The magnificent panorama of Singapore greeted delegates to the 9th International Congress of Essential Oils, March 13-17, 1983. As the only city in Southeast Asia with facilities for such a major International Congress, Singapore lived up to its reputation as the commercial and convention capital. The Mandarin Hotel also proved an excellent choice with more than adequate room for all the meetings, formal and informal, that are such an important part of every congress.
By some standards, Singapore was a most unlikely place for an essential oil congress. From a geographical standpoint, it is obvious and excellent. It is certainly in the center of the most important areas in the supply of flavor and fragrance materials of the world. However, the essential oil industry of Singapore in 1981 consisted of only a handful of small trading companies that could not have organized an invitation to the Congress, much less organizing the Congress itself. However, a unique cooperative arrangement of the experienced organizing and program development by Stanley Allured, James Rogers and Robert Magnus in conjunction with the on-site planning and staffing by the industry in Singapore produced an international congress that compared favorably with recent congresses in the USA, Japan and France.
The Scientific Program of the Congress was fully up to the standards of previous congresses. The authors included some of the leading researchers in tbe field of essential oils from Japan, Europe, Asia and the Americas. More rudimentary papers, particularly in the field of agriculture and botany, were presented by authors from the developing countries which have always been an important part of this congress. The Scientific Program Subcommittee headed by James Rogers and including Braja Mookherjee, Brian Willis and Brian Lawrence spent literally weeks of time over a period of 18 months putting the Scientific Program together.