The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) is a non-profit, non-government, professional association of broadcasting organisations, formed in 1964 to facilitate the development of broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific region and to organise co-operative activities amongst its members. It currently has over 100 members in 52 countries, reaching a potential audience of about 3 billion people. ABU provides a forum for promoting the collective interests of television and radio broadcasters, and encourages regional and international co-operation between broadcasters. Members must be national broadcasting services in the Asia Pacific region, but there are also associate members from other parts of the world and an affiliate category which is open to non-national broadcasters and organisations connected with broadcasting that wish to be associated with ABU. ABU's activities include a daily satellite TV news exchange (Asiavision), co-production and exchange of programmes, negotiating TV sports rights and providing coverage, technical and programming advisory services, organising training courses and workshops, content acquisition for developing countries, annual competitions for radio and TV programmes (ABU Prizes), a robot competition for engineering students (Robocon), international frequency planning/co-ordination, advice to members on copyright/legal matters, representation of members in international forums, and publication of the ABU News and Technical Review. ABU works closely with the regional broadcasting unions in other parts of the world on matters of common concern, and with many international organisations and UN agencies to improve the skills and technologies of its members and to encourage harmonisation of operating and technical broadcasting standards and systems in the region. It is funded primarily by annual subscriptions from members. The Union has an elected President and three Vice-Presidents, who serve three-year terms. There is an Administrative Council comprised of 14 elected members, which meets twice a year to consider policy matters and monitor performance. The highest decision-making body is the annual General Assembly, which is open to all members, affiliates and a number of invited observers. The ABU Secretariat is located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It has a staff of 31, of whom 10 are broadcast professionals recruited from among the ABU members within the region. The chief executive of the Secretariat is the Secretary General, who is appointed by the General Assembly. The Asia-Pacific region is defined in the ABU Statutes as those countries and areas of Asia and the Pacific that lie substantially between the longitudes of 30 degrees east and 170 degrees west. On the map, this region stretches from Egypt and Turkey in the west to Samoa in the east, and from Russia in the north to New Zealand in the south. All of ABU's full members operate in this region. Most of ABU's associate members comprise European and North American broadcasters, many of whom have operations in the Asia Pacific region, whilst its affiliates include pay-TV and cable operators, production companies, satellite providers, telcos, equipment vendors and regulators. ABU is the third largest of the world's eight broadcasting unions, but covers the largest geographic area of the world.