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Laos Exports Sticky Rice to China through Railway System 

Lao sticky rice.

Laos exported the first large quantity of sticky rice to China from the Southern Vientiane Railway Station.

Taiwan Placemaking Festival Makes Its Way to Taitung at the End of November; Magistrate Yao to Show Slow Economy to the World

TAITUNG, TAIWAN – Media OutReach – 7 June 2022 – The world’s economic development professionals are all taking notice of the 2022 Taiwan Placemaking Festival. The venue for such an event is none other than the birthplace of Taiwanese regional revitalization: Taitung. This year’s event will be bigger than before letting the world see all of Taiwan’s placemaking work and experiences.

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The world’s economic development professionals are all taking notice of the 2022 Taiwan Placemaking Festival. The venue for such an event is none other than the birthplace of Taiwanese regional revitalization: Taitung.

Magistrate April Yao leads the Taitung County Government Team to promote Taitung’s Slow Economy: a natural and true development economic model. Yao believes as the world becomes more internationalized, cities need to further develop their local assets, only then will that place’s true value be shown. In the case of Taitung, it’s not better for a million visitors who visit once, but rather ten-thousand visitors making one-hundred return visits, cementing their lasting impressions and memories of Taitung. In recent years, many local groups have created many excellent examples of regional revitalization by using Taitung’s superior natural environment and deep inside knowledge of its ethnic communities.

This year’s Taiwan Placemaking Festival will have 600 placemakers from regional revitalization groups coming from all over Taiwan. They will be visiting 11 locations between the East Coast, the South-Link, the East Rift Valley, and Taitung City to observe, learn, and network. It serves as a stage for these groups to organically cultivate Taitung, so that this piece of land’s authenticity, friendliness, and beauty will be seen and understood by all.

Planet Water Foundation And Hung Yen Knitting & Dyeing Co. Ltd Renew Commitment To Deliver Clean Water Access To Communities In Hung Yen Province

By the end of the year, the partnership will have provided safe water access to over 10,000 people

HUNG YEN PROVINCE, VIETNAM – Media OutReach – 7 June 2022 – Planet Water Foundation, a nonprofit organization that addresses global water poverty by providing clean water access and hygiene education programs, and Hung Yen Knitting & Dyeing Co. Ltd – an Italian leading textile manufacturer operating in Vietnam since 2008 – have completed the deployment of their latest clean water project in Hung Yen Province, Vietnam.

The project took place in Lac Hong Primary School in Văn Lâm, Hung Yen, with volunteers from Hung Yen Knitting and Dyeing Co. Ltd., supporting the Planet Water Foundation team in deploying an AquaTower community water filtration system which will provide the students and surrounding community members with access to clean, safe drinking water for many years to come.

Since the partnership began in 2020, Hung Yen Knitting & Dyeing has supported the deployment of four AquaTower systems. Each AquaTower system produces 1,000 liters of clean, safe drinking water per hour, enough to meet the drinking water requirements of up to 1,800 people, and includes an integrated handwashing station with liquid soap dispensers.

Each project is deployed together with Planet Water’s comprehensive hygiene education program to help spread knowledge on healthy hygiene habits, and Planet Water’s AquaSan mobile surface disinfection system which helps sanitize the school environment.

“We are honored to contribute back to the communities of the Hung Yen Province” said Ms. Claudia Anselmi, General Manager and Director of Hung Yen Knitting & Dyeing. “Throughout the partnership with Planet Water Foundation, we are proud to see the results that our support has brought to the children in each school we have deployed projects in, giving access to clean and safe drinking water, and making a positive impact to the families and the community surrounding the schools.”

Later this year, the two organizations will be deploying two additional AquaTower projects in Hung Yen province, further extending the impact of the partnership.

“We are extremely grateful for the support of Hung Yen Knitting & Dyeing” said Mark Steele, Founder & CEO of Planet Water. “By the end of this year, through our partnership we will have brought access to clean, safe drinking water to up to 10,800 people, and provided hygiene education to over 4,000 students and community members.”

Following the deployment of each AquaTower project, the Planet Water team will be conducting sustainability visits over the course of four years to ensure the long-term success of each project.

