Asia & Pacific

The "EU-Japan Regional Cluster Forum" will take place on the December 2-3, 2008 and forms part of the "Annual Cluster Japan 2008" event. It will consist of symposia and a large exhibition of all officially supported Japanese Knowledge and Industrial Clusters.

Singapore, 18-23 of August 2008
The Asia Competitiveness Institute is organizing its Executive Programme on developing clusters and national competitiveness, designed for senior executives like national or local government, business managers with responsibilities for government relations or leaders of trade and business association. The Programme aims to inform decision-makers about the importance of microeconomic policy and the role of location in economic performance.

Developing Desert Directions: Rethinking the Future
Alice Springs-Australia, 3–6 November 2008
The Desert Knowledge Symposium and Business Showcase at the Alice Springs Convention Centre has attracted a strong line up of speakers.

TCI Oceania (TCI-O) has been launched officially during the regional conference. TCI-O will not be a separate entity from TCI, but will rather help to address and enlarge the network of TCI in the Oceania region.

"Pakistan sits astride the old silk route and has long been a significant economic player in the region. The Conference on Competitiveness for Asia and Pacific in Islamabad in May 2006 will address and identify the competitiveness potential of the leading economies in this region. It will mark also Pakistan's determination to improve its competitiveness both regionally and globally," says Arthur Bayhan, Acting Vice President Asia-Pacific in TCI and working in Islamabad.

Clusters Asia-Pacific (CAP) Inc. have changed name and description to 'The Competitiveness Institute Oceania - The TCI chapter network for regional competitiveness in the Oceania region'.

Pakistan visits TCI

At The Competitiveness Institute's eighth Annual Global Conference in Hong Kong the Pakistan Minister of State for Finance, Omar Ayub Khan, in his keynote address announced that the Government of Pakistan has undertaken major initiative towards improving the competitiveness of its economy by establishing a Competitiveness Support Fund and projecting the creation of an a national Innovation and Competitiveness Council.

The Council will use the Competitiveness Support Fund, financed by the Government of Pakistan together with United States Agency for International Development USAID, as a platform to upgrade the Pakistani industry. The fund is tailored to meet Pakistan's needs and based on international best practices of successful existing funds operating in countries like India, Thailand, Turkey, Ireland and Finland.

The Thai ministry of Industry and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) recently announced a collaboration to enforce three clusters of SMEs.

The government of Kazakhstan is executing a new economic development policy concentrated on using the proceeds of their oil and gas riches to diversify their economy.

Information on last month's conference by the Centre for Regional Innovation and Competitiveness (CRIC) on "Beyond clusters: current practices & future strategies", held in Ballarat, Australia, in cooperation with TCI, is now available.