ASEAN reaffirms plan on energy cooperation

ASEAN reaffirms plan on energy cooperation

BANGKOK (Reuters): Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations reaffirmed on Saturday a commitment to cooperate in the energy sector despite difficulties caused by oversupply and the regional economic crisis.

Energy and industry ministers of 10-member bloc, meeting in Bangkok, resolved to hasten implementation of an action agenda agreed at the December 1998 ASEAN summit and adopted an interim action plan for energy cooperation running to 2004.

The ministers reaffirmed a commitment to developing an integrated ASEAN energy network consisting of a regional power grid and a trans-ASEAN gas pipeline, a statement said.

They recognized the need to establish an ASEAN power pool in the future.

"The ministers noted that there are significant signs of economic recovery in the region and underlined the importance of strengthening collaboration in the energy sector to support sustainable growth and regional economic integration in ASEAN," the statement said.

It said the economic crisis had hit such efforts hard.

"The decline in energy demand, the rise in energy prices in terms of local currencies, and the financial crisis in some ASEAN countries had substantial impacts on joint collaborative efforts the in the energy sector, particularly the Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline and the ASEAN Power Grid," it said.

Nevertheless the ministers welcomed the expansion of the power grid to 14 interconnected projects, with the addition of four linking Thailand and Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia, Laos and Cambodia and Thailand and Cambodia.

ASEAN, which groups Thailand with Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines, has set a target date of 2020 for completion of the pan-regional pipeline and power grid.