|
MedAsia for the promotion of Asian
Studies in
the Southern European Region.
On February 20th in
Rome, Casa Asia, a consortium established by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs,
the Catalan
Autonomous Government and the City Hall of Barcelona to forge economical
and cultural links between Spain and the different countries of Asia,
together with the Rιseau-Asie/CNRS -UPS2999 (France), Instituto de
Estudios Estratιgicos e Internacionais (Portugal), University of Athens
(Greece), and Istituto
Italiano per l΄Africa e l΄Oriente (Italy), formed an association to be
known as MedAsia for the promotion of Asian
studies in the Southern European Region. Its
headquarters are located in Paris,
its
president elect is Mr. Ion de la Riva and its Secretary General Mr. Jean-
Francois Sabouret. One
second meeting was held in Paris the 7th April to introduce
the project to the Southern European ASEF governors
and invite them to participate as honorary members and sign a Declaration
of Intent.
The aim of this association is to promote exchange between
private and public institutions in order to
disclose the
human and material resources of each institution, facilitate the
dissemination of specific knowledge of areas of expertise and
encourage cooperation and scientific research. The
final purpose of this network is the creation and establishment of a
pan-European association of public and private
institutions
with interests in Asia which will allow for a permanent flow of
information concerning cultural activities and research
between institutions, avoid redundancy and permit
the establishment of Euro-Asian collaborative projects. All of
this should aim at mending the existing imbalance
concerning research projects on Asia of some southern European countries
with respect to the rest of Europe. The initial
projects of this network include:
--The creation of a European database of Asian experts which will commence
with experts in Southern European countries, but will eventually integrate
all European experts on Asia.
This
database has already been initiated by the
Rιseau-Asie in Paris.
-- A biannual conference of all interested institutions in Asia which will
discuss historical and
contemporary themes.
-- To facilitate research projects that universities are unable to bring
about.
--To create a series of seminars to further investigate the history of
Southern Europe with Asia.
Read also the invitations
section for the first seminar to be held in Barcelona,
in Casa Asia the 14th and
15th of September, 2006,
For further details please write to:
Regina
Llamas
Coordinator for MedAsia
RLlamas@casaasia.es
| 