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CURRICULUM
VITAE DEBORAH WATKINS |
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1. |
PROPOSED POSITION FOR THIS PROJECT
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Management Information Systems Specialist |
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2. |
NAME |
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Deborah Watkins |
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3. |
DATE OF BIRTH |
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28/01/1966 |
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4. |
NATIONALITY
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British |
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5. |
PERSONAL ADDRESS |
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Level 5, 359 Queen St, GPO Box 1108, Brisbane, Qld. 4001, Australia +61 7 5514 6696 (tel) +61 7 3221 7666 (fax) |
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6. |
EDUCATION |
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BTEC
National Business Studies Diploma - Pass with Distinction. Modules: -
accounting and finance -
economics -
business law -
administration |
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7. |
OTHER TRAINING
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Member of MENSA. Since leaving the UK, I have travelled
extensively throughout South East Asia, and am currently working in Cambodia. |
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8. |
LANGUAGE & DEGREE OF PROFICIENCY
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English
- Native Khmer
- Fair (spoken, no reading or writing), Dutch – Fair, French – Fair |
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9. |
MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES
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Member
of MENSA |
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10. |
COUNTRIES OF WORK EXPERIENCE
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11. |
EMPLOYMENT RECORD
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FROM April 2002 |
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TO March 2005 |
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EMPLOYER |
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BIC Group Limited |
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POSITION HELD
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Project Manager/Consultant/Business Development Director |
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DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES
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BIC Group is a specialist solutions provider and
systems integrator based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. BIC Group provide
integrated business solutions based around a range of accounting and
microfinance applications. In addition,
it provides banking and bespoke solutions to a wide range of clients. I had a wide range of responsibilities
commensurate with my position, including identifying client requirements,
producing development specifications and overseeing their production and
quality control. My specialization is
in the accounting, microfinance and database development sectors, and in this
capacity I was involved with pre-and post-sales consultancy, project
management and implementation |
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FROM August 2001 |
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TO December 2001 |
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EMPLOYER |
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Digital Divide Data, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
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POSITION HELD
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Operations Manager |
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DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES
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DDD is a Cambodian NGO that provides high quality and cost
effective data entry and digitization services. They have an active policy of
employing disabled people, and provide for the social, human and economic
development of their staff. I assisted the newly-formed organization by acting as
caretaker manager during a period between the departure of the founder and
the arrival of the incoming manager from the US. During this period, my main achievements
were: ·
overseeing and trouble-shooting the
data input project for the Harvard Crimson (DDD’s first client). This included providing training and advice
to the staff, and resolving technical issues with the computer system. The software was written by a similar
organization based in India, and I communicated regularly with them in order
to solve problems. ·
producing a complete set of data
input and processing flowcharts, to enable all staff to understand and manage
the procedures for data collection, entry and verification ·
designing a brochure outlining the
company’s services ·
holding regular online status update
meetings with the US-based founder ·
providing an effective project
handover on the arrival of the new manager |
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FROM October 1998 |
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TO May 2000 |
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EMPLOYER |
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Mondex UK Limited |
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POSITION HELD
