China, Japan, Korea To Channel Technical Expertise To ASEAN For Development Of RE - Fadillah

From Norsyafawati Ab Wahab

VIENTIANE (LAOS), Sept 27 (Bernama) -- Japan, South Korea and China have agreed to channel technical expertise to ASEAN to empower the development of the renewable energy (RE) and clean energy sector.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said the commitment by the three countries was given during the ASEAN Energy Ministers' Meeting (AMEM) + 3 (China, Japan, South Korea) here today.

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"I made a statement earlier to thank them and we do expect technical assistance, especially in terms of technology to switch to clean energy and RE," he told Malaysian media on the last day of the 42nd AMEM and related meetings from Sept 26-27.

As Vice Chairman of AMEM, Fadillah said the same assistance is also expected by ASEAN from other developed countries such as the United States, Russia and Australia for the development of the sector.

In the meantime, after a bilateral meeting with Vietnam outside the 42nd AMEM conference today, Fadillah informed that Malaysia will accelerate efforts to extend the memorandum of understanding (MOU) of an existing oil and gas exploration cooperation between Petronas and a Vietnamese oil company.

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"The MOU will expire and Petronas already has a team to submit an extension of the MOU of up to 20 years so that the investment can continue. A Vietnam minister has said the matter will be brought back home to speed up the process and expressed hope that the MOU could be continued," he said.

Apart from that, he said Malaysia also presented the interest of Gentari Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Petronas and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) to invest in Vietnam in the wind energy industry.

"The Vietnamese side asked us to give a concept proposal because they are also evaluating many other proposals, and it is certain that with a Malaysian company establishing a joint venture with a government subsidiary in Vietnam, it will be given relatively good consideration," he added.

At the same time, Fadillah said Vietnam also asked for Malaysia's views on its plan to supply energy to Singapore via Malaysia through undersea cables. "We have presented our views and agreed for this matter to be discussed among Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore jointly," he said, adding that the plan would connect energy supplies from Vietnam to Singapore through Kelantan.

Fadillah also shared about Philippines' desire to cooperate in the development of biofuels.

"They have a lot of materials for biofuels. I suggest to them to submit officially so that we can form a team to evaluate the matter and work together," he said.

-- BERNAMA