At the PAQS Annual Board meeting in Tokyo on 31 October 2003, the members warmly welcomed the admission of China as a full member of the Association. The China Engineering Cost Association (CECA) sent a strong delegation to the Board meeting and following Congress program and also accepted the responsibility for organising the 9th PAQS Congress in 2005. At the Board meeting, members were advised that the Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (CIQS) had recently advised that they wished to join PAQS. The Board also welcomed this approach which had been made possible by the change to the regional definition made the previous year. A subsequent out of session vote resulted in the admission of the CIQS as a full member of the PAQS..