Six years after becoming member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1999, Bhutan Scouts Association (BSA) organized its very first national Jamboree in Damphu, Tsirang from 31 January to 6 February 2007. Around 400 Scouts participated from all 20 districts of Bhutan. Today there are about 20,000 Scouts in the country.

Scouts of China envisage quality training for its leaders and better interaction with other Chinese-speaking leader trainers at the recent Course for Leader Trainers.

Asia Pacific Region’s (APR) calendar for 2007 features the winning photos of the 4th APR Scout Photo Contest held in 2006. This year’s contest is open until 20th February 2007. See this circular for details.

The Centenary of World Scouting was launched in Australia by the 21st Australian National Jamboree (AJ2007) at Elmore in Victoria from the 2-12 of January 2007. Governor-General and Chief Scout of Australia His Excellency Michael Jeffery opened the Jamboree and took a tour of the jamboree site.

The Bharat Scouts and Guides India started the year with a special National Jamboree in Kolkata, West Bengal on 02-08 January 2007. India regularly holds a national Jamboree every four years. This time the Jamboree marks the occasion of the 100 years of Scouting and this is to be followed by another special Jamboree in December 2007 to conclude the celebrations.

Scouts in Hong Kong are one of the first to welcome the centenary of Scouting in 2007 in conjunction with their Jamboree to celebrate the 95th year of Scouting in Hong Kong. This was held from 27 December 2006 to 1st January together with contingents from Australia, Canada, Korea, Macau, Mongolia, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.

Thousands of young people from all over Malaysia, Maldives, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore and Sri Lanka camped together at the 11th National Jamboree held in Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus, Malaysia from 12 to 19 December 2006.

The Scout project “Ticket for Life” enables the creation of programs so that Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances (CEDC), aged between 6 and 16, find ways to meet their needs and develop a plan for their lives through Scouting.

Macau was the “first stop” of all Regional Communication Forums happening all across the regions starting this November until February 2007. With 19 National Scout Organizations represented by 34 Scout leaders, the Scout Association of Macau (SAM) efficiently hosted the first largest regional gathering since 2003. SAM Chief Commissioner Leong Sui Pui and International Commissioner Francisca Vong and their dynamic team handled their first international event in a hospitable fashion at their conducive SAM office at Fortaleza de Taipa.

For the first time in the region, a regional workshop on events management was held from 11 to 14 October 2006 at the International Conference Centre (ICC), in Jeju Island, Korea.