How can Western Australia take advantage of its resource richness and geographic positioning to lead the rest of Australia in this Asian Century?  This is just one of the ‘big' questions on the agenda for November at the IN THE ZONE conference.

The University of Western Australia is bringing more than 50 national and international speakers to Perth from 8-10 November to stimulate debate on the geopolitical and business challenges facing Australia and its major trading partners.

Built into a tightly packed program of networking dinners, high quality speakers, panel discussions and plenary sessions, the IN THE ZONE conference aims to reposition Perth in the international sphere and provide valuable business insights into our zone - taking conferences to a new level in Western Australia.

Speakers include: Australian Foreign Minister Hon Stephen Smith; The Times India Diplomatic Editor Indrani Bagchi; Rio Tinto Chief Executive Tom Albanese;  CEO ANZ North East Asia and Hong Kong Alistair Bulloch; Chair Export-Import Bank of Thailand Dr Narongchai Akrasanee;  Chairman Nippon Steel Akio Mimura; and Chinese Ambassador to Australia Zhang Junsai.

While the rest of the world is sharpening its lens on China, India and Asia at large, Western Australia is already strategically positioned to take advantage of its geography, trade connections and time zone shared with the emerging powers of this century.

Program, speaker and registration information is available online at http://www.zone.uwa.edu.au/

Media references

For more information:

Sonia Nolan, Senior Communications Adviser IN THE ZONE Conference 2009
Mb: 0401 034 103