We didn't much think about it at the time, but SEAPAVAA passed some important milestones in its development during the Kuala Lumpur conference in April. Let me reflect on them now.

On the threshold of our fourth year, we made the all-important leap into the Pacific. No, I don't mean we all jumped in for a swim: rather, we admitted our first full member from a Pacific region, the Office of Library and Archives of Papua New Guinea. We went on to recognize the special needs of the Pacific countries and to declare our determination to help our colleagues in those countries. To quote a phrase used at the conference: we have now put the "P" in SEAPAVAA.

To date, SEAPAVAA had tended to focus almost exclusively on the needs of film and television archiving. We took the step of specifically embracing the audio heritage. A few institutions already cover both: other are focussed on the moving image, while others (most of them not yet SEAPAVAA members) focus on audio. We realized that, whatever the policy and capacity of our individual institutions, we all needed to include audio materials in our frame of reference, and to encourage audio preservation either in our own archives or by other institutions.

As we enjoyed the participation of IASA (International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives) president, Sven Allerstrand, in the symposium, and as we look forward to the joint conference with IASA next year in Singapore, it was apparent how much the global landscape has shifted in the three years since SEAPAVAA's founding. Our region is now firmly on the international audiovisual archiving map, and our connections with the other associations are taking practical shape. I took it as a compliment that AMIA (Association of Moving Image Archivists, based in the USA) was prompt to publish, in their newsletter, the Statement of Conclusions from our Kuala Lumpur conference - in fact, before we could publish it in ours! Sometimes it's nice to be "scooped"!

Finally, for the first time since our establishment, we elected a new executive council to lead the association for the next three years. The incoming council is a healthy mix of "old" and "new" faces and I am very proud and honored to have been re-elected as president. I want to take this opportunity to thank the retiring councilors, P.K. Nair, Teoh Yan Sing, Ediyami Bondan Andoko, and Agustin Sotto. The association is grateful for the service they have given in the formative years of its development, and I am personally grateful for their friendship and fellowship.