ASEAN Centre for Energy Celebrates 1st Anniversary

The Jakarta-based ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) holds its first anniversary celebration at the Jakarta Hilton Hotel on March 11, 2000. H.E. Rodolfo C. Severino, Jr., Secretary -General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) along with the senior energy officials of the 10 ASEAN countries will lead the celebration.

The Centre was established as a strategic regional body to initiate, coordinate, and facilitate energy development projects in ASEAN. The Centre is presently pursuing the ASEAN leaders' energy vision of interconnecting the ASEAN countries through the Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline and ASEAN Power Grid Projects. These energy infrastructure projects will provide greater security and long-term sustainability of energy supply in the region.

In conjunction with the celebration, a series of top-level meetings will be held including: a) preparation for the first ASEAN - Japan energy consultations on March 10th; b) second ACE Governing Council meeting on March 11th; and c) special meeting of ASEAN Senior Officials on Energy (SOME). The incumbent Chairman of SOME and the ACE Governing Council, Dr. Piyasvasti Amranand, Secretary General of the National Energy Policy Office of Thailand, will lead in these meetings.

The ASEAN senior energy officials will focus on the proposed European - ASEAN Energy Facility (EURASEF), which will provide co-financing facility for some 50-60 energy development projects in ASEAN for the next five years. Potential projects are those in the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation 1999 - 2004 This EC assistance resulted from the initiatives of the ASEAN - EC Energy Management Training and Research Centre (AEEMTRC), which was transformed to ACE in January 1999.

High-level officials from the Japan Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), led by Dr. Masaaki Mishiro, Director of International Affairs, will attend the ASEAN-Japan consultations. This preparatory meeting will lay the groundwork for closer ASEAN-Japan cooperation in energy development. A proposed Japan - ASEAN technical assistance facility for regional energy projects will be discussed.

In the ACE Governing Council Meeting, the progress of three major on-going foreign-assisted projects will be discussed. These projects are: a) Energy Policy and Systems Analysis Project under the ASEAN - Australia Economic Cooperation Program-Phase III, b) Joint ASEAN Mini-Hydro Project (JAMP) involving the cooperation of Switzerland and Germany, and c) the EC-assisted project on Promotion of Renewable Energy Sources in South East Asia (PRESSEA) under the Energie program of the European Commission.