Khin-Ni-Ni T. • Dear Dragan,

Some may say I am dreaming, however, very seriously I hereby notify the wish of ICEWE (Institute for Civil, Earth and Water Engineering) in Yangon, Myanmar to host the HIC2014 in Yangon, Myanmar. I foresee the positive collaboration of the top level national technological universities in Myanmar although I am not putting this proposal on their behalf. I have experience working with them since 1980 except for the period when I was in Europe. At present I am working with Yangon Technological University (I do not take any money, cash or salary or any benefit - not even in kind) for Water Ph.D. and M.Sc. courses. We have growing understanding and trust as days go by. If you ask me how much confidence I have in hosting such a huge conference, my answer is 100%. Because in the last quarter of 2011, Myanmar will be hosting a similar conference on "Green Economy and Green Growth" and in Feb 2012 Myanmar will be hosting "Responsible Myanmar Travel Conference" in order to bring in the international players to work together and reach out the grassroots. Towards this goal, a group of CSR minded tour agencies and hoteliers are actively preparing themselves by getting intensive training/courses on green tourism, eco-tourism and CSR. I am involved in both events: (as a member of the convening group for the former and as an advisor to the latter). As we are improving our working situation slowly and steadily, when time comes, i.e. by 2014, we will have better technical facilities than as it is now. I am positive and would like to try.

I understand that I shall "notify the Hydroinformatics Committee chair (Shie-Yui Liong) or respond to this call directly", however, I am putting my thoughts to the community and see how many objections I receive. If a lot of "NO" comments come along in the next 2 days, I will not put forward an official request to Prof. Shie-Yui Liong - just to save his precious time.

Dear HI Community,

Here is Ni Ni again, aiming to do a difficult task! Are you all with me? Or rather not?Please give me your frank opinion.

David F. • Hello Ni Ni,
Myanmar/Burma is a country that I would be very happy to visit so, from a personal point of view, please do submit your official request! From a practical point of view, would the current sanctions and difficult political situation impose difficulties on the effective organisation of the conference? Would there be any barriers to researchers and industrial practitioners from around the world that would want to attend?
Best wishes,
David

Khin-Ni-Ni T. • Dear David,
Thanks for the support and good questions - also righterous questions. You asked, "(1)From a practical point of view, would the current sanctions and difficult political situation impose difficulties on the effective organisation of the conference? Would there be any barriers to researchers and industrial practitioners from around the world that would want to attend?"
Answers 1. current sanctions exclude humanitarian support: the definition of the democratic movement and/or people-centered approaches define health and education as humanitarian affairs. Therefore, Hydroinformatics Conference will bring more insight on how to help Burma-Myanmar in the areas of Water, Food security, human security, public participation, socio-technological approaches/techniques/methods/learning, social perspectives and technological perspectives ina very balanced way - that will be win-win-win situation for all of us in Burma-Myanmar. The first win is for peoples, the second win is for the new government and the third win is for those who wish to act upon (or) initiate the change in this country.
Answer 2: the current political situation will not hinder the effective organisation of such an international conference. I have experienced since 2009 and so far I am in the steering committee of two international conference in Yangon (2009 and 2010) - everything went well except the weather. We are doing another one in November this year and the 4th in Feb 2012.
Answer3: There would be no barriers to researchers and industrial practitioners from around the world that would want to attend. We can provide assistance all the way including the post-conference tours. There are some areas where foreigners are requested not to go. We will avoid to visit such places. Foreigners are requested not to talk about politics while coming for the scientific meetings - that is no need to say for Hydroinformatics community because we are scientists and researchers, not politicians.

Having explained that, since there is no objection and having your support, May I now send an official request directly from this Forum? Thank you.

The organising institution will be WRTC and ICEWE to begin with. However, I will discuss about this initiative with Technological Universities and Myanmar Water Partnership and the Ministries that are in working relationship with WRTC. WRTC stands for Water, Research and Training Centre (WRTC) registered under the Netherlands Law in 1997, member of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce and having a business account in ABN-AMRO Bank in Tha Hague. The WRTC Myanmar office began activities inside Myanmar since April 2003 and it has been running for 8 years already. In 2005 it signed an MOU with the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation. If any of you are interested I can send a popwer point presentation on "WRTC's 8 year journey inside Myanmar. We have experience and we build trust. With that experience and financial arrangements in the Netherlands, I am confident that we can organise and host HIC2014 in Myanmar and introduce both ways.

Khin-Ni-Ni T. • Official response to the call for parties interested in hosting the 11th Hydroinformatics Conference (HIC2014) Dated 28 June 2011.

This official request was sent 18 hours ago. Now I am correcting one typo error.
Apology for deleting the previous post.
The Water, Research and Training Centre (WRTC) http://www.wrtcmyan.org Myanmar branch and the Institute for Civil, Earth and Water Engineering (ICEWE) in Myanmar wish to host the 11th Hydroinformatics Conference (HIC2014) in Yangon (Rangoon, the former capital of Burma), Myanmar. These two organisations will further pursue the collaboration from the Myanmar Water Partnership, National Technological Universities and Government Ministries to join the organisation of the HIC2014 to bring a success. This will open a brand new arena to work in Burma-Myanmar in line with the 2011 activity plan of the Hydroinformatics Community.

I look forward to the positive response from the Hydroinformatics Committee chair Prof. Dr. Shie-Yui Liong.

Yours faithfully,
NiNi

Prof. Dr. Khin Ni Ni Thein
Founder and President
Water, Research and Training Centre (WRTC) http://www.wrtcmyan.org
Hon. Senior Professor
Water Ph.D. Program
Yangon Technological University, Yangon, Myanmar