Speeches

Remarks of Deputy Chief of Mission, Virginia M. Blaser
at the Opening of the U.S. Water Bottling and Aquaculture Solutions Workshop

Thursday March 20, 2008
Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Distinguished Participants

Good Morning!

Thank you very much for joining us today for our U.S. Water Bottling and Aquaculture Solutions workshop.  This is the second workshop the U.S. Embassy is hosting this week. The first one was on U.S. Cold Chain Solutions which, as you may have seen in the local media, was a tremendous success.

As you know, this workshop will be led by Mr. James Brown, who is a Logistics and Marketing Specialist with over 30 years of experience.  Mr. Brown has a long history of successful assistance to firms, particularly in water bottling and aquaculture.  He has worked for many years with a variety of companies engaged in Land Based Oceanic Industry (LBOI) activities in Hawaii. 

Mr. Brown also conducted a pre-feasibility study on the LBOI in Mauritius last year on behalf of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA).  This led to the United States granting $375,000 to the Government of Mauritius for technical assistance to the LBOI project. 

Mr. Brown will be assisted by Mr. Ron Vallort, Equipment Engineering Specialist, with 44 years of professional engineering experience. 

I know you will enjoy working with our experts today.

Please remember that Mr. Brown will be available during the next couple of days to visit and advise you on your projects.  Mr. Vallort, unfortunately, has to leave tonight.  I urge you to take advantage of Mr. Brown’s presence here to discuss your projects and get his professional advice.  Our Embassy coordinator, Quentin Barber, will be happy to set up an appointment for you.

Our top notch Embassy Commercial Section staff – made up of Quentin Barber, Shariff Jathoonia, and Rahmat Caunhye -- will be glad to assist you with any follow-up inquiries you may have with regard to water bottling, aquaculture, and other areas of business.

I have no doubt that what you learn today will be very beneficial to your operations.   Again, thank you for your presence and I wish you a very successful and fruitful workshop!