ASEAN Secretary-General Backs Energy Collaboration with Canada
Jakarta (ANTARA) - ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn has reaffirmed his support for collaboration with Canada to optimise the energy transition and achieve energy security in Southeast Asia.
“With the combined strengths of both parties, real opportunities will emerge to advance energy security and decarbonisation together, alongside growing economic prosperity,” said Kao during an ASEAN-Canada strategic dialogue on energy security in Jakarta on Tuesday.
He noted that ASEAN is one of the world’s most dynamic markets for energy investment and innovation, as the region’s growing economic power will lead to increasingly higher energy demand.
Meanwhile, Canada possesses advantages in both conventional and clean energy, including oil and gas, LNG, hydrogen, critical minerals, as well as energy innovation and clean electricity, the ASEAN Secretary-General added.
Kao stated that energy security and the renewable energy transition are becoming increasingly urgent amidst conflicts in the Middle East, which have resulted in supply chain disruptions and shocks to international markets.
To achieve energy security, ASEAN needs to diversify its energy sources, supply chains, and technologies by strengthening partnerships both with fellow ASEAN member states and external partners, he said.
Furthermore, the comprehensive efforts to realise energy security and the energy transition through various approaches “require investments that cannot be undertaken by a single country alone”.
Kao also confirmed that ASEAN and Canada have established cooperation in the energy transition, including industrial decarbonisation and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
“Our opportunity today is not only to undergo an energy transition, but to ensure that the region’s energy remains secure, affordable, reliable, and increasingly sustainable,” Kao remarked.
On the same occasion, Weldon Epp, Assistant Deputy Minister for the Indo-Pacific at Global Affairs Canada, mentioned that his country has contributed millions of dollars to support the energy transition in ASEAN.
Through the ASEAN-Canada Trust Fund, Canada has contributed 1.38 million Canadian dollars to projects related to carbon capture and utilisation, alongside the ASEAN Centre for Energy.
Additionally, a contribution of 2 million Canadian dollars has been provided to the Regional Connectivity Fund (RCF), a joint initiative with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), to ensure the sustainability of power grid projects within ASEAN, he said.