Banjarmasin, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The Borneo Islamic International Conference (KAIB), which involves Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam, has said that it keeps contributing its ideas to ASEAN.

"This international conference continues to produce new ideas for the advancement on the Borneo island, which is part of the ASEAN community," KAIB member Budi Suryadi said here on Sunday.

According to him, KAIB aims to create an international brotherhood on the island of Borneo, especially creating wider dawah in order to build Islamic civilization.

Borneo is called Kalimantan by Indonesians.

In its development, he explained, the contribution of ideas that are based on Islamic teachings and concepts is expected to support the program and spirit of ASEAN in improving human resources in Southeast Asia.

He said the KAIB strategically supports the progress of ASEAN through strong cooperation in science and technology exchange between universities and other higher education institutions in Borneo.

"The Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM) is Indonesia's representative in Borneo, which continues to expand cooperation with ASEAN countries," Suryadi, who is the dean at ULM's Faculty of Social and Political Sciences said.

Furthermore, he said, Borneo or Kalimantan is the third largest island in the world inhabited by people of three countries, namely Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, and Malaysia.

The island is rich in natural resources, diverse plants and animals, and art and culture.

KAIB is an annual conference organized by the Borneo Islamic Research and Development Center (PPIB) in collaboration with various universities of the three countries on the island.

At the conference, experts from various fields of science gather to discuss thoughts and research findings that are related to concepts in Islamic teachings.

Some topics that will be discussed in this year's KAIB are education; mosque institute; halal, zakat (almsgiving), and waqf; management and business; economics and finance; agriculture; socio-culture and civilization; digital technology; religion and local wisdom; science and technology; dawah; communication, and so on.

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Translator: Firman, Kenzu
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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