At the invitation of the Secretariat of Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization, Secretary-General Ma Mingqiang of ASEAN-China Center attended the 47th SEAMEO Council Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam from March 19 to 21 2013. Education ministers, senior officials, leaders of relevant international organizations and experts from the 11 Southeast Asian countries were present.

Vietnamese President Tr??ng T?n Sang attended and addressed the opening ceremony. The conference elected Vietnamese Minister of Education and Training Ph?m V? Lu?n as the new President of the council and Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Phongthep as the Vice President for the next two years. The conference decided to include the UK as the 8th associate member country and held the launch ceremony of SEAMEO College as well as the signing ceremony of documents about the establishment of SEAMEO lifelong learning center in Ho Chi Minh City. Ministers, senior officials and experts deliberated on the topic “lifelong learning: policy and prospect”. The conference also decided to hold the next gathering in Thailand in March, 2015.

During the conference, Secretary-General Ma Mingqiang met with Education Ministers of relevant countries as well as heads of other international organizations and briefed them about work done by ACC. He also had working talks with Secretary-General of SEAMEO as well as Director-Generals of some SEAMEO regional centers. They reached preliminary consensus on the signing of the memorandum of understanding on cooperation, the 6th week of China-ASEAN educational exchange, SEAMEO College and other issues.