Speeches and Remarks 2006

November 7, 2006

As prepared for delivery

Remarks by Geoffrey Pyatt
U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission
at Federation of Indian Chambers
of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)-International
Council for Capital Formation (ICCF) Seminar
New Delhi, November 07, 2006
 

Thank you for having me here at this important meeting of minds.  I would like to thank FICCI and the International Council for Capital Formation for organizing this event to discuss Mechanisms for Clean Development and Financing under the aegis of the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate.

As you know, the Asia-Pacific Partnership on the Clean Development and Climate is an innovative public-private initiative involving six partner nations - Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States - and private-sector partners to meet goals for energy security, air pollution reduction and climate change in ways that promote sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction.

For the United States, the Asia-Pacific Partnership represents a new level of engagement with six key countries on the fundamentally important issues of energy and environment.   The six countries in the partnership account for about 50 percent of factors crucial to energy and the environment - 50 percent of the population, 50 percent of energy use, and 50 percent of fossil fuel consumption. 

With these six countries, we can address a significant share of the usage and impact of energy on the environment.  For example, these six countries account for nearly two-thirds of the world's use of coal.  Now imagine being in a room with six countries accounting for two-thirds of the use of coal, or trying to work out a set of agreements with 189 countries, most of whom do not have experience with coal. 

The advantage of the Asia Pacific Partnership is we can have a focused dialogue that is consistent with our shared objectives when it comes to energy security and the advancement of new technologies.

The identification of India as a founding APP partner reflects the multifaceted character of our relationship and the U.S. commitment to fulfill the vision of a broad strategic partnership that produces real benefits for all our citizens.

Many of you are aware of the visit to India of Council for Environmental Quality Chairman, Mr. James Connaughton in August 2006.  Mr. Connaughton met with key representatives from the Government of India and Indian industry, and also chaired several Asia Pacific Partnership outreach events.  We were especially pleased that he could take the time to reach outside Delhi to engage business leaderships in Chennai and Mumbai.

Since that time we have made important progress. On October 31, Paula Dobriansky, our Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, announced the implementation stage of the Asia Pacific Partnership and unveiled nearly 100 individual projects for meeting environmental goals.  These projects span the most energy-intensive sectors of each partner's economy - power generation, steel, cement, aluminum, mining and buildings and appliances.

These projects represent a first step in creating investment opportunities, building local capacity and removing barriers to clean energy technologies and underline the commitment of the six partner nations to ensure that public-private partnership is harnessed to address important energy and environmental challenges. 
 
Action plans and projects were also announced in each of the partner countries, including India, where Secretary Ghosh of the Ministry of Environment and Forrest chaired November 1 event. 

In this context, I would like to recognize the important support and cooperation we have received from the Ministry of Environment and Forests for its leadership and initiative in taking Asia Pacific Partnership from the conceptual stage to the implementation stage.

The six countries engaged in this partnership are joined by a common philosophy that economic growth and environmental protection go hand in hand - that sound economic policies are the engine that drives investments in cleaner technology, and that economic prosperity is a prerequisite for clean development. 

Our objective is to have our six countries work together with the private sector to create and expand favorable markets for investment and trade in cleaner, more efficient energy technologies, goods, and services.  In this context ICCF and FICCI can play a pivotal role.

We want to work together to create new investment opportunities, support entrepreneurship, and remove barriers to the introduction of clean, more efficient technologies and create new opportunities for small to medium scale enterprises to be innovative competitors in this emerging market.

Through greater cooperation we can address our energy needs and the global challenges of climate change and air pollution.

I wish you all a very successful conference.