About Planet Water Foundation

Planet Water Foundation is a non-profit organization focused on bringing clean water to the world’s most impoverished communities through the installation of community-based water filtration systems and the deployment of hygiene education programs. Planet Water Foundation projects are focused on children, schools, and rural/peri-urban communities across Asia and Latin America. Since 2009, Planet Water has deployed more than 1,500 projects that provide clean water access to more than two million people across 15 countries. For more information, visit

#PlanetWaterFoundation

About Hung Yen Knitting & Dyeing Co. Ltd.

Hung Yen is a fabric manufacturer factory established in Vietnam in 2008 by the Italian Carvico Group, one of the largest global players in the textile industry for over 50 years. Carvico Group has been leading the market through innovative technological know-how, and a sustainable and ethical approach to production, top quality and service that characterizes the Italian excellence and expertise in textile and industrial management. Hung Yen variety of fabrics widely ranges from swimwear to active wear, with a portfolio of over 300 customers all around the globe including major global brands. “Our motto Quality with Ethics is expressed into the everyday challenge to promote the use of recycled materials – on which the largest part of Hung Yen fabric collection is based on – and into the support of the wellbeing of our employees and their communities and most important to produce in respect with the environment and the natural resources. The result of our engagement to research and development translates every year into new trend settings proposals and is laying the foundation of new ambitious targets for the growth of the company and its employees, consolidating a distinctive presence in the market as innovators and in the supply chain as industrial model.”

For more information, visit

AIA Singapore partners with Franklin Templeton to introduce the first Shariah Balanced ILP fund in Singapore catering to a fast-growing Muslim consumer base

AIA Shariah Global Diversified Fund also expected to appeal to non-Muslim consumers keen on ethical and socially responsible investments

SINGAPORE Media OutReach7 June 2022 – AIA Singapore today launched the AIA Shariah Global Diversified Fund which will be made available to customers through these investment-linked plans (ILPs) – AIA Pro Achiever, AIA Pro Achiever 2.0, AIA Pro Lifetime Protector, AIA Pro Lifetime Protector (II) and AIA Invest Easy (Cash/ Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS). Existing customers of these plans may perform a fund switch or a top-up into this fund.

“AIA Singapore is thrilled to be Singapore’s first insurer to be launching the Shariah Balanced ILP fund to meet the increasing demand amongst Muslim consumers here where such investment options are limited. The overlap between Shariah-compliant finance and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles will also see non-Muslim consumers interested in the fund to maximise capital growth while investing responsibly,” said Liu Chun Yen, Chief Investment Officer, AIA Singapore. She is also a member of the Sustainability in Insurance Committee (SIC) in Singapore.

Shariah-compliant funds do not invest in industries or businesses whose underlying activities are involved in any non-halal items such as gambling, alcohol, tobacco, pork and adult entertainment, to name a few. These funds also do not invest in interest-bearing instruments.

This Singapore dollar denominated ILP sub-fund is a diversified portfolio of global Shariah-compliant equities and Sukuk backed by the expertise of award-winning fund management house Franklin Templeton which currently manages more than US$3.3 billion in Shariah-compliant strategies globally[1].

The asset allocation of the ILP sub-fund is as follows:

  • Templeton Shariah Global Equity Fund: Providing diversification benefits by investing principally in Shariah-compliant equity and equity-related securities across geographies and sectors including Healthcare, Energy and Info Tech. Quality of the portfolio is constantly upgraded to own more defensive, dividend-paying holdings in a late cycle environment with resources allocated to pursue the best long-term investment opportunities in overlooked market segments.
  • Franklin Global Sukuk Fund: Investing in Sukuk – Shariah-compliant fixed income securities – which is the second-biggest sector in Islamic Finance and a rapidly growing asset class. Global sukuk outstanding rose by 12.7% within a year to reach US$711.3 billion in 2021. Green and sustainable Sukuk volumes increased by 17.2% year-on-year to US$15 billion last year[2].
  • Franklin Shariah Technology Fund: Capturing potential in technology which continues to see accelerated growth as businesses prioritise digital transformation. The investment team seeks to own the best ideas across each one of the sub-themes that are supportive of Digital Transformation with ESG analysis embedded into their fundamental investment process.


