The Council of State Governments (CSG) 1997 Annual Meeting and State Leadership Forum, held from December 5-9 in Honolulu, focused on recent developments and business opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region. Through panel discussions and workshops, the conference enabled more than 500 state officials from all branches of government and 200 private sector representatives to explore the possibility of beginning and/or increasing trade with Asia. One of the panels, which focused on expanding options for international involvement by states, was moderated by Tim Conlan of George Mason University of Fairfax, Virginia, and featured Neil Hartigan, Chairman of the Chicago World Trade Center; Seiji Naya of Hawaii's Economic Development Agency; and Miles Friedman, Executive Director of the National Association of State Development Agencies (NASDA). Friedman stressed the importance of broadly defining foreign trade relations and emphasized the importance of small seed or challenge grants to help small to medium enterprises get involved. (NASDA's experience, through its partnership with US-AEP, attests to this: NASDA's small grants program has funded 238 projects in 46 states which have addressed serious environmental problems, generated $330 million worth of business, and created more than 700 U.S. jobs.)

Two US-AEP-funded State Environmental Initiative (SEI) projects were featured in a forum moderated by Anthony Chang, former Hawaii state senator and member of the SEI advisory committee. The first project discussed was conducted by the state of Washington and focused on improving the supply and quality of drinking water in Surabaya, Indonesia. The second involved the state of Arizona, which mobilized its environmental technologies cluster to identify partners and marketing opportunities among a similar cluster in Taiwan. The Arizona cluster was able to get serious attention from Taiwan business circles, which led to a number of business and trade relationships. One start-up Arizona water remediation company obtained $320,000 in sales in 1997 and projects as much as $24 million in sales in 1998 through a growing network of distributors in Taiwan. Arizona has since received a second SEI grant through which this partnership model will be replicated in the Philippines. During the meeting, CSG announced the continuation of the SEI program through the year 2000, with up to $3 million of funding from US-AEP.

From December 4-5, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) held its first Financial Institution Initiative in Asia: the UNEP Roundtable Meeting on Finance and the Environment. Asian bankers from 50 financial institutions--including ABN AMRO and First Commercial Bank (Singapore), Bank of India, and China Construction Bank--attended the Singapore meeting to discuss subjects such as financial due diligence, credit risk management, and financing environmental investment in Asia. Hosted by UNEP's Economics, Trade and Environment Unit of Geneva, Switzerland, and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation of Singapore, the event was co-sponsored by US-AEP and supported by US-AEP's office in the Philippines. Dennis Zvinakis of US-AEP/Philippines gave opening remarks as well as a full presentation on program activities in India, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. Land Bank, Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), and Bank of Ceylon, each serving as a champion for US-AEP efforts, presented views on the value of financial due diligence. Both Land Bank and DBP recently signed the "Statement by Financial Institutions on the Environment and Sustainable Development," which was brokered in 1992 by UNEP and now has 104 signatories to improve environmental management and adopt best industry practices. The Indian Bankers Association left the meeting eager to sign the statement and offered to host a joint UNEP/US-AEP meeting to do so.

According to recent reports, several of US-AEP's Asian delegates to WEFTEC '97 in Chicago last October are pursuing business opportunities with the U.S. companies they met there. US-AEP/Hong Kong reported that two of its delegates have identified U.S. suppliers for water pumps, filters, and chlorination equipment as a result of one-on-one meetings organized by US-AEP and the National Association of State Development Agencies (NASDA). These agent/distributor agreements may result in more than $7 million in sales for the U.S. companies. US-AEP/Indonesia related that several Indonesian companies also made significant contacts at the conference. For example, Sentra Asritama is purchasing U.S. equipment for a wastewater treatment plant, pending final negotiations with the U.S. company; Mandala Pratama Permai and Jata Forum Paraduta are inviting a potential U.S. partner to Jakarta for follow-up discussions; and Unisystem Utama is discussing the possibility of joint venture projects in integrated infrastructure and waste management and engineering design with a Houston-based company.

A regional US-AEP Environmental Exchange Program training course, held November 3-7, brought 22 participants from Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Korea, and Singapore together to learn about soil remediation. Participating industry professionals, government officials, and NGO representatives came to Seoul, Korea, for the course, which was put on by CH2MHill of Denver, Colorado. Through hands-on demonstrations and problem-solving exercises, the exchange provided participants with an understanding of the components of a successful soil remediation project and offered an overview of the U.S. experience in environmental remediation, including successes, challenges, and lessons learned. Site visits to the Kimpo and Nanji-do Landfills were also held in conjunction with the exchange. US-AEP's Environmental Exchange Program is implemented by the Institute of International Education.

Through the coordination of the Indiana Water Pollution Control Association (IWPCA) and the Water Environment Association of the Philippines (WEAP), seven Filipino wastewater professionals visited treatment plants across Indiana during an October exchange program. IWPCA volunteers hosted the visitors in their homes, providing the delegation with an opportunity to learn about U.S. culture as well as technology. The program followed the Chicago WEFTEC '97 conference and was funded primarily by IWPCA with additional contributions from the Water Environment Federation (WEF), a US-AEP partner, and US-AEP. After the eight-day educational tour, the participants returned to the Philippines to share concepts learned with other professionals, in keeping with WEAP's requirements.