EROPA (Eastern Regional Organization for Public Administration) is an international organization established in December 1960 to contribute to the advancement of economic and social development in the Asia-Pacific region by bringing about qualitative improvements in public administration in each country. It is composed of state members, group members, and individual members, with the following ten countries as current state members. Among the countries, Japan is the founding member country, having joined following a Cabinet decision on December 3, 1960.
Member states: Japan, the People’s Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Iran, the Republic of Korea, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia ※India and iran are inactive.
The organs of EROPA are the General Assembly (held once every two years), the Executive Council Meeting (held once a year, in principle), and the Secretariat (the Philippines), as well as five technical centers: the Development Management Center (Republic of Korea), the Training Center (India), the Local Government Center (Japan), the Human Resource Center (China) and Policy Studies Center (Indonesia). The Local Government Center has been set up within the Local Autonomy College, and its representative (Director) is also the President of the Local Autonomy College. Moreover, since the Local Autonomy College President is the representative of the Japanese government at EROPA, the Local Autonomy College functions as the contact point for EROPA in Japan.
EROPA CENTER
The primary roles of the Local Government Center are as follows.
EROPA hosts conferences and seminars which are held concurrently with the Executive Council Meetings (once in two years for General Assembly) where many researchers and officials meet together and share their knowledge, system and practical business of administration.
2024 EROPA
Presentation data of speakers in the past EROPA Conference
ARPA is good-quality journals which are published twice a year and include a wide range of the administrative challenges to improve systems and management of the Asian and Pacific countries.
ARPA
“TAG” stands for “Thinking about Governance” and is an opinion exchange program that many researchers and people can share professional knowledge of accurate and comprehensive administration. It is also offered via video and considered as efficient information to help to solve various challenges on future governance.
＃TAG DIALOGUE
EROPA regularly publishes EROPA Bulletin four times a year (January, April, July and October) which includes various administrative activities related to the advancement of economic and social development of the Asian and Pacific region.
EROPA Bulletin
EROPA sends various news related to the administration in the Asian countries.
EROPA NEWS (Public Administration News)
Members of the EROPA Local Government Center attend EROPA conferences, which are held each year by member countries on a rotating basis, participate in decisions on important matters as the Council in the Executive Council meetings and otherwise cooperate in EROPA activities and operations, as well as presenting activity reports and research articles from the Center.
In FY2013, an EROPA conference was held in Japan for the first time in 18 years, since 1995.
In EY 2024, EROPA Conference was held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia from November 4 to 6. The theme was 'Towards World Class Bureaucracy'. EROPA 2025 Conference is scheduled in October hosted by Philippines.
Activities Report 2023
This training program is aimed at helping to boost standards for local public administration mainly in the EROPA member countries by accepting as trainees those public employees from developing countries who are engaged in tasks related to local governance, holding courses for them at the Local Autonomy College, and providing them with on-site training at local public entities. The training is implemented jointly with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) based on EROPA requests (59th implementation as of FY2024).
Each year about 15 trainees are accepted, with the total number of people accepted since the first implementation concurrent with the formation of the EROPA Local Government Center in October1964 reaching 674 people from 72 countries by FY2024. Given the background of the formation, the countries from which trainees are accepted are primarily EROPA member countries.
In FY2024, training was implemented for 8 trainees from 7 countries for about one month period from May 20 to June 21. (see here for more details).
(3) Publication of Comparative Study of Public Administration
This is a collection of comparative articles in English on local public administration written by researchers mainly from EROPA member countries, published once every two to three years. Pursuant to a 1981 general assembly resolution, the collection of articles is published with the aim of promoting comparative research on local public administration in the Asia-Pacific region, with the first edition having been published in 1984. It is distributed to EROPA member countries, EROPA members in Japan, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, related organizations, local public entities, researchers, and others.
Issue Vol. 13 (theme: Local Governance in the Age of Technological Transformation and Global Uncertainty) was published in June 2020.
<Past Issues *Please see here for the articles listed in each edition (articles can be downloaded).>
EROPA Japan Members Liaison and Cooperation Meetings are held as needed for reporting of various EROPA activities and exchange of information among members.
In addition to the Local Governance Training discussed above, the Local Autonomy College conducts half-day and 1-day training sessions as needed for public employees from overseas.
In FY2024, the college has accepted 6 trainees from China.
