COVENTRY, UK, 25 May 2006 — A delegation of Saudi businessmen and officials responded enthusiastically to the first day of the UK’s premier environmental technology exhibition, et2005. The exhibition opened by Baroness Barbara Young, CEO of the UK’s Environment Agency, is Britain’s largest environmental technology and management services exhibition, and features the Environmental Management Forum (EMF).
Baroness Young felt that 2005 was the year when the profile of the UK’s special skills in environment management could be raised. “We have a new government, the presidency of G8 and presidency of the EU in this year,” she said. “The UK is a leading consultant on climate change and this year we can put it in the middle of the international arena.”
She felt that particular areas where developed environmental practices and technologies could be most usefully applied were in the developing industrial bases of China and India. “Introducing them at this stage could mean that they would miss out on the ‘blackest’ area of technological development,” she said, referring to the UK’s coal-fuelled industrial revolution and its associated pollution.
The Saudi delegation, led by Omar Saeed from the UK Trade and Investment section based in the British Consulate in Jeddah, was particularly attracted to new technologies and environmental monitoring engineering. “The UK has a long and happy trade history with Saudi Arabia,” he said, “And the UK has great expertise in technologies and management systems for the environment. This exhibition is a tremendous opportunity to meet the producers of the technology and access new ideas and methodologies.”
Other plans at an advanced stage are: A groundwater purity review to ascertain the effect of leakage of waste into the water table; a complete study on the potential threat of asbestos used in building and industry and the building of an aquarium and museum for public education about the environment.
The exhibition presented opportunities for immediate Saudi-UK trade. “Plans are in place for major developments in Yanbu,” said Khalid Alhajery, chief environmental officer of the Environmental Control Department for the Royal Commission in Yanbu. “One is the development of the coastal area into a recreational strip. We want to do that in a way that has minimum impact on the marine environment. Already I have found technologies here that I believe will help us achieve that.”
Alhajery felt that despite the development of complementary fuel sources, fossil fuels will be around for a long time. “They will not be replaced soon. When the Stone Age finished, there was still a lot of stone. That won’t be the case with oil and perhaps even coal,” he said.
In conversation with Baroness Young, Alhajery planned to visit the Environmental Agency’s laboratories and offices in Bristol and the west country to “compare notes” and access information that could be of mutual benefit.
Moshen Alami, also from the Royal Commission, was particularly interested in the advances that have been made in environmental monitoring. As section head of Environmental and Industrial Monitoring in Jubail, the new generation of extremely accurate multi-function instrument, particularly those for air quality monitoring, drew his attention. He said that the almost doubling in size of Jubail Industrial City and the huge but necessary expansion of the desalination plants increased the need for accurate monitoring both to assess and control any environmental threats.
“The Kingdom is fully aware of the need to care for its environment,” he said, “and the very advanced technology on show hear could well play a key role in that.”
Kamran Chida, group director of the Bushnak Group was reviewing both energy and environmental produce at the exhibition.
“The development of smaller and more portable monitoring units means that remote and very environmentally sensitive areas can be monitored for change,” he said.
“It is often the very slight changes in the environmental balance of these areas that act as a warning of larger threats. The earlier we can detect change, the earlier we can react to it,” he said.
The delegation will be at the et2005 exhibition until tomorrow, during which time they will hold one to one sessions with leading technology companies.