    Clement Lee, Head of Retail Sales, Southeast Asia, Franklin Templeton said: “
    As one of the leading global asset managers with dedicated expertise and a strong track record in Shariah investing, we are delighted to partner with AIA Singapore for the launch of the Shariah Balanced ILP fund and we are very excited to make Shariah-compliant solutions more accessible to investors in Singapore.”

    Managed by AIA Investments, the ILP sub-fund will tap into the growth potential of the Islamic finance industry which is projected to rise to US$4.94 trillion in 2025, a significantly upward trajectory of more than 46% from US$3.374 trillion in 2020[3].

    AIA Investments is responsible for managing over US$330 billion in assets[4]. It has one of the largest teams of investment professionals in Asia Pacific, consisting of more than 250 investment specialists. AIA Investments’ approach to investment management is focused on delivering superior long-term sustainable results.

    AIA was recently recognised for its ‘Achievement of Compliance’ for the third consecutive year by the CFA Institute’s Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®) as an asset owner in Asia and globally. GIPS® standards are a rigorous set of investment performance measurement standards adopted in 48 markets to reflect a company’s adherence to the highest quality of performance reporting for its assets. It is testament to the robustness and governance of processes that underpin the company’s investment programme.

    AIA is the only regional insurer in Asia – as an asset owner – to claim GIPS® compliance recognition.

    About AIA

    AIA Group Limited and its subsidiaries (collectively “AIA” or the “Group”) comprise the largest independent publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group. It has a presence in 18 markets – wholly-owned branches and subsidiaries in Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR[5], Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan (China), Vietnam, Brunei and Macau SAR[6], and a 49 per cent joint venture in India.

    The business that is now AIA was first established in Shanghai more than a century ago in 1919. It is a market leader in Asia (ex-Japan) based on life insurance premiums and holds leading positions across the majority of its markets. It had total assets of US$340 billion as of 31 December 2021.

    AIA meets the long-term savings and protection needs of individuals by offering a range of products and services including life insurance, accident and health insurance and savings plans. The Group also provides employee benefits, credit life and pension services to corporate clients. Through an extensive network of agents, partners and employees across Asia, AIA serves the holders of more than 39 million individual policies and over 16 million participating members of group insurance schemes.

    AIA Group Limited is listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited under the stock code “1299” with American Depositary Receipts (Level 1) traded on the over-the-counter market (ticker symbol: “AAGIY”).

    About Franklin Templeton

    Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 155 countries. Franklin Templeton’s mission is to help clients achieve better outcomes through investment management expertise, wealth management and technology solutions. Through its specialist investment managers, the company offers boutique specialization on a global scale, bringing extensive capabilities in equity, fixed income, multi-asset solutions and alternatives. With offices in more than 30 countries and approximately 1,300 investment professionals, the California-based company has 75 years of investment experience and approximately US$1.5 trillion in assets under management as of April 30, 2022. For more information, please visit franklintempleton.com.sg and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

    As one of the few global asset managers with dedicated Shariah offerings, Franklin Templeton has over US$3.2 billion in assets[7] in its Shariah business line which is led from its office in the Dubai International Financial Centre. In addition to the UAE, the firm offers dedicated Shariah investing expertise in Singapore and Malaysia, which combined cover a range of asset classes and strategies including Sukuk and global, regional and local equities.

    All Franklin Templeton Shariah portfolios are independently reviewed by the Amanie International Shariah Supervisory Board, highly regarded for their extensive Shariah and technical understanding. The firm also leverages best-in-class technology utilizing criteria established by its Shariah screening provider Ideal Ratings, which analyses approximately 40,000 global securities.



    [1] Source: Franklin Templeton, as of 31 March 2022

    [2] ‘Promising Outlook for Global Sukuk Market Following Robust 2021’ (January 11, 2022) Fitch Ratings. https://www.fitchratings.com/research/islamic-finance/promising-outlook-for-global-sukuk-market-following-robust-2021-11-01-2022

    [3] ‘Refinitiv release findings of 2021 Islamic Finance Development Indicator’ (November 17, 2021) Refinitiv. https://www.refinitiv.com/en/media-center/press-releases/2021/november/refinitiv-releases-findings-of-2021-islamic-finance-development-indicator

    [4] Source: AIA, as at 30 June 2021.

