Bogor City Mayor, Dr. Bima Arya, officiated the launching of the SEAMEO Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP) as a Community Learning Park on 4 October 2016 in Bogor. The Park launching was a back-to-back activity of the Centre's 54th Governing Board Meeting which will take place until 6 October 2016 in its headquarter in Bogor.

The Community Learning Park strengthens BIOTROP's commitment to have its technologies, expertise, and facilities readily available to its stakeholders to acquire knowledge and life skills for livelihood. The park is also in response to one of seven priority areas of SEAMEO, i.e., Breaking Barriers to Inclusiveness.

Dr Bima Arya acknowledged BIOTROP for being among the research centers in Bogor that have contributed to the development of the city through its student internship program and community development activities. Through this Community Learning Park, he hoped that SEAMEO BIOTROP would continue to actively contribute to improving the quality of education and living conditions of Bogor City community.

"I appreciate the Centre's projects on School Garden for Student Literacy, Nutrition and Entrepreneurship, Urban Agriculture and other activities aimed to increase the quality of teachers and students. I hope that more schools from Bogor could participate in this program", the Mayor added.

SEAMEO BIOTROP Director, Dr. Irdika Mansur, said that as an institution under the Ministry of Education and Culture, SEAMEO BIOTROP will actively be involved in improving the quality of primary and secondary education, including special education needs, especially in the field of tropical biology. He added that through Community Learning Park program, teachers, students and the general public can visit, learn and try to apply the technologies produced by the Centre under the guidance of its experts and technicians

Dr. Irdika Mansur also expressed his appreciation to the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia for the funding and the Institut Pertanian Bogor for the academic support that the Centre has been receiving for the past 48 years. He also thanked the City of Bogor for providing a conducive environment for the Centre and extended the Centre's willingness to support Bogor City Government's goals, namely: (1) to develop smart city supported by appropriate information communication technology, (2) to develop a healthy and wealthy city through the development of entrepreneurship, and (3) to develop environmentally friendly city, so called green city, with low carbon emission and good waste management system.

Incidentally, BIOTROP also launched its Mycorrhiza laboratory as part of its 54th Governing Board Meeting. SEAMEO Secretariat Deputy Director for Program and Development, Dr. Ethel Agnes Pascua Valenzuela, assisted in the launching of the Park and Laboratory.

BIOTROP Governing Board Meeting is an annual activity of the Centre where its board members discuss and provide guidance to the operation and implementation of the Centre's mandates and related activities.