Singex Flies Regional Flag
Aloysius Arlando, Chief Executive Officer of SingEx Holdings Pte Ltd (SingEx), has been elected President of the Brussels-based Association Internationale des Palais de Congres (AIPC) or the International Association of Convention Centres, as the Association’s first-ever Asian leader. He takes the helm from Geoff Donaghy, CEO of International Convention Centre Sydney, who stepped down after a successful four-year term as president.
The announcement was made during the recent AIPC General Assembly held alongside the Association’s annual conference in Sydney, Australia. Mr Arlando leads a 7-member Board comprising CEOs of world-class convention centres in London, Washington DC, Amsterdam, London, Melbourne, Cape Town and Barcelona.
AIPC’S FIRST ASIAN PRESIDENT
Mr Arlando’s appointment as AIPC President will usher in a new period of regional growth for the Association as they continue their mission to promote and strengthen the role of the international meetings industry in supporting economic, academic and professional development, as well as enhancing global relations amongst highly diverse business and cultural interests. Given Asia’s burgeoning economies, the region is poised to lead the growth of business events, which are key enablers of fostering and facilitating growth in trade and investment as well as realising network and business opportunities. Under Mr Arlando’s leadership, AIPC is expected to enhance its regional presence in Asia-Pacific and beyond so that members can benefit from fruitful exchanges of market knowledge; best practices and innovative solutions.
“I’m working to ensure that the membership composition of AIPC is enriched with a mosaic of convention centres from various regions of the world. Europe is naturally a very strong base for AIPC and provides a wellspring of innovation and best practice, which can be applied to other regions. However knowledge sharing is a two-way street and as centres in Asia adapt and grow, new innovations and designs will surface and these can then be shared with members in Europe, Africa and the Americas for mutual benefit”, said Mr Arlando.
Mr Arlando also emphasised that the focus during his term as President will be on professional development and establishing regional platforms for current and potential members to tap on AIPC’s collective wisdom and adapt it to regional or market-specific circumstances. A range of boutique networking events, business interaction sessions and exclusive regional summits will be encouraged to leverage on the existing strong networks and rich insights that the Association possesses.
SINGEX CAPITALISES ON BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE (BRI) FOR TRADESHOW OPPORTUNITIES
As part of her strategic business expansion, SingEx has recently acquired a majority stake in Worldex, a reputable event organiser and event business solutions provider in Guangzhou, China from one of the world’s largest trade fair organisers, Fiera Milano S.p.A.
This new subsidiary, Worldex-SingEx (Guangzhou) Pte Ltd, is in line with SingEx’s ongoing plans for regional expansion into the major markets of ASEAN, India and China. SingEx will harness its international networks and partnerships to grow the Worldex- SingEx portfolio of imported food tradeshows in China, under the Food Hospitality World China (FHW) trade event brand, in collaboration with food importers association, trade councils, logistics and ecommerce companies. FHW is a leading B2B marketplace designed to educate players on food variety, quality and safety demands of the Chinese market and facilitate business tie-ups between buyers from China and sellers from around the world.
At the same time, Worldex-SingEx has begun efforts to advance the BRI through working closely with China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and selected provincial governments on multi-sector & themed tradeshows that focus on China’s exportable products and services. These tradeshows will be held in key Asian markets identified under the BRI such as India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Worldex-SingEx will also develop China-based editions of SingEx’s core portfolio of new-to-market events such as IoT Asia, Last Mile Fulfilment Asia as well as innovate new marquee event concepts relevant to China’s market.
“BRI’s strategic thrust to drive China’s outbound trade and investment presents SingEx with manifold opportunities to partner other Chinese enterprises, as well as government agencies, to stage focused tradeshows in identified markets under BRI By combining Worldex-SingEx’s expertise in tradeshow development and management with China’s relevant public and private sector companies’ quest to realize the BRI opportunities, we can create vibrant knowledge exchange and business-matching platforms for the benefit of participants and, in the process, contribute towards the economies in which the tradeshows are held.”
“Given that Singapore is a key financial, trade, business and MICE node in the Asian region, it is increasingly important for SingEx to actively seek and seize business opportunities in our region for business growth which in turn, contributes to the Singapore economy.”, he adds.
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