The Memory of the World Program is administered at three levels: international, regional and national. Regional committees fill the space between the overarching mandate of the International Advisory Committee (IAC) and the national committees. The role of regional committees is to:

• Develop regional registers and assist development of national registers
• Coordinate projects
• Manage funds
• Be a 'backstop' for countries which lack national Memory of the World committees
• Channel nominations for the International Memory of the World register
• Bring together people with a common interest in projects crossing national boundaries
• Nominate groups of documentary heritage to the Regional or International registers that cross national boundaries or are otherwise unlikely to be proposed
• Encourage cooperation and training within a region
• Encourage the establishment of national committees and coach them
• Coordinate region-wide publicity and awareness-raising

The Asia-Pacific region comprises 45 countries, half the world's population and in geographic extent covers over a third of the globe. A Regional Memory of the World Committee for the Asia-Pacic Region (MOWCAP) was established in November 1997 and first met in December 1998, although there were at least two antecedent meetings of regional experts in 1994 and 1995. Going back almost to the beginning of the Memory of the World Programme, the story of MOWCAP is however one of good intentions and false starts. A primary inhibition is the lack of funding to sustain a workable schedule of meetings; many countries are unable to fund the travel costs entailed.

Convened by the UNESCO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, through the Philippines Information Agency (PIA), UNESCO National Commission - Phillipines and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the 2nd MOWCAP General Meeting took place between 7-9 November 2005. The meeting was attended by representatives of 15 countries, UNESCO officers and the Philippines organising committee and secretariat.

The objectives of the meeting were to:

• Receive reports from the MOWCAP Bureau, national committees and the Goodwill Patron
• Agree on strategies for and parameters of a regional Memory of the World Register and regional projects
• Elect a new Bureau and establish a new forward plan
• Assist in the development of national Memory of the World committees
• Workshop the preaparation of register nominations
• Progress the development of Memory of the World within the region

The achievements of the meeting were:

• Receiving and discussing comprehensive and highly informative reports from the MOWCAP Bureau, eleven countries (including the five with national Memory of the World committees) and Dr M R Rujaya Abhakorn, the Goodwill Patron. The remaining four countries also reported on the formation of national committees in their respective countries.
• Developing and unanamously agreeing to the content of a full suite of administrative instruments to establish a regional Memory of the World Register
• Workshopping and allocating responsibilities for the development of proposals for more than dozen regional projects
• Developing and unanamously agreeing to new Statutes before elect a new Bureau comprising:
  • Chair: Mr Ray Edmondson, Australia
  • Vice-Chair: Ms Carmen Padilla, Philippines
  • Secretary-General: Mr Simon Fook-Keung Chu: China
  • Ex-Officio: UNESCO Regional Advisor: Dr Susanne Ornager
• Assisting in the development of national Memory of the World committees
• Agreeing to establish a MOWCAP website, to be hosted in Hong Kong
• Workshoping the preparation of register nominations
• Progressing the development of Memory of the World within the region

Launching of the first regional Memory of the World register and the planting of new National MoW Committees were topics high on the agenda of the 6th Bureau meeting of the MOWCAP (UNESCO Memory of the World Committee for Asia Pacific), held in Shanghai, China from 6 to 8 November.

The meeting was generously hosted by the Municipal Archives of Shanghai at its newly occupied headquarters, a heritage waterfront building along Shanghai's famous Bund, one of the city's great scenic attractions.

The practical arrangements for launching the Asia Pacific Regional Register were set in place, and a formal call for nominations will soon be issued. A Register Subcommittee to evaluate all nominations is being set up under the chairmanship of Thai historian Dr Rujaya Abhakorn, and the first group of inscriptions will be announced at the next full MOWCAP meeting, which is scheduled for February 2008.

Reports on MoW activities from across the region were reviewed. The creation of a new National MoW Committee in the Philippines was welcomed, and recent projects and workshops in Korea, Australia and the Pacific were particularly noted. The Bureau decided to develop a guide on the setting up of National MoW Committees which will appear on the recently established MOWCAP website early in the new year.

The MOWCAP Bureau manages the work of the Regional Committee between the biennial meetings of the full MOWCAP. It most recently met in Manila in November 2005, and a proposal from the Australian National MoW Committee to hold the next meeting in Canberra in February 2008 was explored at the Bureau meeting. The four members of the Bureau (Chair, Ray Edmondson; Vice-chair, Carmen Padilla; Secretary-General, Simon Chu; and UNESCO Advisor for CI, Dr Susanne Ornager), together with Dr Abhakorn, worked through a lengthy agenda which also included issues of advocacy, fundraising and sponsorship, and the production of a planned pictorial book built around the documentary treasures of the region.

• Founding documents: a proposal to identify and make accessible the founding documents of the countries in the Asia-Pacific region (lead country Australia, supporting partners New Zealand, Vanuatu.

Central Asia programme

Central Scientific Library of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan rare books preservation project

MOWCAP website

Pacific Information For All Programme (IFAP)