Extract of a Speech delivered in The Hague, Netherlands by Former President of South Africa Frederik Willem De Klerk on 25 October 2013.

"A strong Europe is in the best interests of Africa. Africa still receives most of its investment from Europe and conducts most of its trade with the continent. Despite the much-publicized expansion of Chinese interest in Africa, it is only the sixth largest investor in the continent following the United States, France, Britain, Malaysia and South Africa. There are also strong historical and cultural ties between the two continents.

PublicAffairsAsia is a network for senior government relations, corporate affairs and corporate communications professionals operating across the Asia Pacific region. It offers news, features, analysis and intelligence on practice and policy through PublicAffairsAsia magazine, online channels, intelligence and events.

The Gold Standard Awards will be presented at a gala cocktail reception in Hong Kong on Thursday, December 5.

There are 15 Gold Standard Awards:

The figures here below are extracted from a survey undertaken in 2010 by Elwood Atfield, a Brussels-based search and selection firm dedicated to recruitment of association leaders, public affairs, public policy, corporate communications practitioners and media relations specialists. Their report covered the following 4 areas:

1.  Ms. Pilvi-Sisko Vierros-Villeneuve has been appointed as the Permanent representative of Finland to the EU

2. Nicolas Alexopoulos has been appointed acting secretary-general of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).

3. Bruno Alves has been appointed as the new President of the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry.

4. Joep Stassen has been appointed as the new President of spiritsEUROPE.

5. Jean-Charles Bocquet has been appointed as the new Director General of the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA).

The European Payments Council (EPC) is the coordination and decision-making body of the European banking industry in relation to payments. The purpose of the EPC is to support and promote the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). The EPC develops payment schemes and frameworks which help to realise the integrated euro payments market. In particular, the EPC defines common positions for the cooperative space of payment services.

The higher the position of an Holder of Public Office (HPO), the stricter the policy, regulations and codes and the more transparency is required. For example, whereas Members of Government are often required to avoid or withdraw from activities, memberships, financial interests or situations that would place them in a real, potential or apparent conflict of interest, legislators are often allowed to take part in professional activities unless these activities are likely to give rise to a conflict of interest.

There are three basic principles of legislative ethics, aimed at guiding legislative behaviour in ways that promote the integrity of legislators and the legislative process:

Public policy advocacy is an acceptable and normal part of our society and in many cases is a part of a healthy democratic process. Decision-makers can be provided with valuable information during the public policy advocacy process. Public policy advocacy covers a wide variety of activities. Generally it involves the making of representations to EU  public officials on particular issues by special interest groups, individuals and professional advocates acting on behalf of others.

AALEP Institutional Membership is all inclusive and refers to Higher Education Institutions and Academic Staff; Professional Societies of Lobbyists; Corporations; Law Firms; Consultancies; Non-Governmental Organizations.

Our aim is to contribute to the development and improvement of public policy advocacy education and to enhance the status of both public policy advocacy education and professional public policy advocates in society.