cooperation to promote energy self-reliance in the region.
High food and oil prices threaten economic recovery and prospects for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the Asia-Pacific region, a press release issued by the UN Information Center (UNIC) said here on Wednesday.
Priority must be given to improving physical connectivity and building institutional linkages between the energy-surplus and energy-deficit countries, government leaders and Asia-Pacific economic bodies told a high-level forum on regional energy security cooperation held during this week's 67th annual Session of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
Representatives of Central, South, Southeast and East Asian, and the Pacific subregional cooperation blocs emphasized the importance of energy security for social and economic development in the region which is a net importer of primary energy.
For Kazakhstan, a major energy exporter, ensuring stability of supplies to consumers is a high priority. The country is trying to diversify its export routes to reassure importers, H.E. Timur Suleimenov, Vice-Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Kazakhstan told the meeting.
Pacific island countries, which depend heavily on oil imports, have agreed on a regional energy security framework focusing on fuel diversification to include non-fossil and renewable energy sources, coordinated imports through bulk procurement, price monitoring and harmonizing fuel standards, said Feleti Teo, Deputy Secretary General, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS). Pacific island countries are also working with ESCAP on technology transfers from Asia to bring in appropriate low-carbon energy know-how to the subregion. More >>>
Location: Cayman Islands
