DSSP
The Association of Secretaries and Administrative Professionals in Asia Pacific (ASA), formerly known as Association of Secretaries in Asia (ASA) was founded in 1974 in Manila at a formal session of the Congress of Secretaries by Ms. Virginia P. Elbinias, then incumbent President of the Philippine Association of Secretaries and Administrative Professionals, Inc. (PAS). PAS hosted the first Asian Congress of Secretaries in Manila that year which was attended by secretaries from secretarial associations across Asia and Australia.
ASA got its new name in September 1998 during the 13th ASA Congress in Bangkok, in view of the United Nations definition that "Asia is a vast region, which includes Russia and the Pacific Rim countries." ASA is affiliated to the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) with headquarters in Kansas City, U.S.A.
The formation of ASA had created a means for secretarial associations to communicate with each other for the betterment of the individual association and the profession. To date there are 14 member-country Associations. The Distinguished Secretaries' Society of Pakistan has been a regular member of ASA since 1982. Every alternate year, a Secretarial Congress is held in one of the ASA member countries, by rotation.
DSSP hosted its first Congress in May 1990 in Karachi, Pakistan i.e. the 9th ASA Congress.
We are honoured to have hosted our second Congress i.e. the 22nd ASA Congress from 13 to the 17 September 2014 at the Avari Towers, Karachi, Pakistan. The theme was “Standing High in Challenging times!” Much had changed in the quarter century since we hosted our first Congress, but we were able to ensure a highly successful event attended by about 150 local and international delegates. For details, see the Congress Issue of the Secretary’s Digest.