GMA pushes for Asean energy summit

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (via PLDT) – President Arroyo pushed yesterday for an energy summit among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and called for more investments into this sector not only from ASEAN but from its Plus Three partners – China, Korea and Japan.

"I suggest we get the energy ministers to discuss measures to secure a reliable supply of energy to support our economic activities," the President said during the plenary session of the ASEAN leaders’ summit here.

"We need to pursue investments in energy infrastructure and seek wider collaboration in new and renewable energy and alternative fuels if we are to keep our economies humming, and our lights on, through the next three decades," the President noted.

The President enjoined China, Japan and Korea to pursue investments in the energy sector of ASEAN.

Last Sunday, the President personally asked Chinese Premier Wen Jiaobao to consider putting in energy investments in the Philippines.

Earlier, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said the President would follow through with the proposals she made during the second ASEAN-United Nations Summit on the collective action of the ASEAN and the Plus Three countries – China, Japan, South Korea – to ease the effects of unstable oil prices.

"We have experienced some relief on this issue, but we must continue to ensure that all of us do not suffer from the future oil spikes," he said.

Romulo identified the following areas of the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation that could serve as the backdrop for wider East Asian energy security cooperation: ASEAN power grid by inter-connection, trans-ASEAN gas pipeline program, coal program, energy efficiency and conservation, renewable energy and regional energy planning.

"The problem of energy security is here to stay. For such a region as ours, highly dependent on external energy sources to fuel and sustain our growth, short-term relief is not the answer. We should be seized by a sense of urgency, the urgency of investing in our long-term energy security," he said.