ASEAN becomes observer to the Energy Charter
Posted: 13 December 2003
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has become
an official observer-organisation to the Energy Charter Conference,
an inter-governmental body promoting energy cooperation in which
51 European and Asian countries participate as full members.
ASEAN’s application to be granted observer status was unanimously
approved by the Charter Conference at its recent meeting in Brussels.
“This is another welcome step towards strengthening the Asian
dimension of the Energy Charter’s work”, commented Energy
Charter Conference Chairman Henning Christophersen.
“The countries of Southeast Asia face many of the same challenges
in developing regional energy cooperation as exist here in the wider
Eurasian space, in particular in terms of creating a secure climate
for energy investments and promoting cross-border energy infrastructure
projects. It is therefore both logical, and in our mutual interests,
that closer cooperation and exchanges of information be developed
between ASEAN and the Energy Charter process”.
ASEAN, which is comprised of ten member-countries (Brunei-Darussalam,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam), will be represented in its dealings with
the Energy Charter process through the Jakarta-based ASEAN Centre
for Energy, which will in future be entitled to attend all meetings
of the Energy Charter Conference and its subsidiary bodies in an
observer capacity, and to receive all related official documentation.
ASEAN’s acceptance as an observer-organisation marks a continuation
of the development of the Energy Charter’s relations with
countries outside its original constituency.
Australia, Japan, Mongolia and the five states of Central Asia
are all long-standing full members of the Energy Charter process,
and observer status at the Energy Charter Conference has also been
granted in recent years to the People’s Republic of China,
the Republic of Korea, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
In other areas of its work, the Energy Charter Conference also
approved a set of conclusions with respect to a report on the investment
climate and market structures in the energy sector of the Russian
Federation, which was reviewed by the Energy Charter’s Investment
Group in November.
Among other things, these conclusions take note of the Russian
government’s efforts to restructure the country’s energy
markets, particularly in the power sector, and encourage Russia
to move towards establishing more competitive, transparent markets
in other sectors as well, first and foremost the gas sector.
The Conference also adopted conclusions with respects to a similar
investment-climate report on the Slovak Republic, and endorsed a
set of recommendations to the government of the Czech Republic on
its energy efficiency policies, based on a review of that country
conducted under the Charter’s auspices earlier this autumn.
Finally, the Conference took positive note of a first edition of
Model Agreements on cross-border pipelines, designed to provide
a possible starting-point for negotiations between states, or between
a state and an investor, on agreements concerning the construction
and operation of cross-border energy pipeline systems.
For more information see http://www.encharter.org.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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