The SEAMEO Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts (SEAMEO SPAFA) promotes professional competence, awareness and preservation of cultural heritage, in the fields of archaeology and fine arts in Southeast Asia. It is a regional centre constituted in 1985 from the SEAMEO Project in Archaeology and Fine Arts, which provided the acronym ‘SPAFA’. The Centre is part of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), an international organization dedicated to promoting co-operation in education, science and culture in Southeast Asia.
SPAFA-ICCROM Seminar on Conservation Standards in Southeast Asia (WS-24)
Synopsis
SPAFA, conscious of the increasing need of raising the standard of conservation in the Southeast Asian region, through constant training and research, initiated a seminar on Conservation Standards in Southeast Asia, in collaboration with ICCROM. The objectives of the 4-day seminar were: to discuss the ways and means of improving the standard of conservation in the Southeast Asian countries and to discuss future cooperations and possible network among the national conservation laboratories of Southeast Asia. The expected outcomes are: to achieve better understanding and exchange of ideas among those who are presently responsible for the conservation laboratories of the SEAMEO Member Countries and to come up with recommendations for the improvement of standards and the establishment of the necessary agency.
Participating in this seminar were representatives from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Mr O.P. Agrawal, Vice-Chairman, ICCROM and Adviser, INTACH Conservation Centre, Lucknow, was present as a resource person. Observers from SPAFA and from Thailand's Archaeology Division and National Museums Division were also present in this activity.