California to Assist with Asian Environmental Issues

For Immediate Release (C-27-96)
Contact: Communications Office (916) 324-9670
August 8, 1996

555 Capitol Mall, Suite 525
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 324-9670
FAX (916) 445-5563

SACRAMENTO--The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced today that an innovative partnership between California environmental and commerce agencies and the United States-Asia Environmental Partnership (US-AEP) has been formed to assist Asian governments solve their environmental problems and to increase environmental technology transfer in the international marketplace.

The California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Trade and Commerce Agency have joined US-AEP to help solve environmental problems in Asia through technical assistance and experience with highly effective environmental technological solutions.

"California's world leading environmental standards and the technologies developed to meet them provide an outstanding foundation for other nations as they develop their own environmental protection programs. We look forward to working with USAID to assist Asian countries in the years ahead," Cal/EPA Deputy Secretary for Technology, Ann Heywood, said.

"This unique partnership brings together two of the strongest and most capable entities to assist the advancement of environmental quality in selected Asian countries," said Richard Sheppard, Acting Director of US-AEP.

California is well positioned to promote policies and technologies to improve environmental quality and economic stability in Asia. California has substantial business ties to Asia, a strategic proximity to the Pacific Rim, and a worldwide reputation of environmental entrepreneurship for innovative, economical and state-of-the-art technologies.

US-AEP was founded in 1992 as a ten-year Presidential Initiative under the leadership of USAID and is funded by both public and private organizations. US-AEP was designed to help identify specific Asian environmental needs and match them with US environmental policy experience, enforcement practices and appropriate environmental technology solutions.

During the two-year partnership, the California agencies will host seven four-person technical assistance teams and ten environmental specialists comprised of scientists and engineers from the private and public sectors and academia. Expertise and team composition will depend on the environmental problems identified by the foreign governments. Technical assistance teams, deployed for three weeks, will help Asian governments develop alternative solutions to pre-identified problems, appropriate to the individual country's environmental, climatic, and economic conditions. The individual specialists will travel to Asia for one week to focus on a very specific problem.

As part of California's long-range economic development program, the Trade and Commerce Agency's Trade and Investment Offices in Hong Kong, Taipei, and Jakarta will work in conjunction with its Export Development Office to promote environmental technology transfer in the international marketplace as solutions for improving environmental quality.

The partnership will be managed by Timothy Ogburn, Program Manager, and Mary Wilson, Technical Coordinator. They have been working for the last three years in the California Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Technology Transfer Program and have worked closely with US-AEP both domestically and abroad. They have established solid ties with Asian countries in the environmental arena, having organized or cosponsored trade/reverse trade missions to Korea, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Taiwan. Mr. Ogburn can be reached at (916) 445-2966. Ms. Wilson can be reached at (916) 445-2950. The fax number is (916) 327-4494.

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