ID :
345083
Mon, 10/20/2014 - 06:16
Auther :

Thumbs-Up For Public-Private Sector Partnership Centre Of Excellence Mooted By Malaysia

By Rosmalis Anuar & Sharifah Pirdaus Syed Ali PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), Oct 20 (Bernama) -- Commonwealth delegates have given the thumbs-up for Malaysia's call to set up a public-private partnership centre of excellence, saying that greater cooperation will boost the grouping's initiatives. The delegates, who are here attending the Commonwealth Association of Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) biennial conference, felt that the partnership would be a good idea given that public funds were limited. CAPAM's chief executive officer Gay Hamilton, who applauded Malaysia's proposal, described it as an exciting prospect. She said it was a good example of how members worked together, and not in isolation, to spread best practices throughout the Commonwealth countries. "The association is always looking for opportunities to do work in a more meaningful way and is glad to have a partnership to do it; hence we are not working in isolation any more," she said. She was asked to comment on Malaysia's proposal to set up the centre, which was raised by Deputy Prime Minster Muhyiddin Yassin in his keynote address at the opening of the CAPAM biennial conference here Sunday. Hamilton said that the new CAPAM board would be set up on Monday and discussions would be held to build a taskforce to explore ideas on the proposal. Other CAPAM delegates also concurred, including CAPAM's outgoing president Paul Zahra, who said it was an idea worth exploring. He said the proposal by Muhyiddin was a great opportunity for CAPAM to share Malaysia's experiences in that area. CAPAM could provide a platform for the PPP's knowledge to be spread to a wider audience within the Commonwealth, he said. "We believe that PPP is part of the future and we cannot expect that the requirements of the people and economic development can only be supported through public funds. "Therefore, we need to leverage public capital, as the deputy prime minister said; we need to seize the opportunity in order to use available tools," he told Bernama on the sidelines of the conference. Muhyiddin, at the opening of the CAPAM 2014 biennial conference earlier on Sunday, said Malaysia was ready to work with CAPAM to establish a PPP Commonwealth Centre of Excellence to allow exchange of information on PPP efforts undertaken in Commonwealth countries. Ghana's High Commissioner to Malaysia and Immediate Past Director of CAPAM, Benjamin Clement Eghan, said it was a very good idea that CAPAM had been invited to collaborate with Malaysia in establishing the centre. He said Malaysia had obviously exhibited in several ways its sustainable national development plan by working with the private sector, for example the PICC building itself. He pointed out that the signing of an exchange of letters between the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Unit and CAPAM was a step in the right direction not only to CAPAM as an organisation per se but to all member countries which believed in CAPAM ideas. "I have been participating in CAPAM actively and I know this is the way to go and am thankful that you are sharing this with us and now," he said. Eghan said that as the newly-assigned High Commissioner to Malaysia, he would be working with the Malaysian group here, also specifically for Ghana, in promoting the PPP concept. He said Ghana would be among the first countries to approach CAPAM to participate in this process. About 1,500 delegates from 53 countries are attending the three-day CAPAM biennial conference organised in collaboration with the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) and Commonwealth Secretariat, with the theme of 'Public Service Transformation: A New Conversation'. In conjunction with the conference, an inaugural Commonwealth Media Forum co-hosted by the Office of the Chief Secretary to the Government and the Malaysian National News Agency, Bernama, will be held on Tuesday. --BERNAMA

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