Tony Blair, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, to Present a Keynote Address at the 2015 Mining Indaba

Mining Indaba, the world’s largest mining investment event will take place on 9 – 12 February 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa

CAPE-TOWN, South-Africa, November 6, 2014/ -- The organisers of the annual Investing in African Mining Indaba announced today that Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1997 - 2007) will participate in a keynote presentation at the  2015 annual conference.  Euromoney Institutional Investor Managing Director, Mr. Christopher Fordham, will host an “Interview with Tony Blair” during a special keynote presentation.

The 2015 edition of the annual Mining Indaba, the world’s largest mining investment event will take place on 9 – 12 February 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa.

  

“Mr. Blair has vast experience as a global leader and through the charity he founded in 2008, the Africa Governance Initiative, he has worked with African governments to improve regulation and investment oversight. As a result, Mr. Blair will provide unique and charismatic insights to our global delegation who are vested in capitalising African mining,” says Jonathan Moore, Managing Director, Mining Indaba.

Tony Blair was Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 1997 – 2007, having secured an historic third term in office.   As leader of the Labour party, he led extensive public service reform, introduced a national minimum wage, oversaw constitutional reform, led the London 2012 Games bid and was instrumental in the Northern Ireland peace process. He also oversaw devolution in Scotland and Wales.

Continuing his role in public life, Tony Blair now works to secure peace and prosperity in the Middle East, improve governance in Africa, encourage understanding of world faiths and boost access to sport for children in the North East of England. He also remains committed to finding solutions to climate change.

The 2015 Mining Indaba is expected to draw more than 7,000 investors, mining corporates, government leaders, global press, and other industry stakeholders from 110 countries.

In addition to Mr. Blair’s keynote presentation, the Mining Indaba will feature a blockbuster line up of global speakers including: industry’s most pervasive deal-maker, Robert Friedland of Ivanhoe Mines, global economist, Dr. Dambisa Moyo; creator of the acronym BRIC, Jim O’Neill; the World Bank’s Group emerging regions expert, Anita Marangoly George; and a host of other government leaders, world’s largest mining company CEOs, and international commodities analysts. 

Mining Indaba also includes the Investment Discovery Forum on 8-9 February in Cape Town, which offers private educational and networking setting exclusively open to accredited investors (complimentary registration available) and mining corporates to engage in deal discussions. The ability to schedule unlimited number of one-on-one meetings in this forum enables investors and mining executives to maximize their ROI for their travel and time. For more information visit http://www.miningindaba.com/DiscoveryInvest.

The Mining Indaba will include a total of five and half days of deal-making and discovery showcasing ALL of Africa’s most attractive investment opportunities unlike any other mining investment in the world. For more information on registration and programme, visit http://www.miningindaba.com.

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Mining Indaba™.

Bernardo Bertolucci heads up the distinguished jury that chose the winners of the Action4Climate documentary competition

WASHINGTON, October 31, 2014/ -- Ten young film crews from ten different countries were chosen as winners in the Action4Climate documentary competition (http://www.connect4climate.org). Their outstanding and unique films inspire the world to take action on climate change.

“These talented young film makers connect to their audience in emotional and powerful ways about the dangers of climate change. They have done serious, important work, which shows that climate change could result in a world that is unrecognizable today, and that we need act now to protect the planet for future generations.”  Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank Group

The Action4Climate competition was launched in early 2014 by Connect4Climate (www.connect4climate.org), the global climate change communications program. It attracted hundreds of entries from all around the world. Italian film director and screenwriter, Bernardo Bertolucci, chaired a renowned jury of film makers tasked with choosing winning films in two age categories.

“We were amazed by the originality of the stories and the genuine concern shown by these young film makers about the effects of climate change. They described the effects of climate change from hundreds of different points of view. Selecting winners was an almost impossible task.”  Bernardo Bertolucci

In the 18 -35 age category, the $15,000 top prize went to the Portuguese film maker Gonçalo Tocha with his provocative film “The Trail of a Tale”. This inspiring story revolves around a letter written in the future to society today. Dobrin Kashavelov from Bulgaria won second place cash prizes of $10,000 with “Global Warning,” a harrowing film about the catastrophic effects on survivors of last year’s typhoon Haiyan in the

Philippines. Third place $5,000 prize was awarded to American filmmaker Nathan Dappen for “Snows of the Nile”, a documentary following Nathan’s adventures uncovering indisputable evidence of the fast disappearing glaciers of Uganda’s ‘mountains of the moon’.   

“I am immensely proud to be chosen as the winner and really hope my film helps people realize that we need to act now to protect our future.” Gonçalo Tocha

In the younger 14 -17 age group, “The Violin Player” took top spot. This beautifully animated film was the brainchild of Francina Ramos, a young Argentinian film maker and her co-producer/composer Benjamin Braceras. Second place went to “Facing the Flood” by Constantin Huet from Switzerland, an investigative account of the changing conditions in Greenland and the Maldives. Georgia’s Tura Tegerashivili was awarded third place for the whimsical “It’s Easy if You Try”. All prize winners receive production equipment and software to help them hone their skills and talents and inspire them to create more climate change stories.

“What an amazing honor! I am so excited. I hope The Violin Player makes people want to stand up and tackle climate change.” Francina Ramos

The jury is made up of filmmakers Atom Egoyan, Marc Forster, Mika Kaurismaki, Fernando Meirelles, Mira Nair, Bob Rafelson, Walter Salles, Pablo Trapero and Wim Wenders, along with film executives Rose Kuo and Cynthia Lopez, and World Bank Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Change, Rachel Kyte.  They felt the standard in the competition was so high that a special prize was awarded to “Balud” by Panx Solajes from the Philippines, for his creative personal reflection devastating floods caused by climate change.

Connect4Climate also decided that two submissions should be recognized for their ability to present local stories that also have a profound global impact. Special Connect4Climate prizes are awarded to “Tinau” from UK/Kiribati producer Victoria Burns, exploring the grave concerns of small island nations such as Kiribati, and “The Change,” a touching portrayal of the effects on young people in a Vietnamese coastal community made by filmmakers Ha Uyen, Huong Tra, Quang Dung and Quang Phuc. A People’s Choice Prize voted for by the public was won by a team from Brazil for their film “Pachamama” depicting the effects of global warming in Sao Paulo.

Prizes for the competition were graciously provided by Edison, the Italian power company, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In addition, Vimeo, the video sharing website, is enthusiastically donating Vimeo Plus accounts for one year to all the finalists from developing countries.

The winners will be announced on October 30th at the Sustainia “100 Solutions” Award Ceremony in the Royal Theater, Copenhagen, celebrating the creation of new solutions for sustainable living. The general public can then see a selection of videos from winners and finalists online and on television, as well as at festivals and events.

“Connect4Climate was tremendously excited by the amount of interest shown in the competition from around the world. It demonstrates the level of concern shown by creative young people and their desire to be involved directly in exposing climate problems and finding lasting solutions. We were also gratified to experience the seamless coming together of international organizations, the private sector and civil society to support and promote the competition ”  Lucia Grenna, Program Manager, Connect4Climate

It is envisaged that the high standard of the Action4Climate documentaries will help promote greater climate change awareness and inspire viewers to action.

The winning films can all be viewed at www.Action4Climate.org