HRH Princess Soamsawali delivers the inaugural address. President of FILLM Professor Maria Alzira Seixo presents her address. Rev. Bro. Dr. P. Martin Komolmas giving the welcome speech.

I am delighted to preside over this most important gathering of scholars here at Assumption University today. The teaching of languages and literatures is one of the most laudable activities of a university. I have also learned, with much interest, of the activities of the International Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures, which has set itself the goal of upholding and promoting knowledge in the humanities. Such a worthy effort, I am confident, will bear fruit in creating cooperation and well being for mankind. Languages and literatures are not only means of communicating with one another; they also hold the key to better understanding among nations. One famous American poet once said, "The poet are the antenna of a nation". This is true. For if we know the literary works of another country, we also know its sensitivities, its hopes and expectations. Literature deals not merely with information and facts, but with feelings and value judgment. The value of languages and literatures can best be understood by reading poems, novels, and criticisms. Taking on the challenges, which are confronting literature in the new millennium, is indeed an exceptional endeavor. It is hoped that this Congress will help examine the attitude of our scholars towards one of the oldest disciplines in the world and discover a new lease of life for literature.

I would like to end my Inaugural Address by wishing the organizer, Assumption University, and its prime mover, FILLM a very successful Congress.

It is time for me to now declare the XXII Congress of the International Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures open.

Address by The President of the International Federation of Modern Languages and Literatures

May It Please Your Royal Highness,

On behalf of FILLM and its member associations I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Your Royal Highness for graciously presiding over the Opening Ceremony. As President of FILLM from 1999-2002 I have been looking forward to the Congress organized at Assumption University as the highlight of my tenure. Indeed, Assumption University has impressed me with its concerted effort to further the knowledge in languages and literatures as a vehicle of better understanding between people of other nations and cultures. The fact that Assumption University, known first and foremost as a business school, is advancing the good course of languages and literatures as a uniting force in the world has been noted by FILLM as it closely resembles its own objectives. FILLM saw its beginning in Oslo as the Commission Internationale d'Histoire Moderne in 1929, and sub sequently was recognized in its present form as Federation Internationale des Langues et Litteratures, or the International Federation of Modern Languages and Literatures in 1951. The federation includes more than 40,000 scholars around the world, and acts as their representative at UNESCO through its membership of the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies (CIPSH). FILLM seeks above all, through the medium of its Congress which is organized every three years at different universities around the world, to promote dialog and discussion between specialists in the branches of modern languages and literatures on an international basis and to break down the barriers between specialists in an age of increasing specialization and intellectual fragmentation. Languages and literatures, in other words, are the one humanizing factor and hope for the new age, the roles of which the scholars assembled here will examine and re-invent in this Congress.

WELCOME ADDRESS by THE RECTOR OF ASSUMPTION UNIVERSITY

May it Please Your Royal Highness,

On behalf of the Organizing Committee and the participants of the XXII Congress of the International Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures, or FILLM, I would like to express my sincere. gratitude to Your Royal Highness for graciously presiding over the Opening Ceremony. This is the first time that FILLM has selected a university in Thailand as venue for the Triennial Congress. Efforts to bring the International Congress of FILLM to Assumption University started in 1999, when three professors from Assumption University attended the previous Congress at Zimbabwe University, Harare, where they presented scholarly papers and a proposal to host the next Congress in Thailand. FILLM's positive response and close cooperation have given Assumption University the right encouragement to undertake such an ambitious project as hosting an international congress of world-wide dimension. Assumption University known as Thailand's first university to conduct its courses in English, established its fame as a business college known as the Assumption Business Administration College, or ABAC. With the opening of a new campus, the international character of Assumption University has become even more pronounced. It was a natural consequence that Assumption University should broaden its view and vision beyond business instruction to include a broad range of disciplines, and in particular languages. Spear-headed by the Faculty of Arts, which offers degrees in Business English, Business French, Business Chinese and Business Japanese, the preparations for the XXII International Congress of FILLM, which began three years ago, are about to bear fruit now.

This gathering of world-class scholars in the field of languages and literatures from over 33 countries includes a contingent from Assumption University and other universities in Thailand. It is hoped that the Congress will achieve an ongoing exchange of knowledge in languages and literatures, and throw open the challenges confronting the humanities in the new age of cyber technology, in order to support the good course of educating young men and women for the future.

May I now present to Your Royal Highness the President of the International Federation of Modern Languages and Literatures who will outline the federation's history and objectives, and request Your Royal Highness to subsequently declare open the 22th International Congress of FILLM.

Mementoes of XXII International Congress.