Distinguished guests, Ladies, and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Department of Museums and Archaeology, Ministry of Information and Culture, it is my pleasure to welcome you to Lao PDR and to the CollAsia 2010 International Course on Traditional Knowledge and Scientific Principles of Conservation to be held for one month from 19th November to 14th December 2007 at the Lao National Museum in Vientiane.

We are delighted to host this important event and to welcome altogether 35 participants, course assistants, resource persons, as well as the course team from 15 countries including representatives from ICCROM and SEAMEO-SPAFA of which Lao PDR is a member. This CollAsia 2010 international course will strengthen the collaboration between Lao PDR with ICCROM and SEAMEO-SPAFA in the field of collections conservation and cultural heritage preservation in general.

Our museum will provide an interesting venue for the course where participants can learn from our collections and our experiences. Our staff will be happy to assist you in every possible way, and we hope we will be able to learn from your experiences in order to help improve the conservation of collections in the museum especially with regards to traditional knowledge and scientific principles, which is the theme of this international course.

I hope that all participants and the teaching team will enjoy their one-month stay in Vientiane where there are various activities and beautiful, interesting cultural and natural places to explore and visit. I trust this will be a valuable opportunity for all of you to get to know Lao PDR and her people.

I would like to take this opportunity to declare the workshop open and I wish you all a pleasant and successful workshop as well as a wonderful stay in Lao PDR.    

Thank you very much.