47th SEAMEO Council Conference

(22/03/2013)

The Minister of Education, Mr. Phongthep Thepkanjana, will be attending the 47th SEAMEO Council Conference or SEAMEC from 19 to 21 March 2014 in Hanoi, Vietnam. He has also been appointed the Deputy Chairman for this conference while the Minister of Education and Training of Vietnam will be the Chairman. Mr. Phongthep will participate in the Ministerial Round Table Meeting to discuss two important issues: Building 'a Learning Society' in Southeast Asian Countries and “Joint Efforts by SEAMEO Member Countries in Support of the ASEAN Community up to and Beyond 2015”. In addition, he will be awarded an honorary medal for education and will sign the statement of strategies for cooperation of SEAMEO concerning regional development with other SEAMEO member countries.


SEAMEC is a conference for South East Asian nations. It consists of ministers of education from the 11 member countries and 7 joint members as well as executives and staff from SEAMEO Secretariat. The conference aims to formulate policies under the framework of SEAMEO cooperation and review progress and challenges in past years. In 2011, the SEAMEC in Brunei Darussalam resolved to extend the term of the SEAMEC Chairperson from one year to two years. Consequently, SEAMEC will be organized every two years from then on.

In 2015, Thailand will host the 48th SEAMEC in replacement of Singapore and the Thai Education Minister will take the post of SEAMEC Chairperson from 2015 to 2017. The country has hosted the SEAMEC on seven occasions. The most recent one was held in Phuket in 2009.