| Mexico City, 13/09/1996 – Officials from the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), Mexico’s Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin) and the Mexican Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (Funtec) today announced the creation of a fund that will finance pollution-prevention projects for small- and medium-size companies in Mexico.
CEC Secretariat Executive Director Victor Lichtinger announced the above at a press conference following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Ing. Víctor Manuel Díaz, President of Concamin, and Juan Gareaga, President of Funtec. Julia Carabias, the Mexican Secretary of Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries, was on-hand at the ceremony to act as the official witness.
The fund will help small- and medium-size companies develop industrial environmental protection programs that seek to reduce or eliminate contamination before it is generated. These so-called pollution-prevention programs move away from traditional “end-of-pipe” pollution-control methods.
The CEC will provide technical support for the fund, which will be administered by Funtec, a non-profit association. The CEC and Funtec will each contribute US $100,000 as initial capital for the fund. Additional capital will come from outside organizations through donations approved by the fund’s supervising council.
Under its North American pollution-prevention program, the CEC plans to create similar funds in Canada and the United States.
The pollution-prevention fund is one of many important cooperative programs coordinated by the CEC. A related initiative, unveiled last month in Toronto, involves an agreement between the CEC and three private-sector groups to promote environmental technologies and services throughout North, Central and South America.
The CEC, which is based in Montreal, is equally funded by the three NAFTA partners. | 
