By KUNA,
Kuala Lumpur : Some 1,200 archivists from 138 countries are in Kuala Lumpur to attend the one-week Congress on International Council on Archives (ICA) that will kick off Monday.
The 16th Congress to be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) is hosted by Malaysian National Archives.
The ICA Congress is held once every four years and Malaysia is the second Asian country to host ICA after China hosted the global event in 1996.
According to the Congress Secretariat, the 16th Congress coincides with the 60th anniversary of ICA.
The theme for this year’s Congress is “Archives, Governance, and Development: Mapping Future Society”.
About 300 speakers from all over the world and Malaysia are expected to present papers at the congress, deliberating on issues, trends, and development in the field of archives and record management.
Among the speakers are National Archives of Japan chief conservator Aritomo Itaru and ICA President Ian Wilson.
Malaysia was chosen to be the venue and host for the 16th ICA Congress during ICA Round Table Conference that took place in Marseilles, France in 2002.
ICA, founded in Paris on June 9, 1948, is the professional organization for the world archival community, dedicated to promoting the preservation, development, and the use of the world’s archival heritage.
It has a global network of more than 1,400 institutional members in 190 countries, besides over 200 archivists and record managers as individual members.
A non-governmental organization, it maintains an independence from the political process. Its members include public and private archive institutions and individuals.
ICA works closely with inter-governmental organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).