News Details

Bandung, 12 October 2016. The 14^th GEOSEA Congress attended by the chairmen/ presidents or representatives of geoscientist associations in ASEAN has been held in Bandung on 12 October 2016. The representatives of 6 countries were present: Indonesia (IAGI), Malaysia (GSM), the Philippines (GSP), Myanmar (MGS), Thailand (GST) and Vietnam (VUGS).

The GEOSEA is a communication forum among the geoscientist associations in Southeast Asia region (ASEAN). The GEOSEA spirit of friendship and goodwill are to be maintained among the members. Six countries have been recorded as the member of this forum currently: Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The other countries in ASEAN region have been invited too but unable.

The meeting, chaired by the Chairman of IAGI (Indonesia), Sukmandaru Prihatmoko and co-chaired by GSM (Malaysia), Dato Yunus Abdul Razak recorded some unanimously agreements.

• To strengthen the collaboration and communication among the member on the geosciences and geoscientist roles especially dealing with the AEC. Collaborative discussion about the management of earth resources in the country border is one of the examples. As well as sharing information on the geoscientist certification/ registration (as professional geoscientist for example) is another thing. It was noted that Malaysia, the Phillipines, Indonesia (CPI and KCMI system), and Thailand has had the system emplaced.
• Decision made for the hosts of the GEOSEA Congress XV – 2018 in Vietnam, and GEOSEA Congress XVI – 2020 in the Philippines.
• New GEOSEA members will be encouraged to other ASEAN countries, i.e. Lao PDR, Cambodia, Brunei, Singapore and Timor Leste. Some of the countries had actually been in contact indicating their interests.
• The meeting also agreed to extend the Secretariat of GEOSEA to be in Malaysia for another 2 terms (4 years). GSM of Malaysia has established the Secretariat since 2009, and has also created GEOSEA website http://www.geosea.asia as the communication forum among the members.
• Other possible collaborative events have been discussed too, e.g. sharing information on how to deal with the disaster mitigation, etc.

At the end of the meeting, the GEOSEA flag was handed over by Indonesia to Vietnam as the next hosts of the congress in 2018. This new tradition of handling over the flag, started in the last 2014 meeting in Myanmar, would represent our friendship. (SP)

Photo 1: 14^th GEOSEA Congress, Bandung, 12 October 2016 Photo 2: 14^th GEOSEA Congress, Bandung, 12 October 2016 Photo 3: 14^th GEOSEA Congress, Bandung, 12 October 2016 Photo 4: GEOSEA delegates from 6 countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam)