Gaolathe in Malaysia for Smart Partnership meet

Brian Benza
Staff Writer | Tuesday August 7, 2007 00:00

 

The conference is the 8th edition of the Langkawi International Dialogue 2007 (LID2007).
The theme for this year's meeting, which started yesterday and ends tomorrow, is 'Poverty Reduction Through Human Capital Development and Capacity Building'.
Since its inception, the aim of the LID has been to promote principles of smart partnership among nations, nationalities, governments, business and communities.

Smart partnership is a concept that promotes networking, exchanging ideas, importing knowledge, and trading with and extending support to one another for mutual benefit.
LID is part of the Smart Partnership Dialogue series implemented by the Commonwealth Partnership for Technology Management (CPTM) to promote partnership between both the public and the private sector.

The CPTM, of which Minister Gaolathe is a board member, was formally proposed by the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 1993 in Cyprus and launched at CHOGM '95 in Auckland, New Zealand.

The Smart Partnership Dialogue provides an opportunity for members - or 'smart partners' - to network, share and consult with one another on opportunities and challenges confronting them such as poverty, unemployment, HIV/AIDS and governance.
'The Smart Partnership movement is underpinned on 'prosper-thy-neighbour' and 'win-win' principles,' a statement from Finance says.

According to a Malaysian national agency, Bernama, the LID 2007 host Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said yesterday the Dialogue's participants discussed the importance of human capital development through education, beginning from pre-school through to vocational training to provide the skills sought by the market.
Abdullah said the Dialogue was a 'time for smart partners to shop for new ideas.'

LID 2007 has drawn an estimated 500 participants from 40 nations, mostly southern and eastern Africa, including 10 heads of state and government. For the first time, three Asian countries - Thailand, Laos and Cambodia - are attending the event.

Asked to what extent these countries needed Malaysia's assistance, he said Kuala Lumpur was ready to cooperate and provide the best assistance possible.

'If they want a lot of money to be given to them, certainly we can't. Maybe in credit arrangements, perhaps we can. And if we are asked to do certain projects for them, if we have the capacity, we will. If not, we will tell them that this is not our area of expertise,' he said.

LID 2007 is jointly organised by the CPTM and the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT).