SEVENTEEN COUNTRIES OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN DEBATED ABOUT BIOFUELS

More than 200 agents from 17 countries of the Region and other places of the world got together on September 26-28 in San Salvador-El Salvador at the II Latin-American and the Caribbean Biofuels Seminar.

During the event, 38 top level experts spoke about their experiences and progress made in the development of Biofuels National Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. They also covered topics related to regulatory frameworks, performance of agricultural products for fuel production, technological advances for the production and use of this product, food security, quality control standards, financing of projects and other aspects related to the future of biofuels.   

The Seminar met its goal, that is, it opened an space for dialogue and debates among authorities and specialist of the Ministries of Energy, Ministries of Agriculture and Environment of the Region, international bodies, enterprises, technological development centres, investors and financing institutions, who presented their different points of view regarding biofuels during the plenary sessions and discussion panels of the event.

This Seminar was organized by OLADE in close coordination with IICA and with the sound support of the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of El Salvador, the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Brazil, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the     Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE).

Due to the interest of this subject for the Region, the participants manifested their interest to institutionalize this event on an annual basis. Furthermore, the representatives of the sponsoring entities manifested their commitment of keeping their support and contribution to carry out the III Latin-American and the Caribbean Biofuels Seminar in 2008.

The complete speeches of the Seminar are available at the following link:

http://www.olade.org.ec/biocombustibles/ponenciasEn.html