Swinburne Sarawak, SDI to host ASIACRYPT 2007 One of the world's top three conferences on information security, The International Conference on the theory and application of Cryptology and Information Security (ASIACRYPT), will be held in Kuching at Crowne Plaza Riverside from 2nd to 6th December. The conference is being organized by the Information Security Research (SECURES) Lab at Swinburne University of Technology (Sarawak Campus) in conjunction with the Sarawak Development Institute (SDI) and funded by the Sarawak government. Each year Information Security researchers around the world present their latest results at the conference and the call for papers for this year which closed 1st June attracted 200 submissions of high quality technical papers for consideration by a panel of experts to be presented at the conference. There will be technical sessions throughout the conference while the afternoon session of the second day will be allotted for the non-technical session followed by a rump session where results which could not be submitted for the conference programme in time can be presented, in the evening of the same day. IACR was founded by pioneers of modern cryptology and information security led by David Chaum (inventor of e cash) and the association now has 1200 members from 52 countries. The three conferences IACR sponsors every year are premier venues through which researchers present their latest results and those from the academia and security technologists keep abreast with the latest findings in cryptology and information security. ASIACRYPT 2007 is also supported by Ministry of Tourism, Tourism Malaysia Sarawak, Sarawak Tourism Board and Sarawak Convention Bureau. More information on ASIACRYPT 2007 is available at its official website: http://www.swinburne.edu.my/ASIACRYPT2007.

International buyers check out incentive, meeting products
Incentive travel agents, meeting planners and corporate buyers from 14 countries visited Kuchingfrom 23^rd to 26^th May to experience a selected range of new incentive and meeting products being developed by the local tourism industry in Sarawak in conjunction with Sarawak Convention Bureau. The buyers were from Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, Japan, China and Australia. All of them had selected Sarawak as their preferred post tour option when they attended ‘Global Meet’, a two-day industry trade show hosted by Tourism Malaysia at Langkawi. A tight programme was drawn up for their stay and their first day itinerary included a round of golf at the Borneo Highlands, kayaking, a visit to the Semenggoh Orang Utan Sanctuary for a close encounter with man's closest relative in the animal world and a jungle theme poolside party a the Kuching Hilton in the evening. On the second day, the visitors were shown the site of the new Sarawak Convention and Exhibition Centre at the Kuching Isthmus and were taken to the limestone caves of Bau, a former gold mining town, 48 km from Kuching. The finale of their stay was a sampan ride across the Sarawak River to Kampung Boyan, a Malay village in Kuching, where they were given an experience of the Malay culture in an evening of traditional music and dance and were served local delicacies at the homes of the villagers. Industry sponsors for the event were Tourism Malaysia, Hilton Kuching, Cat City Holidays, Kuching Kayak, Borneo Highlands, Borneo Adventures, J's Creative Services, White House Catering, Sarawak Forestry Corporation and My Baruk Village. Sarawak Convention Bureau CEO, Ms Jill Henry thanked the sponsors for this trip saying, “We are grateful for the fantastic support we have received from our local industry partners in putting this programme together. It has enabled us to develop and showcase new ideas and products from Sarawak to the sophisticated international market.” She hoped the experience of the both the organizers and visitors and their feedback would be useful input in incorporating new packages for visiting delegates in future.