The Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau has unveiled plans to put Sydney among the world's top 10 conference destinations. Speaking in Frankfurt at the IMEX exhibition for the international meeting and incentive industry, SCVB managing director Jon Hutchison said Sydney's "stars have come into alignment" during the past six months as business and political leaders united behind a common vision for the city's events sector. A succession of developments had created the right environment for a new push into key international markets, Mr. Hutchison said, backed by a "whole-of-city" approach to winning new business and developing a long-term blueprint for the city's future."Never before has Sydney had such support for its events industry and never before has there been such opportunity, created by a new unity among our city's leaders and a passion to capitalize on the remarkable brand we have created for Sydney," Hutchison said. "We intend to harness that new energy and take our International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) ranking into the world's top 10 conference destinations in five years' time, cementing our position as one of the world's leading destinations for business events." Central to Sydney's future development was the launch of Events New South Wales late last year, a pioneering new model for bringing major events to Sydney. Created by the State Premier Morris Iemma and funded by the New South Wales Government, the new entity has been charged with bringing events of all types to Sydney, from public events and major sporting events to conferences and other business events."Events New South Wales is a government-funded corporation that capitalizes on the industry-led skills and proven event-winning formula of the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau," Hutchison said. "It is a new model for creating government-industry cooperation and effective action, and one that we know has already caught the attention of other cities overseas."Backed by Events New South Wales, the SCVB is preparing to mount a major push into its key markets in Europe and North America, while at the same time increasing its operations in the emerging markets of Asia. The bureau will expand its business development teams in both Europe and Asia, mount new sales missions in key markets, expand its head-office team in Sydney and launch new branding and marketing initiatives worldwide.