The Forestias becomes Thailand’s largest private sector property development at US$ 4.14 billion

First project to put a forest inside an urban development

‘An Enchanted Community District in the Forest’

BANGKOK, Dec. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Magnolia Quality Development Corporation Limited (MQDC), one of Thailand’s leading property developers, today, announced that it is increasing investment in its 48-hectare The Forestias development on the outskirts of Bangkok and expanding the project size from US$2.98 billion to US$4.14 billion to make it a new, global prototype for a town development. The increased investment makes The Forestias the largest property development project in Thailand.

The project land size is also increased by from 48 to 63.7 hectares.

Mrs. Thippaporn Ahriyavraromp, Chairperson of MQDC, said, “We are building the world’s first town that is purposefully designed for healthier living.”

“It is being designed and built by some of the world’s most respected experts as well as leading global institutions to ensure that every aspect promotes a better quality of life” she said.

Mrs. Ahriyavraromp said that MQDC increased its investment in The Forestias “after receiving very good feedback from global partners, which encouraged us further along the road of creating a new type of development that is completely focused on the well-being of residents, the surrounding community, and to sustainability.”

Among the most extraordinary features of The Forestias is a massive, sapling-planted 4.8-hectare forest area at its centre, anchoring a diverse and rich ecological system that will develop naturally in the years ahead.

“It’s also the first time, anywhere in the world, that a forest of this size is being integrated into a city development to bring nature back into an urban setting, and which is one of the reasons why we call The Forestias an enchanted community district in the forest,” she said.

The Forestias includes multiple residential components with villas and condominiums aimed at a diverse range of lifestyles and family sizes, as well as commercial space for offices, a sports complex, lifestyle activities, retail and food & beverage outlets, as well as family edutainment facilities in a Family Life Center.

There is a town center for community activities and cultural pursuits, a theatre, an event hall, markets, and a 1.6 kilometre elevated walkway that links many of the development’s components and provides a ‘nature-walk’ that weaves above the forest.

Another pioneering component is a residential area that is specifically designed to make life safer and more convenient for the elderly, including specialised facilities for daily activities, a clubhouse, and trained care-givers.

There is also a 5-star hotel and a large medical centre with state-of-the art facilities and some of Thailand’s most eminent medical specialists.

Mr. Kittiphun Ouiyamaphun, Project Director-The Forestias, said, “Everything at The Forestias is designed with a common purpose to promote the good health and happiness of residents to a level never before undertaken, including the layout of the public spaces, home layouts, choices of materials used inside and outside homes, the integration of 21^st century life technologies, the management of natural light, noise, heat, airflows, as well as air quality and water quality.”

Among the most important innovations at The Forestias is the way families are brought closer together across multiple generations through carefully planned residential components located around the development.

“Each component is designed specifically for the needs of a particular age group, whether they’re first jobbers, newlyweds, young families, or older parents. Locating them all in The Forestias allows parents, children, and grandchildren to live close together while still maintaining their independence and privacy, ” Mr. Ouiyamaphun added.

He said, “The cultivation of an immense forest, including a genuine deep forest area, at a cost of US$33 million is the centre-piece of our development, and helps people get closer to the diverse wonders of nature.”

Mr. Ouiyamaphun said the forest is expected to act as a ‘green lung’, both for The Forestias as well as for nearby communities, and also produce a general cooling effect on the entire area, in addition to helping restore nature for the benefit of all.

“While being kinder to our planet ourselves, we also help our residents contribute to sustainability. For example, our state-of-the-art energy systems will help residents and visitors across the entire project reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by a staggering amount that is almost equivalent to what a 4,800-hectare forest would absorb,” he said.

Mr. Visit Malaisirirat, Chief Executive Officer, MQDC, said, “MQDC aims to create great developments and, at the same time, encourage, through example, social responsibility and a concern for the wellbeing of all.”

“The Forestias is pioneering new concepts in property development that enhance the quality of life of residents as well as of those in surrounding communities, while also promoting sustainovation,” he said.

The Forestias is strategically located on the Eastern Economic Corridor, which is predicted to be the fastest growing development corridor in Thailand, and has easy access to major highways and mass transportation systems.

