36.7 million in coconuts in 2002, or a little over half of world coconut exports, according to the FAO.