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Senior Manager, Systems and Operations |
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DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES
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Mondex Reporting to the Chief Executive, I acted initially as
Technical Adviser in all areas of business development. I was promoted to take up the key
commercial development role upon the reorganisation of the company. This was
centred in e-commerce areas such as the Internet, mobile telephony and
interactive TV. This role involves all stages of the business side of the
process, from initial contact through providing assistance in putting
together business propositions, introductions to potential partners, giving
technical and banking-related advice on the requirements for implementation
and liaison with member banks. In addition I was a member of the Department
of Transport-run Transport Card Forum. During this period my main
achievements were: ·
designing and specifying a
touchscreen kiosk that was shortlisted for a national technology award ·
bringing three “household names” to
the point of signing membership agreements ·
closing a deal with British Telecom
for the use of Mondex in a nationwide broadband Internet trial ·
project managing the British Telecom
implementation ·
producing a design for the use of
Mondex by London Transport that now forms the basis for a future release of
the product ·
persuading Vodafone to produce a
GSM-based Mondex demonstration for an exhibition ·
producing papers for member banks on
Electronic POS systems in the retail environment and contactless smart card
technology ·
forging relationships with leaders in
the areas of e-commerce: retailers, content providers, technology developers ·
teaching myself MEL (an
assembler-like programming language for smartcards) and writing a ticketing
application and integrated Visual Basic touchscreen appication ·
inventing a smartcard-based
application to assist in the deployment of web-based Mondex ATM services I was the first “non-bank” employee to join the
organisation and consequently was heavily relied upon to “commercialise” the
company and assist in its development from a largely scheme management role
into that of facilitator for the provision of multi-application smartcard
solutions. This incorporated a wide
range of different applications and business propositions and lead to me
gaining knowledge in loyalty programs, secure ID (PKI), EPOS, emerging
smartcard technologies and the business and technical requirements for
e-commerce. |
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FROM October 1995 |
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TO October 1998 |
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EMPLOYER |
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AlphaGen Limited |
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POSITION HELD
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Operations Director |
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DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES
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AlphaGen is a reseller and systems integrator for a range
of Windows NT (SQL Server) business applications based around the Platinum
range of accounting and distribution software (now known as Epicor). In addition, it provides hardware and
networking solutions to a number of large corporate clients. I was responsible for the post-sales team which included
consultancy, training and support staff. I acted as Project Manager for new
implementations and was responsible in this capacity for drawing up and
managing implementation plans, co-ordinating both internal and external
resources and ensuring timely delivery of a live solution. The average
implementation took six months. In
addition I acted as Account Manager for existing sites and was involved in
the latter stages of all new sales.
AlphaGen subcontracted development work to a third-party Microsoft
Solutions Provider and I co-ordinated both our commercial and technical
relationships. In addition I was responsible for negotiating and drawing up
contractual agreements with both customers and suppliers, and as a Director
of the company participated in significant strategic decision making. During this period my main achievements were: ·
managing the successful
implementation of a large number of client/server systems, many with
significant development work, interfaces to third party applications and
European WAN connections ·
producing and implementing a company
"implementation methodology" ·
redrafting the company standard
contract in conjunction with our lawyers ·
establishing formal contracts with a
number of third party suppliers to ensure price performance and continuation of support ·
design and production of the
"AlphaGen Support Guide", a bound manual which is presented to all
our customers and provides hints and tips to assist them in operating their
systems ·
improvement of our support services
to the degree where the two largest Platinum sites in the UK (The Economist
Magazine and Dorling Kindersley Publishing) transferred their contracts to us
from another reseller Due to the wide-ranging nature of my role, I gained a
great deal of technical and commercial knowledge on Microsoft SQL Server/
Windows NT and topical business issues and technologies such as European
Monetary Union, Year 2000 compliance, applications integration via ActiveX
(OLE) and Internet-enabled client access.
