Sarawak to become main host for major events in next few years — Abdul Karim

For the next few years, Sarawak will be the main state for organising big events, said Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

He said it is a hard effort and achievement made by the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) and Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) by bringing various important events to be organised in this state.

“Both teams have been doing a very good job, they have secured so many conferences for the next few years.

“For example, in the previous year we were able to secure the World Water Conference which involved 80 countries with 10,000 delegates,” he told Bernama yesterday.

Abdul Karim said that with Sarawak’s aggressiveness in organising large events, the state government will build another convention centre to accommodate its capacity.

“So this year, we will begin the construction next to the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK).

“The new convention centre will accommodate a total of 5,000 delegates, so in total we can accommodate 15,000 delegates. This is the kind of aggressiveness and confidence we have,” he added.

Meanwhile, STB chief executive officer Sharzede Salleh Shukor said the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) this year will be different from the previous years.

“This is the millennial generation, the new generation understands what preservation and conservation are all about.

“It’s a wild thing, I don’t want to reveal it yet because the minister (Abdul Karim) will announce it when we launch it. “Wait for the day… the exciting movement,” she said.

RWMF is an annual threeday music festival celebrating the diversity of world music held at Sarawak Cultural Village, with daytime music workshops, cultural displays, craft displays, food stalls, and main-stage evening concerts.