K-Economy to get underway at ICC

Dato Dr Zainal.

Mr Michael Lie.

Mr Paul Verhoef.

Dr Worapot.

The ASEAN-EC International Conference 2003 on the K-economy will start tomorrow, October 8, 2003 at the International Convention Centre in Berakas. The guest of honour will be Pehin Dato Awg Haji Abdul Aziz, Minister of Education. He will also officially open the two-day conference.

The conference with the theme "The K-Economy: Competitiveness, Survival and Growth" will gather experts on the K-economy from the Asean, Hong Kong, China and the European Union at the International Convention Centre. There are 21 speakers, 13 of whom are foreigners, who will present various papers on the conference's theme and the conference's four focused areas of information & communication technologies (ICT), small and medium enterprises (SMEs), e-government and human resources development (HRD).

Mr Abd. Ghani Pg Hj Metusin, AEMC Director, expressed satisfaction with the response from local as well as foreign delegates. He said about 250 delegates have registered so far with 38 foreign delegates.

There will be three keynote addresses on the conference theme. The Asean perspective will be given by Dr Worapot Manupipatpong, Director, Bureau of Finance and Surveillance, the Asean Secretariat, based in Indonesia. While Mr Paul Verhoef from the Directorate of Information Society, European Commission, will present the European Union's approach to the Knowledge Economy. The business sector's perspective of the conference theme will be delivered by Mr Kevin J. Dixon, partner, Accenture Australia.

After the keynote addresses, four plenary session papers will be presented by speakers from Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Europe. Dato Dr. Zainal Asnam Yusof, former Deputy Director General of Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia, will deliver a paper on "The K-Economy: Challenge and Response".

Following this will be a presentation by Dato Paduka Awang Hj Abd Wahab Juned, Permanent Secretary, Prime Minister's Office, Brunei Darussalam, with his paper on "The K-Economy: Challenges & Opportunities for Brunei - The Government's Perspective".

The next paper "The K-Economy: The Challenges & Opportunities for Business Organisations" will be given by Mr Michael Lie, Vice President for Health Care and Government, Crimson Logic Pte. Ltd of Singapore.

The last plenary session paper on "Current and New Developments in Legal & Security Issues in the K-Economy" will be presented by Mr Paul Verhoef from the European Commission.

Dato Paduka Awang Buntar Osman, Chief Executive, Authority for Info-Communications Technology Industry, Brunei Darussalam will moderate the plenary panel discussion.

The conference participants and sponsors will be treated to a welcome cocktail dinner tonight, October 7, at the Royal Brunei Recreation Club hosted by Pg Dato Hj Abdul Hamid, Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office.

The following evening, Pehin Dato Awang Hj Zakaria, Minister of Communications will be the guest of honour at the cultural dinner hosted by Sapura Telecommunications of Malaysia to be held at the Empire Hotel and Country Club.

The second day of the conference will see concurrent sessions and panel discussions on ICT, HRD, E-government and SMEs.

On ICT, Mr Ir. Eric S.Y. Chan, Vice President for Commercial Business Group, PCCW, Hongkong, will deliver his paper on "ICT for the Knowledge Economy" while Dato Paduka Hj Awg Abdullah, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications, will present his paper "Laying the Infrastructure Foundation for the K-Economy in Brunei Darussalam."

Mr Abd. Ghani, AEMC Director has invited Bruneians to take the golden opportunity to attend the conference. For those interested to attend the conference contact: ASEAN-EC CONFERENCE 2003 SECRETARIAT, ASEAN-EC Management Centre, Simpang 347, Jalan Pasar Baru, Gadong, Brunei Darussalam BE1381, Tel No: 673 2422222, Fax No: 673 2445856, Email Address: k_econ@yahoo.com or visit its web site at www.k-econ2003.com. The registration fee can be paid by credit card, cash or telegraphic transfer.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin