4/11/97

News directors, editors: The Malaysian minister of education will be available for interviews in 108 Copeland Hall following his 9 a.m. speech. If you would like to interview the minister, please contact Dwight Woodward, 614/593-1886; e-mail, dwoodward1@ohiou.edu.

ATHENS, Ohio -- The Malaysian minister of education, Najib Tun Abdul Razak, will deliver the keynote address at Ohio University's sixth annual Razak Conference, "Industrialization and Development in Southeast Asia" April 18-20. Najib Razak will give the keynote speech at the opening ceremony at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 19 in 104 Copeland Hall on the Athens campus.

Organized by the Center of Southeast Asia Studies, the conference will include papers from 42 scholars from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, the United States and the countries of Southeast Asia.

Also participating in the conference will be the special envoy of Malaysia to the United Nations, Abdullah Ahmad; the secretary general of the Malaysian Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism, Ismail Adam; former U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia Ronald Palmer; and current holder of the Razak Chair, Professor Mohammed Yusoff.

At the first session of the conference at 2 p.m. Friday, April 18 at the Ohio University Inn, Mohammed Yusoff will speak on economic and policy adjustments that have led Southeast Asia to become the fastest growing region in the world.

Session topics include "An Overview of Southeast Asia Economics," "Foreign Direct Investment and Reverse Investment," "Trade and Financial Development," and "Economic Growth and Income Distribution."

Najib Razak is a senior vice president of the major political party in Malaysia. He is the oldest son of the second Malaysian prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak, whom the conference and the university's Razak Chair honor.

The Razak Chair was endowed jointly in 1980 by a grant from the Malaysian government and matching funds from American firms operating in Malaysia. The chair brings Malaysian scholars to Ohio University for two years of teaching, research and advising of American students studying about Southeast Asia.

Registration fees for the conference range from $35 to $120. To register, call 614-593-0388 or e-mail: ceworkshops@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu