Minutes of the Meeting of SWARBICA Executive Board and General Assembly and
seminar,
12-15th Oct. 1998,
Colombo
The SWARBICA Executive Board Meeting General Assembly and Seminar was officially
inaugurated in a befitting ceremony by the Acting Minister for Culture '&
Tourism Government of Sri Lanka, The Ceremony started with the lightening of the
Candle Lamp and two minutes Silence for the ex-Director of Sri Lanka and other
archivists who had expired .This was followed by a welcome address by the
Director, National Archives of Sri Lanka Dr K.G.D. Wimalaratne, Address by the
Secretary, Ministry of Culture Govt of Sri Lanka Address by Mr. Seyed Hassan
Shahrestani President, SWARBICA, and vote of thanks by the Secretary General,
SWARBICA, Mr. Atique Zafar Sheikh.
Thereafter the Acting Minister for Culture & Tourism addressed the Gathering
which included a number of Scholars, historians, archivists and diplomats and
senior citizens. Later the meeting of the SWARBICA Executive Board was held in
Colombo from 12-15th October, 1998 as planned in Tehran meeting in
May 1997. The following attended the meeting of the SWARBICA Executive Board
i.e.
1 Mr. Seyed Hassan Shahrestani, Director General, National Archives Organization
Iran.
2 Dr. K.D.G. Wimalaratne, Director National Archives of Sri Lanka
3 Mr. Atique Zafar Sheikh, Director General National Archives of
4 Dr. Nur-un-Nahar Rahman, Deputy Director Bangladesh National Archives
5 Mr. Bala Ram Chitrakar, Representative from National Archives, Nepal.
The Director, National Archives, India, Could not attend the meeting, even
though he had collected the Air Ticket sent by Dr Wimalaratne due to some urgent
work at home.
The meeting was opened by the President and at the outset he thanked the
Government of Sri Lanka and Director of National Archives of Sri Lanka for
hosting the meeting and the excellent arrangements for the stay of the
participants coming from abroad Thereafter the meeting took up the agenda and
discussed it item by item (copy enclosed). The meeting first confirmed the
minutes of the Tehran Meeting Before the confirmation of the minutes two items
were specifically discussed.
i) Publication of Journal of SWARBICA to be done by
Pakistan. The Director General of National Archives of Pakistan explained the
Position and pointed out that there are two difficulties:
a) There is not enough material to make it a proper
journal. Therefore he requested that some more material should be sent to him
for inclusion in the SWARBICA Journal.
b) The matter of finance was also discussed and it was
decided that Director General National Archives of the Pakistan should let the
treasurer know about the expenses on the journal It was also decided that 100
copies of the Journal would be sufficient .The plates for printing the title
which were available with the Director General Iran national Archives
organization would be sent to Pakistan.
ii) Secondly the question of treasury was raised since it
was a separate item of the agenda it was decided to discus it in detail
separately .The next item on the agenda was the election f the second vice
President It was unanimously Decided that the Director National Archives of
Bangladesh would be the second Vice president.
The next item of the agenda was the Treasury problems payment of dues .The
meeting noted with satisfaction that most of the participating countries have
cleared their dues. The representative of the National Archives of Nepal
intimated that a cheque of 1750 $ is with their embassy in Sri Lanka and would
be delivered to the Treasurer Shortly .As regards Pakistan the· Question about
the payment f the arrears was rasied. The meeting expressed its satisfaction on
the papers which have been produced by Pakistan. These papers clearly show that
the dues have duly been paid to Bank of Patiala New Delhi, India and Milli Bank
in Tehran, Iran. However, in order to get the final report to clear Pakistan
from dues it was decided that the Treasurer may write to Bank of Patiala in New
Delhi and Milli Bank in Tehran to get the final statement from these banks with
regard to the dues paid by Pakistan for the years 1990-94 and 1995.
The Next item on the agenda was the report of the Treasurer .A statement of
accounts (copy enclosed) was placed before the meeting .Which reflected
encouraging picture of the treasury funds It also showed the amount spent on the
air tickets and out of pocket allowance of participants .It was also said by the
Treasurer that some amount would be deposited in the treasury as refund would
come from the ticket sent to India. The meeting
Therefore, expressed its Satisfaction over the affairs of treasury and
congratulated the Treasurer for handling the affairs of the treasury
efficiently.
The meeting
thereafter, discussed the future activities of SWARBICA. It was decided that
besides the Journal, the news letter should continue to be published at regular
intervals by Iran. The material for the newsletter would be sent to Iran by all
the participating countries.
The next meeting of the SWARBICA board and General Assembly followed by an
awareness Seminar would be held in Bangladesh as earlier planned .The delegate:
from Bangladesh assured the meeting that they would try their level best to hold
the Board Meeting of General Assembly followed by a seminar in October, 1999. It
was also decided in the meeting that air tickets and out of Pocket allowance
would be paid by the SWARBICA Treasury and the local hospitality (accommodation
meals and transport) would be provided by the Government of Bangladesh It was
further decided that thereafter the next meeting in the year 2000 would be held
in Nepal. The participant from Nepal assured that he would convey this to his
Director and make maximum efforts to implement the decision of the SWARBICA
Board. The meeting in Nepal would also be held on the condition that SWARBICA
Treasury will provide air travel and out of pocket allowance. The local
hospitality (accommodation, meals and transport) would be provided by the
Government of Nepal.
The meeting concluded by passing a resolution unanimously with a vote of thanks
to the Chair.
RESOLUTION
The participating member countries resolved to place on record their
appreciation and thanks to the Government of Sri Lanka and Director, National
Archives of Sri Lanka and his staff for the excellent arrangements and
hospitality Extended to the Participants of the member countries.
SEMINAR