The construction of road systems and the pilings for infrastructure at the project are already 90 percent completed.

Among some of the branded components of The Forestias are ‘Whizdom’ condominiums, ‘Mulberry Grove’ condominiums, ‘Mulberry Grove Villas’, ‘The Aspen Tree’ residences, ‘Six Senses Residences’, and a ‘Six Senses’ hotel.

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To Promote Cross-generational Craftsmanship and Cultivate Artisanal Qualities

HONG KONG, Dec. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — With a strong commitment to preserve heritage while creating a more sustainable future, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Limited (“Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group”, “the Group” or “the Company”; SEHK stock code: 1929) has launched a ten-year sustainability strategy. Integral to this strategy is the Loupe Jewellery Academy formed under a strategic partnership with Haute École de Joaillerie (HEJ) from France, the oldest jewellery school in the world, founded in 1867 in Paris by the French Jewellers. It is designed to shape the future by incubating and inspiring forthcoming generations in the jewellery industry.

“Loupe Jewellery Academy’s curriculum is divided into three pillars: design, craftsmanship, and sales and marketing. It aims to provide professional training on every aspect of the jewellery industry. We also hope to promote cross-generational craftsmanship and innovation, besides cultivating an artisanal spirit of perseverance amongst younger and aspiring jewellery producers and designers,” said Bobby Liu, Executive Director of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group.

The first high jewellery design course, supervised by Sylvie Ballivet, the Design Director of HEJ, provided twelve jewellery designers of Chow Tai Fook with intensive and inspiring training spanning across a total of six weeks in June.

A board of specialist advisors were invited to provide suggestions on the long-term development of the academy. “We will continue to refine the curriculum, so that Loupe Jewellery Academy will become a leading provider of supreme education in jewellery industry,” said Corentin Quideau, a consultant of Loupe Jewellery Academy.

Loupe Jewellery Academy plans to cooperate with GIA (Gemological Institute of America), the world’s foremost authority on diamonds, colored stones and pearls, in order to provide world class training to industry professionals, on topics such as gemology, jewellery knowledge and jewellery design.  Thomas Moses, Executive Vice President and Chief Laboratory and Research Officer from GIA, also expressed his appreciation of the academy’s all-rounded curriculum. “It is a prudent decision of Loupe Jewellery Academy to kick off the programme with a high jewellery design course, through which students can improve their design knowledge significantly.”

As part of the ten-year sustainability strategy, Chow Tai Fook hopes to engage jewellery professionals and passionate amateurs, in the effort to further expand the Group’s educational programme.

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– The new service will deliver swift, seamless, secure and convenient contactless mobile payments to customers

NEW DELHI, Dec. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — SBI Card has recently launched the SBI Card Pay service that enables customers to create a virtual card on their mobile phone for their physical Visa SBI credit card. The customers can now simply tap their mobile phone on a Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled point of sale (POS) terminal to make payments. Besides SBI Card app, the service is powered by Comviva’s HCE Module from its mobiquity® Banking suite, that leverages host card emulation (HCE) technology and tokenisation to deliver swift, seamless, secure and convenient contactless mobile payments to customers.

To avail of the SBI Card Pay service, customers with an Android smartphone (housing Android OS KitKat version 4.4 and above) have to register their Visa SBI credit card on the SBI Card mobile application. This creates a virtual version of the physical card. Thereafter, customers can make payments at merchants by unlocking their mobile phone screen using fingerprints, the screen lock facility or an MPIN and tapping the phone at an NFC POS. This simple ‘tap and pay’ process has made contactless mobile payments swifter and more seamless for customers.

Hardayal Prasad, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, SBI Card, said, “SBI Card Pay is leveraging next-gen technologies like HCE to deliver faster, secure and more convenient contactless mobile payments to our consumers, redefining their payment experience. This new service will accelerate the growth of contactless mobile payments in India and make the country digitally empowered in the field of payments technology.”

Srinivas Nidugondi, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Mobile Financial Solutions, Comviva, said, “With the growing NFC POS infrastructure in India and mobile phones becoming de facto wallets for consumers, we expect ‘tap and pay’ to become the future of contactless payments in India. We are happy to say that Comviva is supporting SBI Cards to make this future possible through its mobiquity® Banking suite. The suite leverages HCE and tokenisation for seamless and secure contactless mobile payments and to bring the payment experience in India on par with the developed world.”

