1. Editorial

The Foundation can now look back on another successful annual conference, our eleventh, held this year at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. We received wonderful co-operation and support from our hosts at the University, ably chaired by Professor Maya David. One highlight of the conference was the gala dinner at which Prof. David was awarded the annual Linguapax award by Dr.Felix Marti from the UNESCO office in Barcelona. Another first for our foundation was the passing of a resolution on the parlous situation of the Aramaic language at our annual general meeting. It indicated that we are not merely a preserving organisation but also a campaigning one. The text of the resolution is reproduced on these pages, and you will also find in this issue an article on the current situation of Aramaic, to follow the examples of Aramaic cal-ligraphy featured on the cover of the previous issue.

As always, staging the Conference represented the biggest cost outlay for the Foundation in the year, but we did receive generous support from our hosts this year to defray some of the costs. And the net gain in membership from the conference will more than make up for the cost and help our charity to survive for another year. Next year our hosts will be the Frisian Academy in Ljouwert/Leeuwarden, and plans are well advanced for that event.

Chris Moseley

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