PH Turns Over AMEM Chairmanship to Singapore

Wazzup Pilipinas!

36th ASEAN MINISTERS ON ENERGY MEETING:   L-R:  Hon. Dato Mat Suny Hussein, Minister of Energy, Mapower and Industry, Brunei Darussalam; His Excellency (H.E.) Suy Sem, Minister of Mines and Energy, Cambodia; H.E. Dr. Arcandra Tahar, Vice Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Indonesia; The Hon. Yeo Bee Yin, Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change, Malaysia; H.E. U. Win Khaing, Union Minister of Electricity and Energy, Myanmar, H.E. Alfonso G. Cusi, Secretary, DOE, Philippines;  H.E. Chan Chun Sing, Minister of Trade and Industry, Singapore;  Mr. Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of Trade and Industry, Singapore;  H.E. Dr. Siri Jiriponghan, Minister of Energy, Thailand; H.E. Dang Hoang An, Vice Minister of Industry, Vietnam; H.E. Dr. Khamanny Inthirath, Minister of Energy, Lao PDR; H.E. Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Deputy Director General, ASEAN Secretariat,  Dr. Sanjayan Velauthum, Executive Director, ASEAN

Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary and outgoing Chairperson of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM) Alfonso G. Cusi turned over yesterday the AMEM Chairmanship to His Excellency Chan Chun Sing, Singaporean Minister for Trade and Industry, during the 36th AMEM held at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

“While our backgrounds and nationalities in ASEAN may be different, our common denominator has always been a strong commitment to pursue bold ideas and innovative solutions to make our tomorrows better than today. An ideal that can only be realized if it is built on the foundations of regional and public-private cooperation,” Sec. Cusi said in his opening remarks.

He added that these innovations led to the strides made in the past year which included, among others, the success of the Heads of ASEAN Power Utilities/Authorities in advancing multilateral electricity trading under Phase I of the Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project and the advancement of the Gas Advocacy White Paper by the ASEAN Council on Petroleum.

AMEM is conducted annually and serves as a platform for ASEAN Energy Ministers to synergize energy cooperation endeavors given that energy is crucial to the realization of the ASEAN Economic Community.

To this end, the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation 2016-2025 was developed and is being implemented in two phases. Phase I covers short to medium-term measures to enhance energy security cooperation over the period 2016-2020, while Phase II will cover the period 2021-2025 and will be dependent upon the implementation of Phase I.

“Let us not to forget our aspirations for regional energy sustainability - to achieve a 23% share of renewable energy in ASEAN’s primary energy mix by 2025, while aiming to reduce regional energy intensity by 20% in 2020 and a further 30% by 2025,” reiterated the Energy Chief.

The 36th AMEM tackled the key outcomes of the 12th East Asia Summit (EAS) and related high-level EAS meetings, the implementation of the Cooperation Programme under the EA Energy Cooperation Work Streams, energy policy research in EAS countries, and the new initiatives under the EAS energy cooperation mechanism.

Singapore will hold the AMEM Chairmanship for one year with Thailand as Vice-Chair.

AMEM is composed of the Energy Ministers of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as the ASEAN Secretary General.