Brunie Helps Close Growth Gap In Asean
By Khairunnisa Ibrahim

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei Darussalam is once again sponsoring a training programme for senior government officers from Asean's least developed countries as part of the country's contribution towards regional cooperation and integration.

The 4th Executive Development Programme for Senior Government Officers of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) is part of the sultanate's contribution under the Initiative for Asean Integration (IAI).

The training is jointly funded the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Public Service Department, Prime Minister's Office, while the - academic matters and related administrative support is provided by Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). These are managed by the programme coordinator, Dr Chee Kim Loy, an associate professor from the university's Department of Public Policy and Administration.

As a policy framework designed to regularly contribute to narrowing the development gap within Asean, the IAI includes the development of legal, institutional and regulatory frameworks and building of technical capabilities and capacities of the CLMV countries.

The programme opened yesterday at UBD's Institute of Policy Studies.

The government-sponsored programme is aimed at enhancing managerial capabilities of participants and equipping them with knowledge and skills in policies, programmes and projects. In addition, the participants would be able to update themselves on contemporary ideas and approaches on development policy, modern governance and strategic management in a dynamic and changing public sector environment.

This is the fourth time such a training course has been offered to select senior government officers from the CLMV.

The bulk of the programme involves six weeks of intensive lectures and seminars, where the participants will be joined by their Bruneian counterparts, who have started on a similar training course, specifically catered for locals four weeks earlier. According to the Asean Sec retariat 2006 Report on the IAI Work Plan progress, Brunei has secured funding for at least four types of projects under the IAI. In addition to the executive development programme, Brunei is also sponsoring an ICT training course designed to help managers explore some capabilities of existing common-use software and apply these in their daily tasks.

The other programmes are "Higher Education Management in CLMV countries" and "Capacity Building in the Trade in Goods and Services for CLMV Countries".

Each country has sent a representative occupying a senior position: Chea Thireak, Cambodia's Deputy Director of Franco phonie Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; Phommarak Phasouk, Laos' Deputy Director General of Personnel Department, Central Committee Organisation and Personnel; U Myint Hun, Director of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Union of Myanmar and Nguyen An Duy, Head of the Korea Division of Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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