Energy Efficiency Forum slated this month

CEBU, Philippines - The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP), in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), will hold the first Philippine Energy Efficiency Forum on July 26, 2011 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.

ECCP announced that the one-day event will be jampacked with networking activities, plenary sessions and open fora, with influential figures from the country’s business, energy and environment sectors.

A technology showcase will be displaying the latest technologies in energy-efficiency products and services already available in the Philippines today.

The event aims at focusing solely on energy efficiency from the business perspective of enterprises, such as utilities, buildings, commercial, and industrial and transport/logistics sectors.

“The main goal of the forum is to bring together key leaders from the private sector, government, civil society, academe and international organizations to enlist their support in implementing energy efficiency programs and promote innovative solutions for energy efficiency,” reads the ECCP statement furnished to The FREEMAN yesterday.

ECCP is a bilateral foreign chamber that promotes European interests in the Philippines as well as Philippine interests in Europe.

With more than 700 members, ECCP offers a strong business network that potentially translates to multiple business opportunities.

It is a unique organization that offers membership as well as professional services to members and clients. As a service provider, ECCP assists member companies in trade fairs, trainings, business consultancy and business matching, as well as events management.

Meanwhile, aside from promoting the strong adoption of energy efficiency, ECCP also earlier expressed its full commitment to help the Cebu-based exporters, including the creative sector amid the challenging environment in the world market.

Former ECCP president Henry Schumacher emphasized the need for the Creative Industry in Cebu to get united as its potential to generate revenues is huge. However, he said designers, and the creative community must realize to put premium in their creations.

According to Schumacher, Cebu should take a serious look on this potential sector—and players should start to cultivate the culture of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), which he described as one of the barriers in achieving growth in the creative sector.

“We are not respecting enough the IPR, and some designers, or creative individuals do not put premium to their creations,” he said in an earlier interview.

Schumacher said Cebu has so many world-class creative-communities not only in furniture, fashion, but also in Information Technology (IT). —(FREEMAN)