Saving the World or Burning the Planet?

COP18 venue in Doha

A lot of energy and CO2 emission is spent by many from all over the world getting to a variety of conferences in the Gulf area.

The climate conference (COP18) in Doha, Qatar attracted a lot of investors and industries to explore business opportunities that follow in the slip-stream of the conference. However, also others take the advantage of world leaders being in the vicinity, attracting their top-diplomats to other strategic sessions.

Public-Private Partnerships in infrastructure
For instance: The 3rd PPPs in Emerging Market Summit on Capacity Building and Infrastructure Investment (KWPPP) was organized in Dubai on November 26-28,  aiming at identifying bankable and sustainable PPP projects. Development banks have experienced the benefits of combining public and private capital in terms of risk management and want to upscale now. The Dutch government was not ready yet for attending this strategic conference along with the climate conference, leave alone influencing the discourse.

ICT for development?
Another interesting conference that started today in Dubai is the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) which will run up to December 14. It is an interesting conference as subjects under discussion relate to internet freedom and cyber security issues, tabled by countries like Turkey, Iran and Russia. What is good about the conference is that it is publically broadcasted (#WCIT), possibly preluding more openess on this issue and hopefully informing the debate on data governance and internet freedom. To be continued...

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Blogger at the WCIT conference (click on the image to read the blog)