Archive for April, 2009

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Island Off Taiwan Bets on Casino Boom

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

This article from Daily Yomiuri Online says Penghu Island will soon become a casino resort location in an effort to attract tourism. Adding casinos will create hundreds of jobs for locals, meaning casino training will be necessary to learn skills for many positions including Casino Poker Dealer.

Expectations are high on a small island off Taiwan that it could soon host casino resorts.

By building casinos on the island, which has no particular industry other than cobia farming and tourism, Taiwan’s Penghu County is seeking to create local jobs and discourage local residents from leaving to find work. Also, the county wants to revitalize the island by attracting more tourists from China as its relations with Taiwan are becoming warmer.

However, this get-rich-quick dream might not come easy, as a project of this magnitude requires large improvements in accommodations for tourists, roads and other infrastructure. Also, some people doubt whether the planned casinos would be enough to attract tourists away from long-established gambling hot spots such as Macao.

“If casinos are introduced, we’ll have more job opportunities and won’t have to leave this island to look for work,” said Chen Xiu-feng, a 51-year-old housewife living in a fishing village. “I’m all for it.”

The island, about 50 kilometers west of Taiwan, has a population of about 92,000. Many people go to Taiwan in search of jobs. About 13,000 people, more than 30 percent of the island’s working population, is employed off the island. Among Taiwan municipalities, it has the highest ratio of residents who do not actually work in the town where they live.

The Penghu County government is hoping casinos can improve this situation. Though casinos are illegal in Taiwan, a bill to revise a related ordinance passed three months ago to promote remote islands’ development, allowing casinos on the islands. The county government, which wants to set up Taiwan’s first casinos, plans to conduct a referendum on building casinos in August.

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, as part of promoting closer ties with China, lifted a ban on Chinese tourists in July. China and Taiwan also have expanded private charter flights.

About 95,000 Chinese tourists visited Penghu Island last year. The county government for now envisions two casinos on the island to attract tourists from the rest of Taiwan, China and also from Japan and South Korea. About 500,000 tourists visit the island mainly from other places in Taiwan, many to sample the island’s famed seafood. The county government is aiming for 5 million tourists each year. The county government expects casinos would boost tax revenue by about 2.25 billion New Taiwan dollars (about 6.7 billion yen) and create 10,000 jobs.

According to Taiwan media, three leisure companies from Taiwan and Macao have announced interest in building casinos.

“The island will be reborn as a casino resort in three or four years,” said Hong Dong-lin, chief of the county government’s tourism bureau.

However, the island’s current accommodation capacity is only for 8,000 people. Also, tourists coming from Japan and South Korea have to transit via Taipei if they use passenger planes. It is essential to expand and upgrade hotels, airport and port facilities, but it is yet unclear how profitable the casino business will be or how such developments can be financed.

“Tourists who want to enjoy casinos can go to Macao,” said Lin Chang-sing, 59, representative of a 100-member group opposing casino development on the island. “If casinos are set up, public morals will deteriorate. The authorities should work more on measures to promote tourism focusing on the island’s natural environment.”

However, many residents still seem very keen to have the casinos.

“Many residents have huge expectations for the economic effect [of casinos], and only a small number of people oppose it,” a reporter stationed on the island said.

e-Business Important Tool in Competitive Economy

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

Having an e-business certificate is important for success in today’s economy. This article from The Brunei Times describes how the growth of the Internet has changed the way companies do business.

The highly competitive economic environment today demands businesses to strive to create, to invent and to innovate not only products but also business models and processes to ensure their survivability.

Dato Hj Yusof Hj Abdul Hamid, deputy minister of communications cum cochairman of the 11-Business Leadership Forum (EBLF) stated this during the first ever dialogue session between private companies in the ICT sector and board members of the Authority for Info-Communications Technology Industry of Brunei (AiTi) at Empire Hotel and Country Club yesterday. 

He said that the existing competitive environment highlights how e-business can be used as a tool to help companies progress.

“We have made many achievements thus far, and I am confident that we will keep on doing so,” he said, adding that with better planning, consultation and socialisation between relevant players, any challenges that lies before them can be resolved and turned into opportunities.

The deputy minister gave a brief history of the development of ICT in the country, stating that ICT development initially began with the Telecommunications Department being the only service provider that offered voice telephony.

The advent of Internet services has changed the entire telecommunications landscape as it became the basis for communication, changing into a global infrastructure of increasing value in many dimensions.

“Its ability to absorb new technologies and to support an increasing variety of applications

are indicators of the power of its simple, clear and well-defined architecture,” he said.

The government, he added, was aware of the country’s advancement towards ICT, as they made changes by corporatizing the telecommunications department and creating AiTi. 

“Since its inception, AiTi has played an important role as the promoter for the development of ICT industry in Brunei and through the dialogue, I hope that the agency will be able to acknowledge and understand the voices and challenges of the industry in order to create a blueprint specifically for the development of the local ICT industry.”

The deputy minister pointed out that the formation of the EBLF, a proposal by BIT Council was approved by His Majesty in February 16 this year, with its main function is to monitor and make decisions on e-business initiatives and programmes in Brunei and is accountable on its total effectiveness.

“The dialogue is the first of its kind and is an initiative that provides a platform for those industries involved in ICT, be it users or developers, to participate and suggest the way forward for the development of the ICT in the country,” he said.

He went on to say that the event can he seen as part of the business process management life-cycle which contains the elements of design, modelling, execution, monitoring and optimisation where he hoped that the consultative effort would not be wasted, stating that its focus should be in getting clearly defined solutions for development.

UN agencies launch much needed literacy programmes across Afghanistan

Monday, April 20th, 2009

UN News Centre

The United Nations today announced the launch of a literacy initiative in Afghanistan, which has some of the lowest rates of reading and writing in the world.

An estimated 90 per cent of women and 63 per cent of men in rural areas of Afghanistan, where the large majority live, are illiterate, according to the 2005 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) report for Afghanistan.

“Addressing the challenges posed by the low literacy rate in Afghanistan contributes to the eradication of poverty, access to health, sustainable development and the ability of Afghans to enjoy a peaceful and democratic society,” said Shigeru Aoyagi, Country Director for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Mr. Aoyagi told reporters in Kabul that “at least 11 million Afghans aged 15 and over are in need of literacy and skills development,” at the launch of this year’s UNESCO Education for All: Global Action Week.

“Despite these daunting figures, literacy and non-formal education programmes are priority areas within the National Education Strategic Plan,” said Mr. Aoyagi, noting that both UNESCO and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are currently working with the Ministry of Education on non-formal literacy programmes.

He said that the UNESCO Enhancement of Literacy in Afghanistan programme will operate in 18 provinces, providing 600,000 learners, 60 per cent of them women, with literacy and further skills training by 2013.

UNICEF said that its initiative, operating in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan, will contribute to achieving a 20 per cent increase in the literacy rate for women by 2013, noting, however, that security is a prerequisite for the long-term success of the effort.

“In order to safeguard the gains that are being made in the field of literacy, UNESCO and UNICEF are strongly urging the Government and local communities across Afghanistan to renew their commitments to protect schools, literacy centres, learners and teachers from violent attacks,” said Gopal Sharma, UNICEF Deputy Representative.

During the Global Action Week countries all over the world reaffirm their commitment to achieving the “Education for All” goals set by over 160 countries at the 2000 World Education Conference in Dakar, Senegal.

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