UNCLAS JAKARTA 001973

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP, EEB, AND OES
BANGKOK FOR USAID/RDMA
USAID FOR ASIA/ELLIS AND JENNINGS
SINGAPORE FOR BAKER
STATE PASS USTR FOR EHLERS

E.O. 12598: N/A
TAGS: ASEAN EAID ENRG KGHG PREL PGOV
SUBJECT: ASEAN CENTRE FOR ENERGY PRIORITIES, ASEAN ENERGY ACTION
PLAN

REF: A. JAKARTA 1927

B. Thompson-Benavidez email September 17, 2008


1. (U) During an October 24 meeting, the Executive Director of the
ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, said the final
draft of ASEAN's Energy Action Plan for 2010-2015 will be presented
to Senior Officials in March 2009 and will be adopted by ASEAN
Ministers in May 2009. He did not offer any information on the
contents.


2. (U) Mr. Manh and his staff had reviewed a number of proposals in
the area of energy efficiency that the ASEAN-U.S. Technical
Assistance and Training Facility (TATF) had sent to them previously.
Mr. Hung was interested in working with the U.S. to implement
several of the projects and as they are in line with the forthcoming
Action Plan. He said the Centre is particularly interested in
compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) standards, cleaner coal, window
efficiency, and cogeneration cook stove activities. Hung also
expressed an interest in the proposed ASEAN energy and environmental
sustainability conference (ref B), but would like to discuss topics
in more detail before moving forward on dates or a location.


3. (U) Manh identified a number of priorities for the Centre. These
include: how to develop appropriate rules and regulations for cross
border power transmission (taxation, competition, for example), how
to address the issue of financing and technology transfer in
renewable energy, how to increase energy efficiency in ASEAN
economies and perform energy audits, and how to develop an ASEAN
regime for the safe development of nuclear power.


4. (U) For all proposed activities, Manh stated that ACE will be
seeking an MOU with the implementing agency to set the framework for
cooperation. They are about to sign such an agreement with
ECO-Asia. He noted that ACE would be looking for a payment(s) to
the Centre to support operational costs for this and other
agreements. (Note: This reflects ACE's difficulty in funding its
own operations and priorities, a common problem within ASEAN
institutions -- see ref A. End Note).


HUME