KUALA LUMPUR, 3 Sept 2007 – Just two years old, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (the Centre) has achieved certification for its food safety, quality and health and safety management systems and benchmarked status for its environmental performance.

The Centre’s Food Safety, Quality, Environmental, Safety and Health (FOQESH) Management System has been successfully audited by the world’s leading certifier, Lloyds Register Quality Assurance of London and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) Certification arm, NIOSH Certification Sdn Bhd (NCSB). As a result of this, the Centre is now certified to ISO 9001, ISO 22000 and OHSAS 18001 and has achieved benchmarked status to the Green Globe Company Standard which places the Centre ahead of every other similar facility in Asia.

At a ceremony held at the Centre recently, Datuk Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, director-general, Tourism Malaysia and representing the Minister of Tourism, Malaysia Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, presented the FOQESH certificates to Datuk Ishak Imam Abas, chairman, Convex Malaysia Sdn Bhd, the joint-venture company that manages and operates the Centre.

According to Datuk Ishak, the FOQESH certification process began even before the Centre started operations as each quality certification addresses key concerns in the hospitality and service industry: quality management, food safety, staff training and safety, as well as environmental sustainability.

“The FOQESH certification are not mere marks of achievement, it demonstrates our commitment. The Centre’s theme, ‘Towards Better, Sustainable Business Practices’ supports this commitment as we endeavour to not only uphold global standards, but to surpass them.

”Datuk Ishak said that the certifications helped equip the Centre to consistently meet the increasing expectations and changing needs of its clients over the long term.

“With the FOQESH management system in place, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre’s clients are assured of a more efficient and effective business partner who will work with them to ensure their event at the Centre is a resounding success, every time.”

Datuk Ishak also gave credit to the Centre’s strategic partners Tourism Malaysia, Malaysia Airlines (MAS), Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) “who have worked with us tirelessly to actively promote the country, Malaysia; the City, Kuala Lumpur and its support infrastructure; and in turn, our venue, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.”

To achieve all four FOQESH certifications, the Centre’s team developed well-defined processes, systems and procedures to meet certificate requirements and standards; documented them completely; and then demonstrated their consistent implementation across all functions and team members to external auditors. Not only were staff specially trained and formally accredited to recognise safety risks and methods of control, vendors too had to undergo vigilant awareness courses, particularly relating to food safety.

To date, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre is one of the few convention and exhibition centres worldwide to achieve this level of certification and environmental performance.

For further information, please contact:

Peter Brokenshire
General Manager
Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre
Tel: +603 2333 2888
Fax: +603 2333 2882
Email: info@klccconventioncentre.com

Guy Chaplin or Malina Shamsudin
TQPR (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd
Tel: +603 2092 4300
Fax: +603 2092 5972
Email: malinam@tqpr.com

NOTE TO EDITORS

About FOQESH

ISO 9001: 2000 Quality ManagementThe certificate is closely linked to the business and marketing plan and to customer needs, placing the concept of process management, relating to the monitoring and optimising of a company’s tasks and activities versus just inspecting the final product, to the forefront. Two other goals include improving effectiveness via process performance metrics-numerical measurement of tasks and activities and continual process improvement.

ISO 22000:2005 Food Safety ManagementThe international standard specifies the requirements for a food safety management system involving interactive communication, system management, prerequisite programmes and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles. The last (HACCP) is a systematic preventive approach to food safety which addresses physical, chemical and biological hazards as a means of prevention rather than finished product inspection.

OHSAS 18001 Occupation Health and Safety Assessment SeriesThe international Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series for health and safety management systems was developed in response to widespread demand for a recognised standard to be certified and assessed against. The certification tells staff they are part of an organisation that prioritises their safety. This in turn, engenders a sense of security and satisfaction to enable all parties to contribute towards a holistic, satisfied customer experience.

Green Globe Benchmarked StatusGreen Globe is the global Benchmarking, Certification and improvement system for sustainable travel and tourism, based on Agenda 21 and principles of sustainable development endorsed by 182 Heads of State at the United Nations Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit. It provides companies, communities and consumers with a path to sustainable travel and tourism. Green Globe provides a certification system that responds directly to the major environmental problems facing the planet, including the greenhouse effect, over-use of freshwater resources and the destruction of biodiversity.

About the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre

The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (the Centre) is a component of the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) and is managed and operated by Convex Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a joint-venture company between KLCC (Holdings) Sdn Bhd and Ogden International Facilities Corporation Pty Ltd, Australia.

Winner of the TravelWeekly (Asia) Industry Awards 2007’s “Best Convention and Exhibition Centre in Asia”, the Centre is a wholly-owned facility of Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Sdn Bhd which in turn, is owned by KLCC (Holdings) Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS).

The Centre has received the ISO 9001, ISO 22000 and OHSAS 18001 certifications and achieved the Green Globe Benchmarked status (environment) and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point Certification (HACCP) recognition, the international food safety system for international convention facilities and five-star hotels. The Centre, which consists of two auditoria (seating 3,000 and 500 respectively), 9,710 sq metres of exhibition halls, a Grand Ballroom which seats 2,000 diners, a Banquet Hall for 500, a Conference Hall for 1,800 and 20 other meeting rooms, represents an investment of RM550 million (approximately USD146 million) and 20,059 sq metres of function space in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.