Under US-AEP s agroindustry sector initiative, experts from Taiwan s National Pingtung Polytechnic Institute (NPPI) and Livestock Research Institute (LRI), U.S. universities, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) presented scientific papers on livestock waste management during a symposium held at the American Institute of Taiwan in Taipei. More than 45 officials from Taiwan s government, industry, and academic sectors attended the one-day event on April 28. Chia-Mo Hong of LRI and Ju-Sheng Huang of the National Cheng Kung University presented background information on the state of swine waste management in Taiwan. Speakers from the United States included Frank Humenik of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the North Carolina State University, Barry Kintzer of the National Resources Conservation Service of USDA, Stewart Melvin of the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University, Ronald Miner of the Bioresources Engineering Department at Oregon State University, and Krishna Pagilla of the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology. The symposium also set the stage for further discussions throughout the week among these institutional representatives on the development of an Environmental Center for Livestock Waste Management. This proposed center for excellence, to be located in Asia, would showcase state-of-the-art U.S. technologies through demonstration sites and workshops. The seminar was made possible through the coordinated efforts of US-AEP s Environmental Exchange Program, managed by IIE, Debra Henke, U.S. Agricultural Attache in Taiwan, NPPI, and the University of Hawaii.

The success of the Environmental Risk Management for Bankers training course held in Manila this past January prompted US-AEP and The Bank of America to sponsor seminars in Indonesia, April 23-24, and Thailand, April 28-29. Both courses, designed to assist bankers in recognizing, understanding, and managing environmental credit risk and developing appropriate credit policies to address and overcome them, were led by Evan Henry, Bank of America s Senior Vice President for Environmental Services. In Indonesia, about 45 bank managers, heads of credit divisions, and credit evaluation staff participated from Bank of Indonesia member banks (both state and private). Key individuals from BAPEDAL (Indonesian Environmental Impact Management Agency) and BKPM (Indonesian Board of Investment) also participated. This course was co-sponsored by The Bank of Indonesia with venue costs financed by USAID s Indonesia Cleaner Industrial Production program (ICIP). US-AEP/Indonesia s Deputy Director, Denny Kadarwati and IIE s Antje Harsono were instrumental in carrying out the course. According to Vicki MacDonald, USAID/Jakarta, the course taught key members of the banking community to consider environmental due diligence when making lending decisions that will affect the growth of Indonesia s industrial infrastructure.

The World Congress, LLC held a conference on Developing, Financing and Operating Water and Wastewater Projects in Indonesia and the Philippines, in San Francisco, April 24-25. The U.S. firms in attendance received the most comprehensive information on the financial and regulatory obstacles in water supply privatization in Metro Manila from companies such as Bechtel (San Francisco, CA) and Operations Management International, OMI (Greenwood Village , CO), who shared their approaches to the market in the Philippines. US-AEP was represented by Dennis Zvinakis, US-AEP Field Director, Stacy Bonnaffons, Program Manager for Environmental Infrastructure, and Chris Capistran of American Consulting Engineers Council (ACEC). According to Bonnaffons, the agenda was cross-cutting to firms of various sizes and levels of experience, offering an ideal opportunity for US-AEP and ACEC to discuss with U.S. firms how they can access program resources to succeed in Asia.

On April 30, US-AEP was hosted at an evening reception in Taipei by the Friends of Hawaii Society, an organization dedicated to fostering closer economic, cultural, technical, and educational ties between Hawaii and Taiwan. Frank Hung, president of the East-West Center (EWC) Alumni Association in Taiwan and William C.K. Ki, executive director of the State of Hawaii Office in Taipei introduced US-AEP visiting representatives Randy Yamada, Samuel Tumiwa, George Irvine, Lynne Khavari, and Barbara Bever to the group of 70 alumni attending the event. In recognition of the close cooperation between EWC and US-AEP on the Pan-Pacific Agroindustry Council, Yamada delivered an address on behalf of EWC President Kenji Sumida who was unable to accompany the US-AEP team to Taiwan. Khavari gave an overview of the Pan-Pacific Agroindustry Council initiative and encouraged active involvement by EWC alumni. Tumiwa outlined US-AEP s overall program, then specifically discussed the swine waste management activities being developed by US-AEP in Taiwan.

US-AEP/Korea, in cooperation with the Korea Solid Waste Engineering Society (KSWES) sponsored a seminar on Solid Waste Incineration in Taejon City, April 10- 11, 1997. Three U.S. experts addressed an audience of over 200 environmental professionals. Chip Efferson, Director of Eclipse Corporation, and Chris Brown of Consumat Environmental Systems, Inc., spoke at the seminar as part of a US-AEP Environmental Exchange organized by the Institute of International Education.

. . . Kim Green, who joins US-AEP s Environmental Exchange Program at IIE as a Senior Program Manager (vice Larry Lai who has moved up to Managing Director of the EEP vice Robert Gordon). Kim, who holds a masters degree in Geochemistry from The Colorado School of Mines, comes to the program with 16 years experience in managing, designing, and implementing multidisciplinary environmental programs and studies, most recently serving as an Environmental Consultant for the International Department of the Water Environment Federation.