Vice President CheeHai Teo attends seminar on Land Surveying Basis for Development in Brunei DarussalamGadong, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, 2 August 2010
The Survey Department, Ministry of Development, Negara Brunei Darussalam, an affiliate member of FIG and the Brunei Institute of Geomatics, a member association of FIG, invited FIG to the Seminar “Land Surveying Basis for Development” and to make a keynote presentation during the official opening session. Vice President CheeHai Teo represented FIG. The “Land Surveying Basis for Development – Geomatics Innovation for National Development” seminar is the ninth in the series of seminar organised by the Survey Department of Negara Brunei Darussalam, the first was held back in 1984. It is a one day seminar highlighting not just the latest developments in land surveying practices and technologies but also the significant role and contribution of surveyors towards development. The Official Opening Session was held in the afternoon of the seminar and was presided by the Minister of Development himself, the Honourable Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Hj Suyoi bin Hj Osman. The Honourable Deputy Minister of Development, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary and Deputy Permanent Secretary as well as Heads of Departments within the Ministry and senior officers accompanied him. Also present was the Surveyor General of Brunei Darussalam, Tuan Hj Jamil Mohd Ali, who was the host. It was a well-attended seminar, the audience primarily comprises surveyors and allied professionals from the public service, corporate sectors, Brunei Shell Petroleum being the most noticeable and the private practitioners. Also in the audience were presenters in the morning sessions from Canada, Germany and Malaysia as well as Council Members and observers from the ASEAN Federation of Land Surveying and Geomatics (ASEAN FLAG) from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. In the keynote presentation entitled “Geomatics Innovation for National Development: Making the Difference” the FIG Vice President took the opportunity to address and inform the Honourable Minister and the audience of FIG, how FIG is organised and what is the current priorities. The Honourable Minister during his officiating address spoke of “these challenging times” and FIG Vice President continued by commenting that we now live in exciting times, some says troubled times and proceeded to outline some of the global challenges as seen from within FIG. From there, FIG Vice President touched on Geotechnology and GeoSpatial Sciences and provided a couple of illustration how innovative applications of Geotechnology and GeoSpatial Sciences are making a difference in these challenging times. Then it was about the importance of innovation, in this case, innovation in sciences, knowledge, technologies and practices within Geotechnology and GeoSpatial Sciences especially when innovation is at the heart of productivity growth, which is that which can make the difference between ordinary existence and rising economic prosperity. FIG Vice President echoed that for a nation, innovation means improving delivery systems, performance and efficiency and it may be essential to a nation’s continual and sustained growth and development. The presentation was concluded with the statement that Geomatics innovation not only contributes to national development, it allows all in the audience, the professionals in particular, to serve the people, to make a difference. Hence, Land Surveyors in Negara Brunei Darussalam must strive to advance to keep pace with the times, towards national development, the betterment of humanity and the environment. TEO CheeHai More to read:
31 August 2010 |
