NZ Chamber of Commerce Eyes joint-Ventures With SAINS

KUCHING (Sarawak, Malaysia), April 2 (Bernama) -- The Maori Nusa Polynesia Chamber of Commerce in northern New Zealand is considering some joint-venture projects with Sarawak-based Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS). Its acting chief executive officer, Robert Willoughby, said these would be in the information and communications (ICT) and education sectors. He said this after making a courtesy call on Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem at his office here Thursday. Sarawak is in east Malaysia. Willoughby said his chamber of commerce was looking into establishing an ICT hub and would appreciate SAINS' assistance and expertise in, among others, training the necessary personnel. SAINS, since its inception in 1992, has helped the Sarawak government achieve a relatively high level of ICT utilisation and competency. Its greatest achievement has been in putting Sarawak in the information technology (IT) radar of the country. Its achievements in revolutionising the state government IT systems is today recognised as a benchmark by other states. Currently, it has developed at least 12 applications, including the SarawakNet, which is a premier Intranet service for the state government and PayBills Malaysia which is an electronic bill presentment and payment system that simplifies bill distribution and payment. At present the PayBills Malaysia electronic portal service has 63,000 registered users. --BERNAMA