Ever wondered what it is like to witness Singapore becoming a world-leading sustainable city? How can we improve sustainability in businesses and the economy?

These issues were discussed by business and government leaders at The Business Times Leadership Conference 2015, jointly organised with The Netherlands Embassy on March 31, 2015 at Grand Hyatt hotel.

Among the 200 guests were ambassador of The Netherlands Jacques Werner and the former Dutch minister of Housing, Physical Planning and the Environment Prof Dr Pieter Winsemius, who is the son of Singapore's former economic advisor, the late Albert Winsemius.

In his keynote address on "Managing Sustainable Development", Dr Winsemius said change will happen if companies take a proactive approach in their practices. Businesses should take responsibility for meeting the needs of future generations. The second keynote speaker was GIC president Lim Siong Guan who spoke about leadership in economic transformation processes.

There were two panel discussions which were moderated by associate editor of The Business Times Vikram Khanna. The first panel, which comprised former political secretary to the Prime Minister's Office Ng Pock Too, Raffles Medical Insurance director Ngiam Tong Dow and former chairman of Temasek Holdings S.Dhanabalan, discussed the legacy of Albert Winsemius.

The second panel was made up of Keppel director of group strategy Ong Ye Kung, Omni United chief executive Gajendra Singh Sareen, chief executive of WEnergy Global Atem S. Ramsundersingh and president of DSM Engineering Plastics Roelof Westerbeek, and discussed sustainable business practices.

The Business Times Leadership Conference 2015 is sponsored by Members of the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition (AkzoNobel, DSM, FrieslandCampina, Heineken, KLM, Philips, Shell Eastern Petroleum and Unilever) and Rabobank.

For more information and partnership opportunities with The Business Times, contact Jean Pang at 6319-1274 / jeanpang@sph.com.sg.

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