For this year’s CDM, the Secretariat introduced a new meeting set-up in order to highlight the most substantial concerns of the Centres and provide a forum for collaboration between and among the SEAMEO Units and partners. SEAMEO Secretariat Director, Dato Dr Ahamad bin Sipon presided over the two-day meeting in three segments that included SEAMEO Units’ updates, collaborative meeting and networking session.

The most common concerns of the Centres were discussed in the meeting that included networking and partnership, SEAMEO branding, and immunities and privileges. SEARCA shared its experiences on networking and partnership while RETRAC presented the need for branding of SEAMEO and discussed various views on it. In addition, the Secretariat provided a summary of the immunities and privileges that the host Member Countries grant the respective SEAMEO Units.

Distinct from the usual practice in the past CDMs, this year’s meeting gave way for SEAMEO network’s existing and potential partners to present their priorities and interests and matched them with the operations of the SEAMEO network, identifying areas of mutual interest and possible collaboration. The panel was composed of UNESCO, ASEAN Secretariat, Association of Universities of Asia and the Pacific (AUAP), Australian Embassy, University of Tsukuba and the British Council. The discussions included an open forum where the Centres brought up their particular concerns and similarly matched other possible areas of partnership with the SEAMEO partners that were present in the meeting.

Several Centres reported in the meeting their updates, important accomplishments and upcoming projects. In same manner, the Deputy Directors of the Secretariat, Dr Wahdi SA Yudhi (Programme and Development) and Dr Tinsiri Siribodhi (Administration and Communication) reported on the progress of the resolutions and follow-up actions from the 2007 Center Directors Meeting, the 2007 High Officials Meeting and the 2008 SEAMEO Council Conference.

Among the various agreements and plans laid out in the 2008 CDM, most critical items include 1) the strategy to pursue in the proposed centre evaluation, 2) the standard framework to define the commitments of the SEAMEO host countries including minimum immunities and privileges for the Centres 3) the proposal on branding, networking and partnership, and 4) the guidelines in accessing and utilization of the SEAMEO untied funds. Accordingly, the actions taken on these items will be presented at the High Officials Meeting in December this year.

In the closure of the meeting, the participants agreed to add an additional day to the schedule of the next CDM to give more time for discussions and presentation of the Centres’ updates.

SEAMEO Secretariat Director, Dato Dr Ahamad bin Sipon chairs the 2008 CDM. The Secretariat Deputy Directors Dr Wahdi SA Yudhi (Programme and Development) and Dr Tinsiri Siribodhi (Administration and Communication) present the progress of the resolutions and follow-up actions from the previous SEAMEO meetings.

Fifty-six (56) SEAMEO Centre Directors, officials and observers from SEAMEO Member Countries and Associate Members participate in the 2008 CDM

2008 CDM participants go through the proposed meeting agenda

SEAMEO SEARCA shares experiences in partnership and networking	SEAMEO RETRAC presents the need for branding SEAMEO

UNESCO	ASEAN Secretariat	AUAP
Australian Embassy	University of Tsukuba	British Council

Networking Session
University of Tsukuba with SEAMEO Secretariat	The SEAMEO Secretariat with selected Centres
Embassy of Spain with the SEAMEO Secretariat and SEAMEO Centres