KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg will be officiating at the opening ceremony of the International Conference on Archaeology (ICA) on Sept 26, revealed Sarawak Museum Department acting director Suria Bujang.
He added that Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi and his Sarawak counterpart Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah would be present as well, with the latter also attending the welcoming dinner later that night.
The inaugural ICA, organised by the Department of National Heritage and Sarawak Museum Department, will be held at Pullman Miri Waterfront, Miri until Sept 28.
“There will be 11 international and eight local presenters,” said Suria during a meeting at the Sarawak Museum Department office here, yesterday.
The meeting was attended by representatives of agencies coordinating various segments of the event.
“Presenters from seven countries will be taking part in ICA, namely Australia, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, France, Philippines and Malaysia.”
Suria stated that they were aiming for 250 participants and thus far, approximately 200 had signed up.
During the ICA, three memorandums of understanding will be signed between Sarawak Museum Department and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Griffith University Australia and France School of Asian Studies.
“A note of cooperation will also be exchanged between the Department of National Heritage and Sarawak Museum Department.”
According to Suria, the highlights of the conference would be the presentations of archaeological research papers, a poster session, book sales, artifact conservation demonstrations, exhibitions, craft sales and a site visit to Niah Cave.
“The visit to Niah Cave will be on the last day of the conference,” he said, adding that they would look into potentially adding in a visit to Rh Patrick Libau.
In addition, it was also mentioned during the meeting that Niah National Park was hoped to be potentially listed as a Unesco World Heritage site.
