Davao invest gab slated next month

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

STAKEHOLDERS are set to hold the Davao Investment Conference next month, centered on natural resources management.

Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII) corporate social responsibility member Dr. Roberto Puentespina Jr. said Wednesday stakeholders in Davao Region are currently active in engaging themselves in efforts to protect and conserve the Davao Gulf, considered as the last key area of biodiversity.

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Puentespina said the Davao Region Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with the USAID Philippine Environmental Governance Project (EcoGov) and the Davao Region Tourism Council will host a conference dubbed "Investing in Natural Resources Management: Partnerships and Opportunities."

The conference is set February 10, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Marco Polo Hotel Ballroom.

"Capacitating local government to implement natural resource management initiatives as mandated by law is our first agenda. There is a need for LGUs to constructively engage civil society and the private sector to shape, guide, identify, and implement partnership and investment opportunities," Puentespina said in Wednesday's Club 888 media forum at Marco Polo.

Puentespina said the conference will present specific opportunities for social responsible investors in water and sanitation, agro-forestry, renewable/alternative energy and sustainable tourism.

"To be presented at the conference are case studies which provide insights on how public-private partnership deals are structured and managed," he said.

More than 100 companies, micro-finance institutions and banking institutions from Manila and Mindanao were invited to the conference, Puentespina said.

Major speakers include Ramon Isberto, head of Public Affairs of Smart Communications, Inc.; finance expert Joseph Lufkin; and Canadian investor Pierre Cote of Rocky Mountain Coffee.

Other partners for the event are USAID's Alliance for Mindanao/Multi-regional Renewable/Rural Energy Development (AMORE) program, Rocky Mountain Coffee, and the Marco Polo Hotel.