Caribbean-China island eco-civilisation seminar concludes on an upbeat note | THE DAILY HERALD

Minister of Finance Perry Geerlings and Minister of Health Care Emil Lee listen to the keynote speeches during the second day of the Caribbean-China Island Eco-Civilisation seminar.

 

SIMPSON BAY–The first Caribbean-China island ecological civilization seminar focusing on Innovative Solutions to the Economy and Entrepreneurship (ISEE) concluded on Friday in the Simpson Bay Resort Ballroom with more keynote speeches, interventions, presentations, and a panel discussion.

  Minister of Finance Perry Geerlings and Minister of Health Care, Social Development and Labour Emil Lee, attended the seminar for the early part of the morning, listening to the first three speeches.

  The opening speech on Friday was given by Chairman of Beijing International Exchange Association Sustainable Development Committee BJ-SDC, Liu Wei, who addressed the concerns of global warming and extreme climate changes and how this is having an impact on the islands. “Innovative solutions need to be found to mitigate the effects of warming and conquer the challenges faced by the islands and the global community,” he said.

The opening speech on Friday was given by Chairman of Beijing International Exchange Association Sustainable Development Committee, Liu Wei.

  There were four keynote speeches; the first by Director of Business Development for the Maho Group Eliska Hesova who talked of the group’s approach to sustainable or ecological development. She also gave an update on the resort’s recovery. Still on the subject of Maho, the next speech came from Engineer from Shunting Construction Sheng-Chou Cheng, who described in detail the products and materials used in the reconstruction incorporating the advances of integrated technology. Earlier in July at the previous seminar, the General Manager of the company gave an overview of the products used.

Director of Business Development for the Maho Group, Eliska Hesova, gives her keynote address.

  Antonio Carmona Báez, President of University of St. Martin (USM) in his speech talked on how the university can contribute to future ecological development. He said the university is aspiring to a higher academic level and plans to have more diversification in its courses offered to students. Such diversification can branch out to engineering, economics, languages, agriculture, and other sectors which will contribute to island development.

  The fourth speech was given by Rafael Vega Rodriguez, a researcher from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) who advocated island development should adopt a cooperative business model, to be more open and more connected with different sectors. This business model can be used to diversify the economy as well as promote social development.

  There were two presentations – one by Sabine Berger from Show Me Caribbean, an on-line tourism platform for the islands that offer 360-degree virtual tours, video maps and more, and the second presentation came from artist Tess Verheij who started the Waste Factory project after Hurricane Irma.

  In the afternoon there was a presentation by Janet Zhang from the Curaçao-based Chinese company CMEC on its solar panel project and how it is using energy-saving products and materials to help ecological promotion. Damien Richardson gave the second presentation on his projects.

  Archaeologist Jay Haviser led a panel discussion on the theme “Challenge and Opportunity of Future Island Development.”

  “I was happy to see that everybody was engaged in the different discussions and attentive to the informative speeches from here and other islands and regions,” said Deputy Secretary-General of BJ-SDC Jason Fan. “This is a first step. Now we need to come up with solid and strong actions to follow up on the initiatives that came out of the seminar. I hope everybody was motivated by this event. From the host’s point of view, we want to have stronger cooperation between China and the Caribbean. Dialogue and discussions must turn into plans, we need more discussion, more visions, and consensus on the visions.

  “As one of the hosts, I really appreciate everyone’s ideas and for sharing them. I do believe we can achieve more in the future as long as we can keep connected and optimistic and try to be more inclusive to different partners.”

Audience members participated in the seminar, asking questions or presenting their points of view.

 

Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/83266-caribbean-china-island-eco-civilisation-seminar-concludes-on-an-upbeat-note

LEAVE A REPLY