APEC calls for investment in energy infrastructure

APEC calls for investment in energy infrastructure

TOKYO (Agencies): Energy ministers from 21 Asian and Pacific
nations called Saturday for continual investment in energy
infrastructure to pull the region out of its economic crisis.

They also agreed to promote wider and more efficient use of
natural gas and to set voluntary goals on energy-saving to cope
with an anticipated shortage in the region.

The appeals were contained in a declaration at the end of a
two-day meeting of energy ministers of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum in Okinawa, southern Japan.

The document will be submitted to the group's summit in Kuala
Lumpur in November.

It urges APEC leaders to "highlight the important role that
the energy sector could play in the recovery from the current
economic difficulties" by improving the business environment,
building efficient energy infrastructure and boosting energy
efficiency.

"Ministers recognized that continuous development of energy
infrastructure is essential as a stimulus for economic recovery
as well as for sustainable development in the region," the
declaration says.

It forecasts that primary energy demand in the region in 2010
will expand by 41 percent and energy output by 31 percent from
the 1995 level "with total imports to be doubled as a
consequence."

The meeting heard estimates that hundreds of billions of
dollars would be needed over the next decade for power
infrastructure in APEC economies, including the United States,
China and Japan.

Peru, Russia and Vietnam, due to become full APEC members in
November, were also represented at the meeting.

Up to US$70 billion in investment will be needed for natural
gas infrastructure in Asia over the next 15 years to meet growing
demand, the document says, along with hundreds of billions of
dollars in other APEC economies.

"Natural gas trading networks" -- including pipelines,
liquefied natural gas terminals and distribution systems -- will
promote economic development and cooperation and trade between
the APEC economies, the document says.

"Feasibility studies on pipeline projects in this region
should be conducted," it says.

On energy efficiency, the ministers agreed to implement a
"voluntary pledge and review program" on efficiency gains and
report results.

Meanwhile, the first APEC Oceans Conference in Hawaii next
week will seek to coordinate a regional response to the threat
posed by over-fishing, the conference chairman said on Friday.

D. James Baker, director of the U.S. National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, said the Honolulu meeting of
officials from Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum members
Oct. 16-21 would address the critical importance of oceans to
Pacific Rim economies.

"It emphasizes even more the need to look at oceans issues
which affect all of the Pacific Rim countries," Baker told a news
briefing.

The Hawaii meeting, ahead of next month's APEC leaders summit
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, takes place against a backdrop of
increasingly grim statistics about the state of the world's
oceans.

A report issued in August by the World Wildlife Fund found
that 70 percent of the world's major fishing grounds were being
"strip mined" by too many boats, which are catching almost twice
as much fish as can be sustainable harvested.

Baker said the issue of fisheries would be one of the main
topics on the table at the Honolulu conference, which will draw
major Pacific fishing nations such as Japan, Taiwan, South Korea,
Peru and Ecuador.