Opening Remarks

Governing Board Meeting (GBM) 2022

Dr Ethel Agnes Pascua-Valenzuela
Director, SEAMEO Secretariat

To the honorable members and representatives of the Governing Board, to the Centre Director
and staff of SEAMEO, observers and guests of the meeting, warm greetings from the SEAMEO
Secretariat here in Bangkok, Thailand.

It is an honor to be speaking with you at this significant event for our SEAMEO Centres,
particularly as we transition to the post-pandemic world. The past two years were challenging
due to the lockdowns and the uncertainty brought about by the pandemic. However, these
years have also provided us with successes and key lessons that helped us drive forward our
education, science, and culture agenda. Thus, I would like to thank our centre directors and
SEAMEO staff for forging on and moving forward to deliver our goals in SEAMEO through
relevant and timely implementation of programmes and initiatives for our region.

Today, we gather again for the Governing Board Meeting (GBM) which is an important event
and milestone for SEAMEO Centres to update the Ministries of Education with the
accomplishments of the past year and present new proposals that would strengthen and
deepen our partnerships. The GBM is a platform for ministries to provide inputs and advice as
well as discuss crucial matters to ensure that the programmes and initiatives we implement are
responsive to the needs of our region. We look forward to the rich and productive discussion
among the Governing Board members and the centres to sustain and improve the effective and
efficient implementation of the programmes of our SEAMEO Centres.

During this GBM, the SEAMEO Secretariat will also update the Governing Board members of our
accomplishments from the past year, particularly on the significant points, agreements, and
actions taken on key items from SEAMEO Meetings in Fiscal Year 2021/2022, starting from the
Centre Directors Meeting, Executive Committee Meeting, and High Officials Meeting. These
were approved by the SEAMEO Council via ad referendum since 2022 is a non-SEAMEC year.

Notably, we would like to share that following the approval and launch of the SEAMEO Strategic
Plan (SSP) 2021-2030, this year we have launched the SEAMEO Integrated Operational Plan
(SIOP) 2021-2025 which will serve as our guide in the next five years to achieve a better of
quality of life in Southeast Asia. We will be discussing in more detail other significant highlights
from the past year in our presentation later.

With this, I would like to congratulate our SEAMEO Centres who are in the forefront of our
quest towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong opportunities for all amid
the changes in our society. We continue to adapt to new situations with open minds, with eyes
on the goal – to reach the unreached and transform education, science, and culture in the
region. Thus, through strategic partnerships, capacity building, robust and responsive research,
resource mobilization, communication and advocacy, and monitoring and evaluation, we
provide and offer new ways to support our regions. Your achievements are reflections of your
commitment and dedication to the mission of SEAMEO.

Thank you very much and we are looking forward to a productive Governing Board Meeting.