S. Africa, RI plan energy cooperation

S. Africa, RI plan energy cooperation

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Developing alternative sources of energy will be one of the key
areas of cooperation between South Africa and Indonesia following
the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two
governments earlier this week.

South African Minister of Science and Technology Mosibudi
Mangena, who was in Jakarta to sign the MOU on science and
technology cooperation, said that research in this area was
urgent because of economic and environmental issues.

"The price of oil is going up all the time, causing lots of
hardship to all nations," he said. "Fossil fuels also cause
pollution and contribute to global warming."

"The days of using oil and other fossil fuels to power the
economy are numbered," he said.

The soaring oil price has prompted the Indonesian government
to allocate Rp 76.5 trillion (US$7.65 billion) in fuel subsidies
for this fiscal year.

The MOU also proposes scientific collaboration in
biotechnology, the aerospace industry and in nuclear power
development. The agreement will also facilitate an exchange of
scientists between the two countries.

During his four-day trip here, Mangena visited the National
Atomic Energy Agency Laboratory and the Center for Science and
Technology Research, both in Serpong, Banten, and the Indonesian
Institute of Science's biotechnology laboratory in Cibinong, West
Java.

The minister completed his visit on Wednesday.

Indonesia's State Minister for Research and Technology
Kusmayanto Kadiman agreed that finding renewable sources of
energy would be a focus of the cooperation between the two
countries that cohosted the Asian-African commemorative summit
here in April.

"Wind energy, sea wave energy, solar energy or hydrogen energy
could be considered in a joint strategy in developing alternative
energy," Kadiman said.

He said Indonesia could provide technological assistance to
South Africa in the development of biofuels, such as biodiesel or
bioethanol.

The ministery has identified research in alternative and
renewable energy as one of its six priority areas for scientific
research and development expenditure, which accounted for roughly
0.05 percent of Indonesia's GDP in 2001.

Mangena, who is trying to push up South Africa's research and
development expenditure from 0.81 percent of GDP to 1 percent by
2008, said that his country was focusing on developing hydrogen-
powered fuel cell technologies as alternatives to fossil fuels.

He said that hydrogen would provide a clean source of energy
as its byproducts consisted of only heat and water, as opposed to
the harmful carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.

However, he said that more research was needed before
commercially usable hydrogen would be available.

He said that it was important for developing countries to
conduct scientific studies since the research agendas of
developed countries were at times irrelevant to poorer country's
needs.

"Our problems are similar ... that's why building a
relationship with Indonesia will be very valuable," he said.
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