Bangkok, 24 April 2025
On April 24th, 2025, the Task Force of Finance Committee of WADA Asia Region held a full-day meeting in Bangkok, specifically discussing the issue of financial contributions of each member country to WADA and also to the UNESCO Secretariat. The meeting was officially opened by Mr. Suwit Kerdbum as the Director of the Doping Control Agency of Thailand (DCAT) and the discussion was led by Prof. Kamal Hadidi (Chairperson of the Jordanian Anti-Doping Agency) as the Chairman of Task Force of ARFC (Asian Region Finance Committee) accompanied by Dr. YaYa Yamamoto as the Director of WADA Asia – Oceania Region. Some of the important issues discussed in the meeting were: Annual financial contribution of Asian countries to WADA along with its formula, debate on potential discussion of contribution of countries that are signatories to the UNESCO Convention on Anti-Doping in Sport, WADA Strategic Plan 2025 – 2029 and reiteration of WADA members’ concerns regarding the World Anti-Doping Code Proposal considering that the Code will be ratified during the WADA Congress in early December 2025 in Busan, South Korea.
For Indonesia, which was suddenly invited by WADA together with Kuwait to attend as an observer at the meeting, the meeting in Bangkok was very important, especially when discussing the issue of contributions to WADA starting in 2026. WADA explained that the United States’ contribution to WADA starting in 2026 will be stopped by the US Government itself and likewise with Russia’s contribution which is very limited due to WADA sanctions against Russia which are still ongoing. As a consequence, WADA has decided on a number of steps to make its budget usage should be more efficient. In addition, there are a number of countries that are asked to increase their contributions, for example Indonesia which in 2026 will be subject to a contribution obligation of US$ 36,836 based on the 2025 to US$ 38,404. For comparison: Thailand from US$ 107,741 to US$ 112,324, Malaysia from US$ 82,945 to US$ 86,473, Singapore from US$ 277,934 to US$ 289,758 and so on. Should there be any objections to the calculation, WADA invites the Ministers of Sports or their representatives who attend the Asia / Oceania Intergovernmental Ministerial Conference on Anti-Doping in Dubai in June 2025 to submit their responses. Meanwhile, regarding the contribution to the UNESCO Secretariat, Indonesia has attended the UNESCO meeting in Paris in October 2023 and most participants have objected because it is already quite large for WADA. All of this will be reported to the Minister of Youth and Sports.