The ASEAN Committee in The Hague (ACTH) visited the Leiden Asian Centre (LAC) in Matthias de Vrieshof, Leiden on 6 February, and was given a briefing by LAC Director Florian Schneider and LAC Manager Lily Sprangers about their research works and other activities.
The members of the delegation were Dr. Mohd Norhisyam Bin Mohd Yusof, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of Malaysia, representing Ambassador Dato’ Nadzirah Binti Osman, the current Chair of the ACTH, Ambassador Mayerfas of Indonesia, Ambassador Chatri Archjananun of Thailand and Ambassador Pham Viet Anh of Viet Nam, and Ambassador J. Eduardo Malaya.
Also present were representatives from the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), namely Manager Martina van den Haak, Dr. Laura Erber and a Filipina postdoctoral fellow, Ms. Carmina Untalan.
The meeting discussed possible collaboration between the ACTH on one hand and the LAC and IIAS on the other hand, notably academic linkages and conferences, with a view to raising awareness of ASEAN and its member states in The Netherlands.
“We thank the LAC and IIAS for their valuable researches and studies on the Asian region, and its links, past and present, with Europe. I hope we can sustain these engagements as we have much to learn from each other,” Ambassador Malaya said.
Present likewise were LAC experts Jue Wang, Jonathan London and Mr. Lindsay Black. The members of the ACTH Technical Working Group also attended.
Ambassador Malaya also presented to LAC and IIAS copies of the Embassy’s books “Philippines-Netherlands Connections @ 70: Reconstructing History and Forging Ahead” and “Crossroads: A Compendium of Agreements between the Philippines and the Netherlands, 1951 to 2021.”
LAC is an independent academic institution that spearheads generation of academic knowledge on modern East Asia and is now expanding to include studies on other subregions in the Indo-Pacific, particularly South and Southeast Asia. Its experts collaborate with a growing number of diverse societal partners, including the business sector, media, governments, and academic and non-academic knowledge centers.
IIAS is a research institution and knowledge exchange platform that supports programs that engage Asian and other international partners. It brings together academic and non-academic institutes in Asia, and engages in dialogue and link expertise involving scholars and other experts from all around the world.
For more information on LAC and IIAS, please visit https://leidenasiacentre.nl/ and https://www.iias.asia/. // END