Kuala Lumpur, 7 March 2013 - The 9th International Symposium on Antimicrobial Agents and Resistance (ISAAR 2013) will be held in Kuala Lumpur this year from the 13 - 15 March 2013. Supported by the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), ISAAR 2013 will be hosted by the Malaysian Society for Infectious Diseases and Chemotheraphy.

“It is a pleasure for MyCEB to work with local associations or organisations in their process of bringing global conferences to Malaysia,” states Zulkelfli Hj Sharif, CEO of MyCEB. “One of Malaysia’s main interests certainly lies in the medical and health industry. MyCEB is constantly active in pursuing more medical meetings to be hosted in Malaysia. As a matter of fact, medical meetings top the list of business events in Malaysia, with 15 percent of International Congress & Conventions Associations (ICCA) events in the country being medical sciences events. In addition, through the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), which has identified health care as a National Key Results Areas (NKRAs), the Malaysian policymakers are constantly looking at enhancing the country’s health systems. This symposium would rightly so create a platform for knowledge sharing which would prove to be beneficial for the country,” he further explained.

ISAAR 2013 is expecting to welcome more than 800 participants to the country and generate RM 12 million in economic impact to the country. International delegates will be arriving from 31 countries, including Australia, Belgium, Egypt, Japan and Germany.

Prof. Victor Lim, the Vice-President for Education and Professor of Pathology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, who is the Local Chair for ISAAR 2013 said, “Antibiotic resistance or the ability of germs to counter the action of antibiotics is now recognised as a major global problem. If unchecked, antibiotic resistance can lead to consequences of apocalyptic proportions to mankind. We will return to the age before antibiotics were discovered when even common infections led to many deaths. This conference focuses on the development of resistance to antibiotics and ways of overcoming the challenges posed. We hope that by bringing many world experts together in Kuala Lumpur, some solutions may be found to meet this threat. We would like to thank MyCEB which has supported us in implementing the marketing plan that includes the promotion of ISAAR 2013 at related regional and international conferences.”

Dr. Jae-Hoon Song, the President of the Samsung Medical Center and Dean of Sungkyunkwan University, School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea President who is the President of ISAAR said, “Since 1996, the International Symposium on Antimicrobial Agents and Resistance (ISAAR) became the most representative international meeting on antimicrobial resistance and infectious diseases in the Asia Pacific region. ISAAR aims to contribute to the pivotal exchange of state-of-the art information and data on infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance in the world. Epidemiology, mechanism of resistance, pathogenesis, clinical impact, development of new antimicrobial agents and vaccines, and guidelines of treatment and prevention are the major issues of ISAAR. This cutting-edge information can foster global solutions to the problem of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance.”

ISAAR is one of the most important world meetings on the challenges posed by antimicrobial resistance. ISAAR's main host is the Asia Pacific Foundation for Infectious Diseases (APFID) based in Seoul and this is the third occasion that ISAAR is being held outside Korea. ISAAR is also supported by many international and local academic societies and organizations. The three day conference which feature prestigious international speakers who will address topics such as major resistant pathogens, treatment of major infection and strategies to control and prevent microbial resistance. The opening ceremony will be officiated by Dr. Jae-Hoon Song of the Samsung Medical Center, South Korea and Professor Victor K.E. Lim of International Medical University, Malaysia.

“MyCEB is constantly finding ways to support local associations from our programmes. As part of the Ministry of Tourism’s target to attract 28 million tourist to Malaysia, MyCEB will be an active advocate of the Tourism Malaysia’s Visit Malaysia Year 2014 campaign. The Bureau hopes to leverage on the campaign as a platform to attract more business events and visitors to support the growth of the industry,” concluded Zulkefli.

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For more information, please contact:

Ms Shazrina Othman

Manager, PR & Communications

Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau

Tel: +603 2034 2090 • Fax: +603 2034 2091 •Email: shazrina@myceb.com.my

NOTE TO EDITORS

About the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB)

MyCEB was established in 2009 by Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia to further strengthen Malaysia’s business tourism brand and position for the international business events market. A non-profit organisation, MyCEB serves as a central hub to assist meeting and event planners to bid for and stage international business events in Malaysia and act as a conduit for national product development. MyCEB’s goal is to improve its rankings as an international meetings destination within International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and to grow business tourism arrivals to Malaysia.

Apart from business events, an important component of MyCEB is the International Events Unit (IEU) which focuses on identifying and supporting international event bids in the areas of sports, art and culture and lifestyle.

In November 2011, MyCEB unveiled its business events tagline, ‘Malaysia – Asia’s Business Events Hub’ which encompasses its aim to communicate Malaysia’s proposition as a gateway to Asia for meetings – where many of Asia’s diverse cultures, languages and lifestyles are represented and have merged through a long history of trade and meetings.

For more information, please visit www.myceb.com.my

March 2013