Gwen off to Singapore today

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia flies to Singapore today to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders forum after being recognized as one of the best and brightest leaders in Asia.

Garcia is the only Cebuano and one of the five best and brightest leaders in the country invited by the Asia Inc Forum, which organized the two-day ASEAN 100 Leadership Forum 2005 on September 28 and 29 at the Ritz-Carlton Millennia, Singapore.

The other representatives of the Philippines include senators Mar Roxas and Francisco Pangilinan, Mindoro Rep. Edmundo Reyes and former finance secretary Cesar Purisima.

Garcia will have a dinner tonight with Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Belen Anota who will meet her and the other participants.

The participants to the forum were chosen based on their leadership ability to shape the future of the region.

The key question in determining leadership is: Will this person play a key role in his or her country or field of endeavor a decade from now? And will this person make a difference to the future of ASEAN?

The other invited participants include Prince Abdul Qawi of Brunei; Tony Fernandez of Air Asia and Dato' Azman Mokhtar of Khazanah Nasional, the Malaysian Government's investment arm, both from Malaysia; Olivia Lum, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hyflux, Singapore; Supachai Chearavanont, CEO of TA Orange from Thailand; Dino Djalal, presidential spokesperson of Indonesia and many of the younger Southeast Asian leaders from politics, business and civil society who are shaping the future of the region.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Dato Sri Najib Razak and Indonesia defense minister Juwono Sudarsono will be among the delegates including the chairman of Li & Fung, one of East Asia's most successful business enterprises, Victor Fung.

The delegates will discuss opportunities and challenges confronting ASEAA particularly in the light of leadership transitions in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore and the competitive challenges posed by the economic re-emergence of China and India.

This year's forum is the second organized by Asia Inc Forum, the first was held in 2003 in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.

In the absence of Garcia, Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez will act as governor until Friday.