Hanoi, 23 September 2014 - Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (SEAMEO BIOTROP) holds its fifty second Governing Board Meeting (GBM) at Sofitel Plaza Hotel, from 23 to 25 September 2014. His Excellency Professor Phạm Vũ Luận, PhD, the Minister of Education and Training of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is expected to deliver his opening remark and officially declare open the fifty second SEAMEO BIOTROP Governing Board Meeting in the Opening Ceremony as the Guest of Honor on 23 September 2014.

The Governing Board Meeting is an annual event of SEAMEO BIOTROP that serves as forum for discussion on priority issues of the centre in carrying out the mandate of Governing Board, review the centre activities, and presentation of its accomplishments. The meeting will be attended 8 Governing Board Members from 8 countries in Southeast Asia, SEAMEO Secretariat Director, and two observers including the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Indonesia and the Ministry of Education of Brunei Darussalam. The GB Member of Vietnam is expected to chair the fifty second SEAMEO BIOTROP Governing Board Meeting. The result of the meeting will be a guideline to the centre activities for next coming year.

For fiscal year 2013/2014, SEAMEO BIOTROP Centre completed 25 research projects and started the implementation of 22 new ones along its two program thrusts, namely:  Tropical Biology for Community Welfare and Tropical Biology for Environmental Integrity. Three of the new research projects were the first grantees of the Centre’s Joint Research Program involving researchers from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and the Youth Environmental Outreach Grants Program from Indonesia.  The Centre added six more grantees to its list as beneficiaries of its PhD Thesis Grant Support Program, which has already benefitted 38 individuals from close to 20 academic and research institutions in Indonesia since 2011.  The Centre also continues to be in the forefront of sorghum development and landscape restoration research by securing collaborative projects with international funding institutions. In building capacities, SEAMEO BIOTROP implemented 20 training courses, seminars and workshops which benefitted close to 800 individuals from Indonesia, Cambodia, Darussalam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

In enhancing its Regional Visibility during the period in review, SEAMEO BIOTROP established its Knowledge Management Center for Tropical Biology (KMTB) website (www. kmtb.biotrop.org) as one special initiative under its 9th Five-Year Development Plan (2012-2017).  The website is an online portal designed to share knowledge and other information assets and, at the same time, build networks and linkages among individuals and institutions in tropical biology. The Centre also expanded its partnership and service delivery during the period in review when it entered into 17 memoranda of understanding and agreement, engaged in various technical assistances, facilitated the internship and/or on-the-job training of 145 high school, vocational and university students and research staff from 23 learning institutions, and accommodated 1449 visitors.

Improvements in the SEAMEO BIOTROP’s Solid Resource Base were evident in its human resources, infrastructures, and financial viability during the period in review.  Fifty-four percent of Centre’s personnel underwent staff development by attending training, conferences, seminars, workshops and symposia within Indonesia and abroad. The Centre also completed the renovation of three Department offices and the construction of its Knowledge and Technology One-Stop-Shop.

SEAMEO BIOTROP, which is based in Bogor, Indonesia, organizes its fifty second Governing Board Meeting in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Training of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Vietnam National University in Agriculture (VNUA).  An in-Country training entitled “Prevention and Control of Mycotoxin Contamination in Food and Feedstuff“ will also be convened back-to-back with the SEAMEO BIOTROP fifty second Governing Board Meeting, in collaboration with VNUA.

For more information, please contact:
Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Tropical Biology
(SEAMEO BIOTROP)
Email: harry@biotrop.org
Website:  www.biotrop.org