Speech by High Commissioner Philip Green at Australia-ASEAN Engineers Conference 2015
Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, Singapore
Dr David Cruickshanks-Boyd, National President, Engineers Australia; Mr Chong Kee Sen, President, Institution of Engineers, Singapore;
Professor Amir Mahmood, Pro Vice-Chancellor and CEO University of Newcastle, Singapore; Dr Marlene Kanga, Past National President, Engineers Australia; Mr Stephen Durkin, CEO, Engineers Australia; President of the Singapore Chapter and chairman of the organising committee, Mr Percival Jeyapal, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
A special welcome to those who have travelled here from across the countries of ASEAN, across Australia and beyond to be with us today.
I am delighted to be here at the opening of this important conference.
The third time that Engineers Australia has held an Australia-ASEAN Summit, I am delighted too that this year it is being held in Singapore.
Singapore, in its 50th anniversary year, has much to be proud of, not least in the field of engineering.
The magnificent venue we are in this morning is itself a marvel. For those present among us who have travelled from overseas I urge you to take one of the lifts upstairs to the top floor of Marina Bay Sands.
Designed by globally-renowned architect Moshe Safdie, it is said to have been the world's second-most expensive modern building to construct.
Boasting the world’s longest public cantilever, the SkyPark, which sits above us, straddles three 55-storey towers and is the size of four and a half A380 aircraft.
Engineering firm Arup, which also built the famous Water Cube in Beijing, made great use of 3D modelling techniques I’m sure you would agree, and together with builders Ssangyong E&C they also made great use of green materials, one of the key topics of today’s conference.
But this conference is more than about green buildings and Singapore – though it has plenty (including some like the Parkroyal on Pickering, which was designed with Australian collaboration) – is more than just about construction engineering as well.
Whether it’s in bio-engineering at the dozens of leading-edge pharmaceutical research labs that Singapore has attracted here; or in advanced manufacturing technologies out at the factories that companies like Rolls Royce have set up here; Singapore – and Asia in turn – is staying ahead of the curve.
Today, tomorrow and on Friday you will hear from world-class experts on green data, cleaner coal-fired power plants, using nano-fluids in renewable energy, integrating wireless technology in the monitoring of soil movement, building utility-scale solar facilities in the Philippines, making sewage cleaner and lots more.
You will also hear, of course, more about green and sustainable building design – an area I’m pleased to say that Australia leads in, alongside Singapore.
And you will also have a site visit, plus the chance to network and connect.
All in all, it looks to be a solid programme and one that is carefully crafted, for the world we will increasingly inhabit is a world that is environmentally challenged and where resources must be carefully consumed.
I commend the organisers for their foresight in focussing the conference on these realities of our future.
Building on an educational legacy from Australia’s Colombo Plan, Australia, Singapore and the nations of ASEAN share deep ties in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
With closer collaborations being formed every year between Australian and South East Asian institutions – helped with government efforts both here, in Canberra and elsewhere – whether Jakarta, Hanoi or Kuala Lumpur – these ties look set to grow and solidify a prosperous partnership long into the future.
South East Asia, as you all know, has many engineering challenges, not least of which in infrastructure, where it is estimated by the Asian Development Bank that $60 billion is required per year for the next ten years to meet basic requirements.
Again, $60 billion worth of infrastructure per year – with plenty of challenges for the engineers of Australia and the engineers of South East Asia to work on.
But these challenges, through fruitful partnership and collaboration, can be met and met without damaging the earth.
This week’s conference, again, is important, not just as an expression of existing partnerships between engineers of the region, but as a platform to meet these challenges head-on and contribute to a better ASEAN and a better world.
It is also important as an expression of Australia’s deep engagement with ASEAN. Last year, we celebrated 40 years of Australia as ASEAN’s first dialogue partner.
In Singapore, as many in this audience would know, we marked the occasion with a seminar on ASEAN’s Connectivity Agenda – a platform to bring together the region’s land, sea, air and communications infrastructure.
In recent years, the Australian Government has deepened its engagement with ASEAN in other ways, ranging from the New Colombo Plan – where young scholars from Australia are being sent out into the region where we once received so many students from – to various initiatives to enhance the Australia-New-Zealand-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement at a time when ASEAN is looking to build an ambitious Economic Community: the AEC.
But really, beyond these government-level initiatives, it is efforts like this Congress that really matter; efforts by private individuals and non-government organisations that truly enrich the fabric that ties us.
I commend Engineers Australia, and particularly Percy, David and Stephen, for organising this event and on that note it is my great pleasure in this 20th year of Engineers Australia’s Singapore Chapter, and in this 50th year of Australia-Singapore relations, to declare open the 3rd ASEAN-Australia Engineering Congress.
Thank you all for coming today and I wish you all the best.