In order to further the agreement reached through September meeting on the coalition of regional zoological associations in Asia, Dr. Yutaka Fukuda, chair of JAZA, attended the annual conference of the South East Asian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (SEAZA) in Bogor, Indonesia in November 2016. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Dr. Fukuda and SEAZA president Dr. Phan Viet Lam agreed and signed, on 3 November, a Memorandum of Understanding for establishing friendly relations between the two associations.
A month later, Dr. Fukuda flew to Chungju, Korea, where the members of Korean Association of Zoos and Aquariums (KAZA) got together for its annual conference, and signed with KAZA president Dr. Kisup Lee a Memorandum of Understanding for establishing friendly relations between the two associations.
SEAZA which was born in 1990 now links 70 institutions in 14 countries of the South-east region of Asia. Its members are Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. As for KAZA, its establishment dates back to 1985, now holds 15 zoos and 5 aquariums in the country.
Objectives of signing these memorandums with zoological associations are to establish with every member-country and every member-institution much closer and friendly relations for the species conservation through exchange of animals or breeding loan, for further collaborative work to level-up breeding technique, population management, animal welfare and for pursuing the common interests/targets.
Having signed these two new MOUs, which followed May 1990 agreement with Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens, JAZA will make full use of the good relations and cooperative framework with overseas institutions to preserve biodiversity, to improve animal welfare and management and to promote/accelerate community-level Information-Orientation-Communication (IOC) activities.