    [5] Hong Kong SAR refers to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

    [6] Macau SAR refers to Macau Special Administrative Region.

    [7] Source: Franklin Templeton, as of 31 December 2021.

    #AIA

    Prime Minister of Laos Appoints Taskforce to Address Economic Problems

    Laos Prime Minister's Office
    The Prime Minister's Office.

    The Prime Minister of Laos has formed a special taskforce to address the country’s economic problems and resolve an ongoing fuel crisis.

    Aventis Learning Group To Hold Phygital Metaverse Event

    SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 7 June 2022 – Aventis Learning Group is excited to announce its first phygital event, “Getting Into The Metaverse and Web3 – The Next Frontier,” on 30th June 2022. The event will be available live on 3 different modes – physically at Concorde Hotel Singapore, virtually through Zoom and digitally on Metaverse via Decentraland.

    Scheduled on 30th June 2022, from 9am to 5pm, this 1-day professional development course explores how the metaverse can unlock opportunities for businesses. By the end of this digital transformation course, participants will gain a deeper understanding of phygital business models, how the metaverse works, and how to leverage digital assets to grow their company.

    The CEO and Founder of IKIGUIDE Metaverse Collective, Ms Soh Wan Wei will be speaking at this event. Ms Soh is a local tech futurist and thought leader in the metaverse and Web 3.0 space. A well sought-after speaker, she has presented at over 50 prominent blockchain and artificial intelligence industry conferences across the world, including the Blockchain Summit Singapore in 2019.

    The metaverse economy is growing at a rapid speed, with reputable brands such as Adidas, JP Morgan, and Samsung purchasing virtual real estate in the metaverse in recent months. Moreover, a recent report by Citibank has forecasted that the metaverse could be worth $13 trillion by 2030. Hence, it is beneficial for working professionals to learn how to tap on the metaverse to transform and grow their businesses.

    Mr Samuel Teo, General Manager of Aventis Learning Group said, “We are extremely excited about this event. As the pioneer in our first-ever tri-dimensional event, this first-of-its-kind metaverse event showcases the immersive metaverse experience brands can leverage on to grow their presence and enhance their customers’ experience.”

    “At Aventis, we celebrate that the metaverse is upon us and that it will help us democratise executive education across ASEAN, which has a growing population of over 700 million. The metaverse will be omnipresent and with rapid technological advancements, able to bring us new immersive learning experiences. Aventis’ metaverse offers a hybrid world of enormous potential. We, as educators, play an important role to ensure the building of a collaborative, positive, and safe learning environment for all our learners. The metaverse is not a direct replacement for face-to-face classes, rather, it is complementary and adds an exciting new dimension to our existing learning model. The Phygital approach will also put us in good stead to allow our learners and alumni to learn, grow, and connect with like-minded professionals and senior executives across ASEAN. Lastly, our Learn-to-Earn model will encourage learners and corporate sponsors to work together and foster a self-sustainable community and ecosystem across ASEAN,” said Mr Teo.

    About Aventis Learning Group

    Aventis Learning Group is a multi-award-winning provider of online courses in Singapore. Established in 2008, the organisation is a corporate training solutions provider that offers cutting-edge professional courses and solutions for working professionals to keep up with evolving industry trends. Their upcoming “Getting Into the Metaverse and Web3 – The Next Frontier” course is priced at $350 – exclusive of GST and inclusive of an e-certificate and learning materials.

    For more information and to browse the various courses offered by Aventis Learning Group, please visit . Alternatively, please contact Ms Chye Fen at or 6720 3333.

