Kuala Lumpur, Friday 29 June 2007 – To celebrate Malaysia’s 50 years of independence, Khazanah Nasional Berhad today unveiled the Khazanah Merdeka Series. This is a programme comprising talks, seminars and forums to foster a culture of knowledge-building and sharing, so that current and future generations of Malaysians can participate effectively in the country’s development agenda.

“Our objective for the Khazanah Merdeka Series is two-fold: we want to anchor all Malaysians with a deeper knowledge of our country’s history and progress and secondly, we want to chart our future development by learning from world-class intellectuals, technocrats and business leaders. This is our small contribution as we come together to celebrate this important milestone in our nation’s progress,” says Khazanah Nasional’s Managing Director Dato’ Azman Hj Mokhtar.

The Khazanah Merdeka Series has three distinctive components: the Khazanah Global Lectures (KGL), the Khazanah National Development Seminar (KNDS) and the Khazanah Megatrends Forum 2007 (KMF2007).

On July 12 2007, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Seri Abdullah Hj Ahmad Badawi will officially launch the Khazanah Merdeka Series. The highlight of the launch will be the inaugural KGL lecture to be presented by 2001 Nobel Prize Winner for Peace and former Secretary General of The United Nations, Mr. Kofi A. Annan.

Two additional Nobel Laureates have also confirmed their participation in the KGL series. They are the 2006 Nobel Prize Winner for Peace and the Founder and Managing Director of Grameen Bank, Professor Muhammad Yunus and the 2001 Nobel Prize Winner for Economics and former Chief Economist of The World Bank, Mr. Joseph E. Stiglitz.

Dato’ Seri Abdullah Hj Ahmad Badawi himself is also expected as a speaker, as well as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Mr. Carlos Ghosn.

The selection of speakers, with their wealth of experience, international stature and intellectual contribution, will go some distance to further extend the knowledge building and sharing efforts among Malaysians. With the theme “Development,” each KGL speaker will share their experience and ideas on International, Economics, Social or Business topics, while taking into consideration our nation’s past, present and future direction.

Furthermore, to ensure a wider audience amongst the younger generation of Malaysians, each KGL event would be broadcasted live to six public universities across Malaysia, thus expanding the reach of the lectures across the country’s academic spectrum.

“We are hopeful, that by engaging students and different members of society, the Lectures series would invoke and coalesce our sense of national belonging, our multi-cultural identities and our shared responsibilities in developing our future together, to stand as one in our nation-building efforts,” adds Dato’ Azman.

The second component of the Khazanah Merdeka Series is the KNDS. The aim of this Seminar is to address the various challenges facing Malaysia in the light of globalisation, while ensuring that the country’s development keeps pace with the overall level of change and progress in Asia.

Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak, will deliver the keynote address at KNDS. This Seminar gathers Malaysians from various professions to share their experience in developmental work while drawing upon the expertise of strategic thinkers to localise concepts and ideas.

The third component of the Khazanah Merdeka Series is the KMF2007. This Forum acts as a platform for world-renown thought-leaders in specific fields to share their views on a range of topical issues that are relevant to the context of national development, evolving global and regional trends and corporate best practices that could impact on Malaysia’s future development .