Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei Darussalam has taken the leadership as Chair of the Asean Business Advisory Council (Asean BAC) 2013, and have appointed three of its leading business people as Asean BAC Members, namely; Fauziah Dato Talib of IQ-Quest Company, Lisa Dato Ibrahim of Arkitek Ibrahim and Rosdi Amin Yaakub, Deputy CEO Of HSBC; each of whom will be representing the private sector views on SMEs, Young Entrepreneurs and Finance.

Asean BAC Brunei kicked the year off with their first meeting yesterday in the Sultanate, with their Asean BAC counterparts. The meeting started with Dato Lim Jock Hoi, as Asean Brunei Chair of the Senior Economic Officials Meeting sharing an overview of the Asean theme and Asean Economic Community (AEC) deliverables for 2013.

Present also was the Asean Deputy Secretary General, Lim Hong Hin, who shared the progress of Asean initiatives.

The meeting then proceeded with the Chair of Asean BAC 2013, Fauziah Talib highlighting the Asean BAC Brunei theme and deliverables for 2013. Asean BAC 2013's theme "Moving Ahead Together"; focuses on reinforcing the foundation and accelerating progress for a seamless regional economy by 2015.

This was emphasised by the Chair's statement: "As we get to the critical deadline of Asean governments realising the Asean Economic Community by 2015, the Asean BAC 2013 Year is a year of greater urgency, requiring practical approach on addressing perennial issues across many existing regional platforms and optimising resources on common business issues, mostly especially on the ease of doing business and trading across borders. Asean BAC 2013 is a year of added awareness that it is definitely "business as unusual"."

Asean BAC will build on past successes and continue on 2012 work with focused priorities on: strengthening regional `economic integration and expanding trade; promoting start ups and the sustainable development of businesses; and promoting the inclusion of Youth and Women.

Part of the Asean BAC work programme will include the organising of it's annual Asean Business and Investment Summit (ABIS), scheduled for August 22 to 24 and chaired by Lisa Dato Ibrahim, and the Asean Business Awards (ABA), chaired by Rosdi Amin Yaakub.

Shazali Sulaiman of KPMG Brunei was also confirmed at the meeting as the Strategic Partner to the ABA.

To kick-startAseanBAC outreachto the local business community, a networking lunch was also held during the meeting in Brunei where representatives from key industry players were invited.

During lunch CEO of HSBC, Mr Todd Wilcox gave a perspective of the Regional Outlook 2013 and how this impacts Asean countries, following which the Chair of Asean BAC provided a snapshot of Asean BAC 2013 Themes and Deliverables.

--Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin