Survey Department Brunei Darussalam celebrates its Diamond Jubilee

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, 14 November 2012

The Survey Department, Ministry of Development Negara Brunei Darussalam, an Affiliate Member in FIG, celebrated its 60th Anniversary with a one-day seminar in its “Land Surveying Basis for Development” Seminar series on 14th November 2012. The theme of the Diamond Jubilee Celebratory Seminar held at a local hotel in Bandar Seri Begawan the capital of the country, was “Geospatial for Sustainable Development”. President CheeHai TEO was invited and delivered the keynote address titled “Geospatial Information for Sustainable Development” at the opening segment of the Seminar. In conjunction with the celebration, the Survey Department hosted the 47th Council Meeting of the ASEAN Federation of Land Surveying and Geomatics the day before and delegates to the AFLAG Council Meeting led by its President, Dr. Wicha Jiwalai of Thailand also attended the Seminar.

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Source: Survey Department, Brunei

The Guest-of-Honour at the Seminar was the Permanent Secretary, Administration and Finance, of the Ministry of Development, Awang Haji Muhammad Lutfi bin Abdullah. In his Opening Address, he announced that national geospatial information would be made available to all agencies within His Majesty’s Government through the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.

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Article from The Brunei Times

In his presentation, the FIG President referred to the outcome of this year’s Rio+20 Conference, the document titled “The Future We Want”, that recognizes the importance of “comprehensive hazard and risk assessments, and knowledge and information sharing, including reliable geospatial information”. He also quoted Prof. Dr. Paul Cheung (UN Statistics Division & GGIM Secretariat) who said earlier this year “Sound geospatial information is crucial for addressing the complex problems the world is facing today. These problems are global in nature and affect different regions, rural and urban areas alike, requiring coordinated efforts, more innovative and sophisticated approaches, as well as effective tools to ultimately guide our way to sustainable development”.

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Acting Surveyor General of Brunei Darussalam, Awang Haji Ali Bakar bin Kassim,
addressing participants at the start of the Seminar

CheeHai TEO
December 2012

20 December 2012