Dr. William E. Kirwan (left), Chancellor of the University System of Maryland and Khoo Teng Chye (right), Chief Executive of Singapore™s PUB (Public Utilities Board), were featured speakers at the MD-AEP Asia Water forum.

BALTIMORE, MD - October 27, 2008 - Last Thursday, over 150 businesses, government, academia and non-profit executives attended a private Asia water forum hosted by the Maryland-Asia Environmental Partnership (MD-AEP) at The Center Club in Baltimore, Maryland.

The forum provided unique Maryland perspectives on applicable lessons-learned in water management, new technologies and financial resources, and sustainability efforts which could be mobilized to help address Asia's water management and technology needs. Based on current trends, United Nations experts predict that Asian developing countries are likely to face a crisis on water quality management that is unprecedented in human history. Many Asian countries are grappling with massive water problems impacted by water scarcity, drought, polluted rivers, floods and climate change.

Dr. William E. Kirwan, Chancellor of the University System of Maryland, was the opening keynote speaker and discussed Maryland's relevance to Asia's pending water crisis. "The University System of Maryland has an incredible wealth of world-class research and scientific resources that can be harnessed to address Asia's global water needs," said Dr. Kirwan.

Mr. Khoo Teng Chye, Chief Executive of PUB (Public Utilities Board), Singapore's national water agency, was the luncheon keynote speaker at the forum. Singapore recently won the Stockholm water prize and has emerged as a shining example of sustainable water management. "Singapore has positioned itself to be a global water resource for the rest of Asia," said Peter Gourlay, President of MD-AEP. "We see great opportunities go build partnerships with Singapore-based expertise to bring value added resources and lesson learned to address the regions water needs," he said.

Attendees also heard from diverse groups of experts from Phillips Foods, Lockheed Martin, Maryland's Departments of Environment and Agriculture and the University of Maryland's Center for Marine Biotechnology and its Center for Integrative Environmental Research, the World Bank, U.S. Trade Development Agency, XPV Capital, Bay Bio, WaterVap, LLC and Coca-Cola Enterprises.

"This was more than a one time event, but a true mobilization of Maryland's environmental assets," said Gourlay. "Our goal is to connect the silos of expertise from Maryland-based university research labs, state, national and multilateral government agencies and the business supply chain and build partnerships to do business in Asia," he said.

"The momentum we are building from this event has drawn top public and private experts together and will lay the foundation for follow-on engagement in Asia," said Gourlay. If the event feedback provides any indication of future success, there is great hope ahead. "This forum provided more high quality and key business contacts in a short half-day meeting than any other conference I've been to for 35 years," said Al Goodman, Principal, Camp Dresser McKee and Past President of the Water Environment Federation.

MD-AEP is now planning an overseas mission to bring a team of Maryland's public-private experts to Singapore in June, 2009 for Singapore International Water Week, Singapore's global water summit, followed by a meeting with the Asian Development Bank in Manila, Philippines. "If we are successful, this could mean new business opportunities for Maryland business and other stakeholder groups in an area that is sure to grow exponentially" said Gourlay. According to a new Booze Allen report, over $22.6 trillion of water infrastructure is needed in Asia and around the world.

Maryland-Asia Environmental Partnership

Maryland-Asia Environmental Partnership

The Maryland-Asia Environmental Partnership (MD-AEP) is a newly formed, private sector initiative which is mobilizing resources and expertise from corporations, Maryland universities, U.S. and Asian government agencies and multilateral banks to address Asia's massive energy and water resource needs. Throughout Asia, government officials are grappling with major environmental management and resource concerns at the national and local level. What is often lacking is a holistic approach to address the gamut of lessons learned and appropriate resources for future sustainable development planning needs. We provide a unique catalyst for sustainable environmental solutions. MD-AEP functions as an environmental research, technology and services hub to connect Maryland's lessons learned, know-how and resources to countries in Asia. MD-AEP takes a sophisticated approach to its business engagement as we look to bridge Maryland-Asia public-private partnerships from a local country standpoint and solve environmental problems with sustainable business outcomes.

More from Maryland-Asia Environmental Partnership