Security has remained a priority, whilst launching this service. The SBI Card Pay service uses tokenisation to convert a customer’s card information into a device-specific digital token. Hence, while executing a transaction, a digital token is shared and the customer’s actual card information is never revealed to the merchant, thus securing the transaction. In case the customer’s mobile device is misplaced, details of the card remain secure, as it is stored as digital tokens.

Moreover, customer convenience remains paramount. The service is a part of the SBI Card mobile application, which is a one-stop shop for managing credit card account, as well as making payments. Customers do not need to download any additional mobile application for this service.

Note: mobiquity® is registered trademark in India only

Media contact:
Sundeep Mehta
pr@comviva.com

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SHENZHEN, China, Dec. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the mobile Internet, today announced the latest flagship smartphone ZTE Axon 10s Pro, which is compatible with both 5G SA and NSA modes. This device will be commercially available in China in the first quarter of 2020. Based on Android 10, ZTE Axon 10s Pro is empowered by the new flagship Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 865 5G Mobile Platform that features the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X55 5G Modem-RF System, the world’s most advanced 5G mobile platform.

ZTE Axon 10s Pro features the latest Wi-Fi 6 technology, which provides users with the incredible speed of up to 1.2 Gbps (laboratory test data) and low latency, especially in crowded environments where many devices share limited network resources.

In addition, ZTE Axon 10s Pro supports multiple network connections, allowing users to connect this device to two wireless networks, such as 2.4GHz and 5 GHz, simultaneously for higher stability and faster speed.

ZTE Axon 10s Pro has a unique advantage of seamless switching from Wi-Fi signals to LTE or 5G networks, due to the link-booster network enhancement solution, which enables an intelligent response to the complicated signal environments through the self-developed high-speed algorithm and smart perception. The device will evaluate whether the current network is good enough for use, then automatically transfer to LTE or 5G data connection for better internet experience and lower latency.

In addition to the latest Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform, the smartphone also features the latest LPDDR5 RAM memory and UFS3.0 ROM storage, which offer higher operating efficiency and quicker read/write speed.

“ZTE is active in promoting 5G devices globally, to enable more consumers to enjoy the extreme experience brought by 5G. We will provide a series of diversified 5G terminal devices to meet the emerging requirements of consumers and customers for 5G application scenarios,” said Xu Feng, Senior Vice President at ZTE Corporation and President of ZTE’s Mobile Device Division. “In 2020, ZTE will introduce more than 15 5G terminal devices, including nearly 10 5G smartphones worldwide. In addition to ZTE Axon 10s Pro, ZTE will announce the next-generation 5G smartphone, which will be at an affordable price under RMB 3,000, in the first quarter of 2020.”

Committed to technological innovation, ZTE has strong R&D capabilities and has made great progress in improving the device performance through integrated software and hardware optimization solutions.

Moreover, ZTE Axon 10s Pro adopts the new-generation full-scene system optimization engine Z-Booster 2.0, which intelligently allocates system resources based on AI algorithm, thereby achieving a smoother using experience in gaming and multiple-task scenarios. The Z-Booster 2.0 is composed of three functional modules, including App-Booster, System-Booster and Link-Booster, respectively making apps start faster, performing more efficiently and providing better internet and communication experience.

ZTE is a provider of advanced telecommunications systems, mobile devices and enterprise technology solutions to consumers, operators, companies and public sector customers. As a part of ZTE’s strategy, the company is committed to providing customers with integrated end-to-end innovations to deliver excellence and value as the telecommunications and information technology sectors converge. Listed in the stock exchanges of Hong Kong and Shenzhen (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), ZTE sells its products and services in more than 160 countries.

To date, ZTE has obtained 35 commercial 5G contracts in major markets, such as Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA). ZTE commits 10 percent of its annual revenues to research and development and takes leadership roles in international standard-setting organizations.

Media Contacts:

Margaret Ma
ZTE Corporation
Tel: +86 755 26775189
Email: ma.gaili@zte.com.cn

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