REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, YOGYAKARTA - The first East Asia Summit (EAS) Education Ministerial Meeting (EMM) was launched in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday. EMM was chaired by Indonesian Minister of Education and Culture, Mohammad Nuh. US, represented by Deputy Secretary of Education Anthony Miller and US Ambassador to ASEAN David Carden, attended the event which was held following the EAS leaders' mandate last November.
Indonesia as 2011 EAS Chair, prioritizes education, considered it as a key pillar in the bilateral US-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership. The meeting results that EAS agree to focus on improving the quality of education and promoting student mobility in member countries and across the region.
“We are delighted to host the first formal EAS-EMM in Yogyakarta and are pleased with the United States' attendance,” Nuh said in a press release from the US Mission to ASEAN on Thursday. He hopes US experience in education can help guide the development of EAS education cooperation to the benefit of all participants.
While Miller said, “Following President Obama's participation in last year’s East Asia Summit in Bali, there is great interest in exploring cooperation through EAS.” He added that the US valued the opportunity to exchange views with its counterparts and discuss the common challenges facing education worldwide, including teaching quality, technical and vocational education, and use of educational technology.
Ambassador Carden explained that US educational system found strength in diversity, which also shared among EAS' members. “All EAS members also recognize that our common future prosperity must rest on solid education foundations," he said.
