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Remarks by Mr Manohar Khiatani, Assistant Managing Director, Singapore Economic Development Board, at the opening of Avaya Executive Briefing Centre at 89 Science Park Drive on Thursday, 06 December 2007, 11am
Mr Mark Leigh, President, Avaya Asia Pacific,
Ms Jocelyne Attal, Chief Marketing Officer, Avaya Inc,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Introduction
1. I am delighted to join you this morning to celebrate the opening of Avaya’s Executive Briefing Centre in Singapore.
2. This event marks another significant milestone in the close partnership between Avaya and Singapore. Thank you for your confidence in choosing Singapore as a location for the state-of-the-art Executive Briefing Centre. The Executive Briefing Centre plays a critical role in spear-heading Avaya’s key business thrusts in the Asia Pacific. Your decision is further endorsement of Singapore’s pro-business environment, strong technological capability, excellent ICT infrastructure and skilled talent base. It also reinforces Singapore’s position as a major global info-communications hub with a broad spectrum of infocomms and media innovations and activities.
Singapore’s Infocomms Sector
3. The infocomms sector is key for Singapore. In 2006, industry revenues registered S$45.4 billion to represent a 20 per cent growth from the previous year. Our infocomm talent pool also grew by 7.5 per cent to peak almost 120,000. We are committed to grow and strengthen this sector further.
4. Over the years, we have established a reliable infocomm infrastructure and, today, Singapore is recognized as one of the most network-ready countries in the world (3rd – The Global Information Technology Report 2006/07, WEF).
5. We recognize that we cannot rest on our laurels. In an increasingly competitive and globalised marketplace, a good infocomm infrastructure is an imperative for Singapore. We must therefore continue to plan ahead beyond present needs, and keep pace with the rapid technological changes. In line with this, Singapore is making strategic investments to deploy the Next Generation Infocomm Infrastructure (NGNII). This is a government initiative under the Intelligent Nation 2015 plan to establish a nation-wide ultra high speed wired access infrastructure and a complementary pervasive wireless network.
Avaya in Singapore
6. Avaya’s Executive Briefing Centre will showcase leading edge technologies that are at the forefront of Unified and Intelligent communication. These innovative solutions will help regionally dispersed organizations compete effectively in the global economy and allow them to capitalise on the infrastructure, talents and progressive thinking in Singapore, making the island an even more attractive business hub for the region.
7. We are confident that Singapore is the right location for this project. Today, Singapore has a strong reputation as a high-quality and well-connected business hub with over 7,000 MNCs located here. Singapore also hosts a number of world class industry clusters and best practices in both the manufacturing and services sectors. This provides a fertile ground to find partners and adopters of Avaya’s industry-specific communication solutions and applications. Given the strong concentration of industry here and our unique position between the East and West, Singapore is an ideal base from which Avaya can spearhead its vision of Intelligent Communications into the global markets.
8. We are glad that Singapore has also been chosen as Avaya’s global Centre of Excellence for the Hospitality industry. The hospitality sector is a key part of Singapore’s vision to be a Tourism Capital. Avaya’s deep understanding of the hospitality sector will help to enhance the service competitiveness of our hotels through the use of infocomm technologies.
Conclusion
9. In conclusion, I would like to thank Avaya for your support and confidence in Singapore. You can be assured of our continued strong support. Congratulations to the management and staff of Avaya on the opening of this Centre. This is the result of your vision and hard work. Thank you.
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