The United Arab Shipping Agency (UASAC)

was incorporated in Singapore on November 8 and will assume agency duties in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore through its own entities and in China, Vietnam and the Philippines through sub-agents, as of January 1.

President and CEO Ken Bloch Soerensen said the joint venture would build its future growth in major markets in the Asia Pacific region.

Terence Sit, president of Jardine Shipping Services, added that the deal would enable both companies to explore the opportunities of growth together.

The joint venture, in which UASC has a majority shareholding, will maintain existing office locations in all countries and will continue to provide a full range of UASC service products.

UASC currently operates eight weekly services from the Far East connecting the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, Northern Europe and the US East Coast, with direct calls at the following Far Eastern ports: Pusan, Kaohsiung, Shanghai, Ningbo, Nansha, Chiwan, Yantian, Hong Kong, Singapore and Port Kelang.

Telekom Malaysia :Sharp growth in subscribers

Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), an emerging leader in Asian communications with operations in nine Asian countries, recorded an impressive growth of 63 per cent in regional mobile subscriber numbers in its third-quarter financial results as of end September 2006 to 26.5 million from 16.3 million a year ago.

With Asia home to some of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world, TM's strategy to

strengthen its role as a strategic investor in markets such as Indonesia, India, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan and at the same time build strong domestic brands, continues to bring dividends to TM.

TM currently has, through TM International (TMI), its international investment-holding arm, a 19.24-per-cent stake in Samart Corp. In a recent move, TMI repositioned its business partnership with Samart by acquiring a 24.4-per-cent stake in Samart's subsidiary, Samart I-Mobile.

TM's group chairman Tan Sri Dato' Ir Md Radzi said the group continued to post strong, consistent growth in its overseas operations. In Indonesia and India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, TM is well positioned to offer vast resources to drive expansion in these countries that are already considered as some of the fastest growing mobile markets in Asia, he said.

APIEMS  :Industrial management meet

About 400 professionals and industrial-management experts from 24 countries around the world will converge on Bangkok to participate in the Seventh Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management System (APIEMS) conference at the Intercontinental Hotel Bangkok between December 17 and 20.

Discussions and keynote speeches based on the latest development in these fields will provide a forum for the participants to share their knowledge and experience.

The APIEMS conference was initiated in 1998 with two Sino-Japanese and Korean-Japanese joint conferences. Since then, this major Asia-Pacific event for international scholars in the areas of industrial engineering and management has been held in Kanazawa, Japan in 1999, Hong Kong in 2000, Taipei in 2002, Gold Coast in 2004 and Manila in 2005.