The Baiduri Bank has achieved yet another milestone with the launching of it's Baiduri-American Express Card. Present to launch the bank's latest product was the Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Pehin Dato Haji Abdul Rahman.

The Baiduri-American Express Card is available, as from Wednesday, in classic and gold versions. Card members will be getting a wider range of benefits with different payment preferences.

The General Manager of Baiduri Bank, Mr. Pierre Imhof in his address said that the bank's partnership with American Express has provided the bank with a great opportunity to further strengthen its' commitment to provide world class financial products and services to meet the distinctive needs of consumers in Brunei Darussalam.

Donations for survivors of the Tsunami disaster continued to pour in with the National Relief Fund receiving a total of 81,856 dollars yesterday.

A cheque for over 63,700 dollars was received from the Royal Brunei Airlines. The cheque was presented by the Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's office, Pehin Dato Awang Haji Hazair, Chairman of the airline. The money was proceeds from the RBA golf charity tournament on-line ticket sales as well as donations from the airlines staff members.

Brunei Shell Marketing contributed 5000 dollars to the online sales proceeds, while the Ministry of Development and its departments donated 13,125 dollars. The contribution was handed over by the Ministry's Permanent Secretary for Administration and Finance, Awang Haji Metassan bin Haji Mohamad Daud.

Other donors include the Persatuan TIBA which donated 3000 dollars and the Mamih Cafe, 2000 dollars. All donations were received by the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Pehin Dato Doctor Haji Awang Hussein, co-chairman of the fund.

Meanwhile, the Tsunami Relief Fund of the Belait District also received a generous contribution from a private firm in the district. The more than 17,000 dollar donation was from the Sahid Company. The cheque was presented Wednesday by the company's Managing Director, Pengiran Adanan Bin Pengiran Seri Indera Pengiran Hj Ismail to the Belait District Officer, Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Yusof.

A consultation session on Programme Alignment in the Public Service on the Service Hub for Trade and Tourism - or SHuTT - was held Wednesday. It was attended by six departments under the Ministry of Communications. The consultation was to discuss matters on coordination of issues relating to the vision and mission of creating Brunei Darussalam as a Service Hub for Trade and Tourism, such as ways to make the vision a success, as well as to get feed back.

The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications, Pehin Dato Awang Haji Abdullah, as chairman of the session, in his keynote spoke of reasons why some companies have succeeded. He said this was because those companies were built on sound, sustainable strategies, effective management with economic decisions that enable it to seize and exploit innovative opportunities better than their rivals.

The consultation session began with a briefing by Director of the Land Transport Department, Awang Haji Mat Zahari Bin Haji Yusof, on the Public Transportation System. He said the sector is an important conveyor of people and goods, contributing to the development of the country's tourism industry and it's progress.

A speaker from the Civil Aviation Department spoke of challenges on moving towards Transportation System Multiple Networks or Interconnectivity. The Department's Director Awang Haji Kassim Bin Haji Latip, pointed to the Airlines Hub's small market share as well as problems it's facing after several world occurrences, which include the September 11 incident, the Asia economic down turn, SARS, oil price and the gulf war.

Another speaker was the Director of Ports. Pengiran Haji Abdul Rahman touched on matters relating to the upgrading of the international-regional trade facility. He said the Ports Department is currently initiating a number of strategic projects and goals which include tariff incentives which could attract foreign companies to use Brunei as their delivery or transport centre.

The Ministry of Communications has since 1996, been tasked to carry out plans towards making Brunei Darussalam, a centre of services, trade and tourism. Related-activities mainly focused on the development of the transport and communication services and infrastructure in the country.

The 3rd meeting of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Cluster working group has been successful in trying to formulate an agreement in which the private sectors within the Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) form a multinational corporation on a Halal Poultry Industry.

It will be the first ever to be set up in the BIMP EAGA Cooperation. The adoption and signing of the agreed minutes of the meeting was held Wednesday. In a media conference after the signing, the Chairperson, Merly Cruz said the two-day meeting discussed the progress of preparations of the business plan for four flagship projects - namely halal poultry industry, business development services, palm oil industry and seaweed industry.

The Halal Poultry Industry is a project put forward by Brunei Darussalam and as such will lead in the establishment of the Halal poultry corporation with the support and cooperation from private sectors within the BIMP-EAGA countries.

Le Tour De Brunei 2005 championship which is participated by cyclists from the ASEAN region, kicked off Wednesday with the 28 kilometres individual time trial stage. A total of 42 cyclists from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand took part in the event yesterday morning.

Ten cyclists from the country represent Brunei Darussalam's 'A' and 'B' teams, twelve from Indonesia, fifteen from Malaysia and four from Thailand. Each cyclist departed individually from the starting point, followed by the next cyclist after a two minute lapse. Today's event started and ended at Bukit Shahbandar. It covered the roads all the way from Jerudong Park, Muara-Tutong Highway, and detoured under the Tungku Link fly-over.

The championship - organised by the Brunei Darussalam Bicycle Association with the cooperation of the Department of Youth and Sports under the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and the Tourism Development Division at the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources - is aimed at further promoting Brunei Darussalam as a sports tourism destination and elevating the standard of local cyclists.

In the first stage of the race, nineteen years old Mohd Fauzan Ahmad Lufti of Malaysia National Sport Council won the event with a recorded time of 39 minutes 11.41 seconds. Second place was Iman Suparman from Benteng Muda Tangerang of Indonesia. Meanwhile local cyclist, Mohd Raihaan bin Abdul Aziz was in the eighteenth place.

A few foreign cyclists took a wrong direction at an earlier stage of the championship as they failed to understand or were confused with the signboards provided by the committee. According to the Assistant Secretary of the Brunei Darussalam Bicycle Association, Awang Haji Wahab Datu Derma Wijaya Haji Yusof, the confusion is inevitable even during major international events. He said the organisers have tried to make the race the best ever, and the signboards provided, they believed would give a clear roadmap of the route.