SINGAPORE TO HOST WORLD TOILET SUMMIT

SINGAPORE, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- Singapore will showcase the progress in its
waste management infrastructure evolving from the bucket system 40 years ago to
the state-of-the-art deep tunnel sewerage system today at the 9th World Toilet
Summit and Expo (WTSE) it is hosting for the second time this December.

WTSE 2009 is organised by the Singapore-based World Toilet Organisation,
founded in 2001, and in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and
the local partner Restroom Association, Singapore.

The three-day conference and trade exhibition to be held from Dec 2 at
Suntec Singapore will be opened by Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Lim
Swee Say. Singapore held the inaugural summit in 2001.

In his message for the summit, Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong
said the republic had gone beyond the provision of basic sanitation to the
business of recycling used water which was a solution that might appeal to
cities with severe water shortage.

He said more work needed to be done to raise standards of sanitation beyond
the provision of infrastructure and public health facilities such as changing
people's mindsets concerning design, maintenance and proper usage of toilets.

He pointed out that today about 2.5 billion people around the world still
did not have access to proper sanitation.

WTSE 2009 will focus on "Creating the Blueprint for a Sustainable Sanitation
Marketplace" and it will feature two keynote addresses by ADB Southeast Asia
Department director-general Arjun Thapan and Asia-Pacific Water Forum chairman
Professor Tommy Koh.

Other topics to be covered include sanitation marketing, standards and
policies, school sanitation, financing sanitation, social entrepreneurship in
sanitation economy and real corporate citizenship.

There will also be a showcase of toilet and sanitation design and portable
toilet solutions, green and sustainable toilet technologies from all over the
globe.
-- BERNAMA