I frequently undertook company and product presentations to
prospective clients and represented the company at worldwide conferences. My
participation in management strategy meetings led to significant changes in
the direction of our product and service portfolio and the use of internal
systems to maximise efficiency and customer service. |
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FROM January 1994 |
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TO October 1995 |
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EMPLOYER |
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Platsoft Limited |
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POSITION HELD
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Manufacturing Product Manager |
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DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES
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Platsoft is a reseller and system integrator for a range
of Windows NT applications based around the Platinum (now known as Epicor)
range of accounting, distribution and manufacturing software. Notable achievements included: ·
my appointment to the Worldwide
Product Development Board for a Just-in-Time manufacturing product ·
the production and presentation of a
seminar at the Computers in Manufacturing exhibition ·
the successful integration of the
Just-In-Time product with bar code data capture devices and a CAD viewer
application ·
The configuration of a Process
Manufacturing product to cater for UK MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet)
requirements |
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FROM November 1987 |
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TO January 1994 |
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EMPLOYER |
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Avenue Specialist Systems Limited |
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POSITION HELD
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Technical Support Manager |
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DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES
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Avenue Specialist Systems, now a subsidiary of Apex
Systems, is a reseller for the Tetra "Chameleon" (Unix / C-ISAM)
range of accounting, distribution and manufacturing applications. Avenue is also a reseller for the IBM
RS/6000 processor and undertakes much integration work using protocols such
as TCP/IP and NFS. Notable achievements included: - closing
the largest ever company deal (£250,000) ·
writing and undertaking a series of
presentations on the Department of Trade and Industry's Open Systems
Technology Transfer Programme ·
writing a Sales and Marketing contact
tracking system for internal use with inbuilt diary system and mailmerge link
(using an Informix-based office application) ·
writing and conducting training
courses in “Unix for the system manager” |
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12. |
DETAILED TASKS ASSIGNED
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WORK UNDERTAKEN THAT BEST ILLUSTRATES
CAPABILITY TO HANDLE TASKS ASSIGNED |
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I was the founding
director and co-owner of a small company which developed packaged software
solutions for hand-held barcode readers and interfaces to Unix-based
distribution and manufacturing systems. |
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2006/03 IMPLEMENTATION CONSULTANT – SOUTH EAST ASIA – WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
SOCIETY (3 mths) |
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WCS
is a conservation organization with many offices around the world. I have been contracted by the New York Head
Office to provide ad-hoc services within the Asia region. I have been
contracted on an as-needed basis to implement the SunSystems accounting
software in WCS’c office. My responsibilities
include: ·
installing a client/server MIS solution together with SQL server ·
undertaking a data conversion from the office’s existing system (which
varies from site to site) and reconciling the imported data ·
designing financial and management reports on demand using a range on
inbuilt and Excel-based reporting tools ·
training staff in the use of the system ·
providing advice on the configuration and use of analysis fields to
address office-specific data recording requirement (for example, some donors
require projects they fund to be analysed by activity code, others require
reporting using their chart of account structure) |
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2005/09
MICROFINANCE CONSULTANT – CAMBODIA – CREDIT MFI (7 mths) |
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CREDIT is a microfinance institution, part of the NGO World Relief. They provide low value loans to poor people
in rural areas, as part of a social mission. They have five branches and also
undertaken field visits. I was contracted to advise CREDIT in the selection
and implementation of a new Portfolio Management Information System to manage
the administration of their loans and savings products. My remit was: ·
to undertake an in-depth assessment of their current
operations and future plans in order to determine their requirements from an
MIS ·
to produce an Invitation to Tender document and send
this to a shortlisted selection of suppliers ·
to evaluate responses for suitability and follow up
where necessary ·
to produce a formal multi-cycle test script and
undertake in-depth testing of the two preferred products ·
to assist CREDIT in contract negotiation with the
chosen supplier |
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2005/07 PROJECT MANAGER/TECHNICAL ADVISER –
CAMBODIA – DIGITAL DIVIDE DATA (3 mths) |
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My role was to identify areas where productivity could be improved,
and suggest technical or operational solutions for increasing
throughput. The data processing
workflow operates in a very similar way to a manufacturing company, with
batches or work passing through work centres that each have their own skill
levels, defined capacities and overhead cost, and I was concentrating on
identifying bottlenecks and processes that are not as efficient as they can
be. During this period, my main
achievements were: ·
Combining two processes into one, without the first
process taking any extra time. The
work centre that was previously undertaking the second process was assigned
to another job and is providing benefit there instead. ·
Identifying and developing a software solution for
automating previously time-consuming manual operations, enabling them to run
overnight and decrease “waiting time” for operators, making them more
productive. ·
Advising the operations manager on how to
re-allocate resource, relieving a previous work centre bottleneck which had
been preventing finished “product” from reaching the customer on a timely basis. ·
Redesigning the process flows of a particular job
which resulted in its revenue increasing by over 30%. ·
Designing and developing an Access application that
links to scanned-in images held in a separate area of the system, on a
record-by-record basis. This is now in
use for a document filing project that allows researchers to search the
entire database for certain key words and display relevant images. ·
Representing
DDD in meetings with in-country potential clients. |
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2005/05 FINANCE
AND OPERATIONS CONSULTANT– THE POLICY PROJECT (3 mths) |
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The POLICY Project is a USAID-funded NGO,
concentrating on activities with the HIV/AIDS arena. I was contracted to restructure the Finance and
Operations department, designing and implementing new procedures, recruiting
new staff and implementing a workable accounting system based around their
existing ACCPAC General Ledger. During this period my main achievements were: ·
Designing, developing (in MS Access) and
implementing a centralized requisition processing system. ·
Improving the ACCPAC General Ledger system,
which was not providing the necessary control or output, to incorporate
Accounts Payable and a series of MS Access-developed forms and reports to
ensure compliance with USAID reporting requirements. ·
Designing and implementing new procedures
to more effectively control the payment of suppliers, issuing of cash
advances and month end reporting.
