The Singapore Boating Industry Association (SBIA) in collaboration with the
Hong Kong Boating Industry Association (HKBIA), is organizing the Asia Boating
Dialogue 2020. This Dialogue series was inaugurated in Singapore in 2015 as
ICOMIA – The Asian Dialogue. It was an invitation-only event designed to engage
the Asian boating community and help it become more institutionalized and
organise collective thinking. It was subsequently promoted as the Asia Boating
Forum.
The Asia Boating Dialogue 2020 will run as a free-to-register webinar, in two 120-
minute sessions. As previously, the event consists of country updates, followed
by a Round Table Discussion. Registered viewers will also have the opportunity
of submitting questions for discussion. A limited number of spots are being
made available for sponsors and special interest groups.
Session One will be held on Tuesday 22 September 2020 (16:00 SGT / 08:00
UTC+8) and feature a South & Southeast Asian country grouping consisting of
India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Session Two will run the following week on Tuesday 29 September 2020 (16:00
SGT / 08:00 UTC+8) and feature an East & Northeast Asian grouping consisting
of China, Hong Kong & Macau, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The Asia Boating Dialogue is supported by the International Council of Marine
Industry Associations (ICOMIA), the world body for the recreational boating
industry, of which SBIA & HKBIA are members.
SBIA chair YP Loke said, “Running the Dialogue as a webinar enables us to reach
a wider audience than in previous events. It will engage a new audience who
would not normally travel abroad to a boat show. We need to start a
conversation about boating in Asia, join the dots between countries and build a
shared community with the same goals and aspirations for boating in Asia.
Although Covid19 has caused borders in most countries to close, we all need to
work with our respective agencies to find ways to re-open borders and revive
nautical tourism”.
HKBIA chair & ICOMIA Executive Committee member Lawrence Chow said, ”In
the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Asia Boating Dialogue provides the
perfect platform for regional industry leaders to share the current difficulties
they are facing and provide ideas for how the industry in Asia can adapt to the
post Covid-19 era. It also opens up the opportunity to identify and understand
the typical obstacles for growth in Asia. Through discussions, we will get a better
insight for the current state of the industry and set the blueprint for recovery in
Asia.”
ICOMIA Secretary-General Udo Kleinitz said, “We are pleased to continue
supporting this event which ICOMIA initiated in 2015. We want to continue our
engagement in Asia, build our base, and help our members promote the boating
industry in their countries. This collaboration between two of our Asian
members is a particularly welcomed move”.
The event website www.asiaboating.org is being developed and will be launched
shortly.
Registration to the Asia Boating Dialogue 2020 is now open
All interest to attend the Asia Boating Dialogue should be emailed to
[email protected], listing name, company, contact number and
email.