    #AventisLearningGroup

    OPPO upgrades its Premium Service with the launch of Find X5 Series

    SHENZHEN, CHINA – Media OutReach – 7 June 2022 – Prioritizing user experiences has always been essential to successful customer relationships. Since 2021, OPPO has put more effort into enhancing its high-end service capacity overseas such as introducing new services in its existing Premium Service. OPPO Premium Service consists of International Warranty, Exclusive Hotline, Premium Lane with Exclusive Engineers, Loan Phone, Send-in Repair and their latest addition – Door-to-door Repair Collection Service now, but the specific offer may vary by region.

    Caption

    Accessible and convenient service is paramount to many users and OPPO recognizes that. The new Door-to-door Repair Collection Service is the latest premium service that OPPO has to offer. One just simply needs to contact the local service center to enjoy free pick-up and delivery services. This perk is valid twice within the first year for Find X5 Pro 5G users, but the specific service policy might vary per market. As this exclusive option is in the pilot phase, it is only available at certain places in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia.

    While the new Door-to-door Repair Collection Service is limited to certain areas, OPPO also provides a Send-in Repair Service for users who are located at places that are not covered, allowing users to send in their phones to OPPO service centers and no courier fees are required in some countries and regions.

    Besides the above, OPPO has also improved personnel training courses and built a specialist team of ‘Find Masters’, a group of high-level engineers and online consultants exclusively for Find series customers to further upgrade customer experience at its service centers.

    OPPO is truly making it possible to provide customers with not just an excellent device but also an enjoyable, distinctive experience and a satisfactory repair service under the service motto, “Care & Reach”.

    For more information on OPPO Premium Service for Find X5 Series, kindly refer to: https://support.oppo.com/en/premium-service-findx5-series/

    X0PA Partners with Meta, TTC Labs and IMDA For People-centric Approaches to Algorithmic Explainability Project

    SINGAPORE Media OutReach – 7 June 2022 – X0PA AI is one of the five start-ups in the Asia Pacific and Europe, chosen by TTC Labs, Meta, and IMDA to collaborate to engage start-ups and policymakers on prototyping policies and products that focus on AI explainability.

    With the increasing adoption of AI across various industry verticals and use cases, the conversations around greater transparency and explainability of AI systems are also growing. The overall AI ecosystem is looking to foster trust in AI. Globally, several principles, guidelines, frameworks, and laws have been created to govern the development and use of AI. Singapore has published a Model AI Governance Framework (Model Framework) which advocates transparency and explainability in the decisions made by, or with, the assistance of AI.

    The Model Framework and the associated guide, the Implementation and Self-Assessment Guide for Organisations (ISAGO), provide practical tools to help developers and users of AI systems do this responsibly. To ensure the implementation of this framework and guide, the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) partnered with Meta’s TTC Labs and Open Loop to translate key concepts of transparency and explainability into prototypes.

    X0PA amongst other four startups was chosen to test the product framework for AI explainability, build prototypes, and share their findings, insights, and experiences.

    “X0PA participated so we get to work together with other start-ups, Meta, TTC Labs and IMDA to further improve our product development prototyping process so that we can make our AI more explainable and provide a better user experience. We also participated as we strongly believe in working together to push for a people-centric and explainable approach to AI,” says Lee Gang, Head of Data Science, X0PA AI.

    The objectives of this project were to

    • Build AI transparency principles into an operational AI explainability and control (AIX) framework. This framework will provide guidance for front-end experiences across industry use cases.
    • Understand future-facing challenges and best practices to help inform industry-facing public policy developments showcasing what ideal governance paths might look like.
    • Produce report synthesizing research process, outputs, and learnings into practical insights.

    Check out the insights and learnings in the report, click here

    About X0PA AI

    X0PA is an AI-powered end-to-end B2B platform that helps in streamlining hiring and selections, from sourcing potential candidates, screening objectively and at scale, virtual and asynchronous interview/assessments, and final selections and onboarding. The sophisticated built-in automation helps in scaling efficiencies multi-fold, however, the biggest advantage of X0PA is the power of objectivity in selections.

    Using AI and ML to “screen candidates in rather than screen out” by eliminating biases both from humans as well as from the process that truly helps in making hiring equitable.

    Recognized by IDC as AI-Innovator of APAC, X0PA has additionally won many other accolades and awards.

    Want to know more about X0PA’s AI Recruitment Platform?

    #X0PA