These were all documented as procedural flowcharts for ease of
understanding, and backed up with tailored user guides. |
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2002/04
PROJECT MANAGER/ CONSULTANT/BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR – CAMBODIA – BIC
GROUP LIMITED (3 years) |
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During this period my main achievements were: ·
undertaking an in-depth evaluation of a
market-leading Micro Finance software package on behalf of TPC microfinance
institution, resulting in the production of both an evaluation document and a
Statement of Requirements. ·
project managing a large NGO microfinance
and accounting software implementation (TPC MFI), incorporating ten branches
and three currencies, including managing all relations between the client and
the software authors ·
designing and overseeing the development of
an interface between an TPC MFI software package and an accounting software
package, including branch consolidation, currency conversion and automatic
instalment/payment allocation functionality ·
undertaking a needs assessment consultancy
with this large microfinance institution (HKL MFI), resulting in my producing
a Statement of Requirements (SOR) and Invitation to Tender (ITT) for them. The ITT was then sent to a number of
potential suppliers, and I evaluated responses together with a demonstration
copy of the supplier’s software to determine it’s suitability for the
client’s requirements. I undertook
extensive discussions with both the client and the software houses to
determine any proposed bespoke modifications, before making final
recommendations to the client ·
being a key speaker at a seminar on
Microfinance held at the National Bank of Cambodia ·
designing and overseeing the writing of a
user manual for a previously undocumented software application for TPC MFI ·
undertaking an “after-the-fact”
investigation and report of a significant change in organizational and
accounting policy that was undertaken by an TPC MFI that split from its
originating parent NGO (CRS) and established itself as a commercial
organization. During the process, I interviewed both local and international
staff, and obtained and analysed company policy documents, government
legislation and internal memos. My resulting report, conclusions and
recommendations will be circulated by the Regional Learning Centre throughout
the NGO’s worldwide operations. ·
part of an “expert task force” at an MFI
(SED) in Surin Thailand evaluating their current information systems and processes. I was the designated expert in IT and
Financial Administration and, through a translator, interviewed all relevant
staff, collected all relevant documents and evaluated all existing MIS
systems. The process resulted in a
board presentation (to a multi-national board) of our findings, conclusions
and recommendations, and a comprehensive report including a time-phased
Institutional Strengthening Plan. |
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13. |
CERTIFICATION |
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I, the undersigned,
certify that: |
Yes |
No |
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(a) |
I am a former ADB Staff
member |
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X |
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(b) |
If yes, I
retired/resigned from the ADB more than twelve (12) months ago |
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(c) |
I am a close relative
of a current ADB Staff member |
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X |
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(d) |
I have been employed
by Microfinance Services Pty Ltd continuously for the last twelve (12) months
as a regular full time staff member |
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X |
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(e) |
I am employed by the
Executing Agency/Implementing Agency |
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X |
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(f) |
To the best of my
knowledge, this CV correctly describes myself, my qualifications, and my
experience |
X |
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I understand that any
wilful misstatement in this CV may lead to disqualification or dismissal, if
engaged. |
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SIGNATURE:
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DATE OF SIGNING:
26/05/2006 |