Asia Inc to hold SME Forum

21st April 2009

Hadi DP Mahmud
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Published on The Brunei Times

Tuesday,
LEADING business figures from the Asia Pacific region are set to convene in Bandar Seri Begawan on May 12 for the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Business Forum, Asia Inc announced yesterday.

The SME Forum will discuss key aspects of the global economy with a focus on its impact towards small businesses, capacity building and support and new insights on SME growth by leading business figures in Brunei and the region.

The forum, themed “SMEs in a Turbulent Global Economy: Crisis, Challenges and Opportunities”, will take place at The Empire Hotel and will be held in conjunction with the 2nd Apec Business Advisory Council (Abac) Meeting. The 2nd Abac Meeting will also take place in the country from May 11 to 15.

Asia Inc said about 70 delegates have registered for the forum to date, including Patricia Teullet, CEO of the Peruvian government’s trade organisation Comexperu; Zhang Peng, head of marketing of China’s Alibaba Group; and Chong Siak Ching, president and CEO of established Singaporean business space provider Ascendas.

Other individuals who have been invited to take part include Lindsay Fox, the founder and chairman of Australian supply chain solutions provider Linfox; Teng Theng Dar, CEO of Singapore Business Federation; Richard Li, chairman of one of Hong Kong’s largest communications provider PCCW, and Deborah Henretta, Group President for Procter & Gamble Asia.

More than 300 participants from government and the private sector are expected to gather and discuss key issues at Brunei’s doorstep and how these impact the country’s sustainable future during the Second Abac Meeting.

The meeting will be hosted by Brunei’s Abac members, Stephen Ong, managing director of Teck Guan Holdings; Fauziah Dato Seri Paduka Hj Talib, managing partner at IQ-Quest Company and Hj Salleh Bostaman Zainal Abidin, managing director of BLNG.

Abac was created in 1995 to advise the economic leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum on ways to strengthen the open multilateral trading system, enhance trade and investment liberalisation and intensify development cooperation in the Asia Pacific.

Apec is an annual gathering of leaders from 21 economies that aims to facilitate economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific.

The Brunei Times