The Republic of the Philippines, through its Department of Education, will host the two annual conferences of Southeast Asian education ministers – the 45th SEAMEO Council Conference (SEAMEC) and 5th ASEAN Meeting of Ministers of Education (ASED) on 26-29 January 2010 at the Shangri-la Hotel, Cebu, the Philippines.

More than 200 participants from 19 countries – comprising education ministers, high-level government education officials, and representatives from international organizations – from the eleven SEAMEO Member States, Associate Members, Affiliate Members, and partners are expected to attend the Conferences.

Philippine President H E Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will grace the Opening Ceremony as the Guest of Honor on 27 January 2010.

The back-to-back conferences aim to foster stronger cooperation on education among Southeast Asian countries and beyond.  High on the agenda are the ten collaborative projects of the SEAMEO Member States that aim at providing education to the underserved communities in the region, integration of climate change in the school curriculum, harmonization of higher education in Southeast Asia, building capacity on maximizing the use of language in teaching, integration of ICT in teaching and learning, and strengthening visibility of SEAMEO, among others. 

An important highlight of the conference is a policy forum with this year's theme "Understanding the Vital Years for Future Learning".

The SEAMEO Council, the Organization's governing body, is composed of the 11 ministers of education of the SEAMEO Member Countries.  SEAMEO is an international and regional intergovernmental organization whose members are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. It has 19 specialist Regional Centres in Southeast Asia.

SEAMEO collaborates with global organizations like UNESCO, UNICEF, UN-HABITAT, the World Bank, and the ASEAN Secretariat.  It is also supported by its Associate Member Countries: Australia, Canada, Fra nce, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Spain. The International Council for Open and Distance Education, and Tsukuba University are Affiliate Members.