Ambassador David L. Aaron, U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade, led a high-tech trade mission to the Asia region September 7-19. Accompanied by 14 representatives of U.S. high-technology companies, including four from the environmental sector, Ambassador Aaron and the delegation visited Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. The mission was designed to lend high-profile U.S. commercial support to countries recovering from the Asian financial crisis, as well as to identify opportunities for American companies.

Highlights from the Philippines: While in the Philippines, the trade delegation met with President Joseph Estrada and key cabinet officials to discuss potential commercial partnerships. In addition, US-AEP�s Office of Technology Cooperation in the Philippines coordinated a series of activities for the U.S. environmental firms, including a briefing on the Philippines� environmental market, a visit with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary, and one-on-one meetings with potential buyers.

The U.S. companies represented were Baldwin Environmental, Inc., US-AEP Technology Fund grant recipient and producer of air pollution and process monitoring equipment; Farkas, Berkowitz & Co., consulting firm; Global Plasma, designer and developer of waste-to-energy systems; Organic Waste Technologies, provider of consulting, engineering, and design services for landfill gas and leachate treatment and control systems; and Gensym Corporation, software developer and services provider for predictive emissions, modeling, and simulation of environmental impacts.

After meetings with prospective buyers in the Philippines, Mr. Alan Di Stefano, Vice President of U.S. firm Baldwin Environmental, commented that "the near-term opportunities in the Philippines seem the best in Southeast Asia." Although the growth of the Philippines� environmental sector is highly dependent on the national economy, the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration believes the country�s water and wastewater sector�an estimated $351 million in 1997�is still promising for U.S. exporters. The air pollution control sector is smaller ($28 million estimated for 1997), but projected 1998 growth is 12 percent, and imports account for almost 100 percent.

From September 7-11, US-AEP and the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) of Taiwan jointly sponsored a successful environmental management and clean technology training workshop for the Asian printed circuit board (PCB) industry. This event advanced the objectives of US-AEP�s Clean Technology and Environmental Management (CTEM) initiative, which promotes environmental management in Asia�s electronics industry. Held at IDB's Environmental Training Center in Taichung, Taiwan, the workshop was the third annual event co-sponsored by US-AEP and IDB. Thirty participants attended the training, representing Asian industry, government, academia, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Taiwan. The attendees learned about the latest clean technologies and environmental management systems from both U.S. and Taiwanese PCB experts and made site visits to PCB manufacturers in the greater Taipei area.

The workshop featured several expert speakers. Dr. Shen-yann Chiu, IDB's Environmental Program Advisor, discussed the Taiwanese model of supplier chain environmental initiatives, while Mr. Lee Wilmot, Director of Safety, Health and the Environment at Hadco Corp. of Salem, New Hampshire�the United States� largest printed circuit board manufacturer�gave the keynote address and spoke about technologies to reduce air pollution and recycle process waste streams. Ms. Holly Evan, Director of Environment, Health and Safety at IPC�the U.S. association of printed circuit board manufacturers, assemblers, and suppliers�presented case studies on IPC�s work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency�s "Design for the Environment" initiative. In addition, pollution prevention measures to reduce waste during PCB manufacturing were addressed by Mr. Kevin Milliman, Project Chemical Engineer at Rust Environment & Infrastructure of Englewood, Colorado; and wastewater treatment options were outlined by Dr. Shu-Sung Lin of Taiwan�s Industrial Technology Research Institute, on behalf of US Filter Taiwan.

Among other activities, participants developed action plans to help their respective countries� PCB industries improve environmental and market performance. These action plans will be applied in the coming months at multiple levels: individual manufacturing facilities, companies, governments, and communities.

The active participation of Taiwan�s PCB trade association and several leading Taiwanese PCB companies greatly enriched the workshop. Mr. Johnny Lee of Gold Circuit Electronics spoke about the company's pollution prevention program and hosted a site visit at its ISO-certified facility. And Compeq's Victor Lu made a presentation on wastewater treatment and sludge reduction systems.

This event was carried out through close collaboration among the sponsors and US-AEP partners, including IDB; the Industrial Pollution Control Center; China Technical Consultants, Inc.; US-AEP's Office of Technology Cooperation in Taiwan; US-AEP�s Environmental Exchange Program, managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE); and CTEM.

According to US-AEP�s Office of Technology Cooperation In Hong Kong, more than 30,000 tons of solid waste are generated locally every day, 73 percent of which is construction and demolition debris. As a result, the region�s three mega-landfills are filling up ahead of schedule. US-AEP/Hong Kong recently helped to address this problem through a September 3-4 seminar. Nearly 200 participants�representing 50 local construction, engineering, and consulting companies� attended the event to learn about U.S. methods of recycling construction debris, as well as reducing air and water pollution. The seminar was particularly timely since the Hong Kong government will release its waste reduction plan in November, including a demonstration program for new technology.