The annual AMEM is always a great opportunity for the Philippines to reach out to our ASEAN partners and showcase our most recent achievements in the energy sector

DoE in full force The members of the Official Philippine Delegation to AMEM37, comprised by (from left) DoE-Energy Policy and Planning Bureau’s DoE Energy Cooperation and Coordination Division Chief Lilian Fernandez; Director Jesus Tamang; DoE Senior Undersecretary Jesus Cristino Posadas; Secretary Alfonso Cusi; and Assistant Secretary Gerardo Erguiza Jr., during a bilateral meeting held at the sidelines of the event.

BANGKOK, Thailand — Department of Energy (DoE) Secretary Alfonso Cusi headed the Philippine delegation for the 37th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM37) and associated meetings being held from 2 to 6 September 2019.

Slated for the event is a series of ministerial meetings that include the AMEM-International Energy Agency Dialogue, AMEM-International Renewable Energy Agency Dialogue, 13th East-Asia Summit Energy Ministers Meeting, and the 16th AMEM+3 Meeting. In addition, the Ministers-CEO Dialogue under the 2019 ASEAN Energy Business Forum, which highlights various energy-related concerns within the ASEAN and its dialogue partners would likewise take place.

“The annual AMEM is always a great opportunity for the Philippines to reach out to our ASEAN partners and showcase our most recent achievements in the energy sector. Moreover, we are able to explore potential energy cooperation endeavors to help us attain our energy goals, particularly energy security, equity, and resiliency,” Cusi said at the AMEM opening ceremony.

With this year’s theme “Advancing Energy Transition through Partnership and Innovation,” AMEM 37 aims to further strengthen collaboration among ASEAN member countries, their regional partners, and international organizations through the formulation of sustainable solutions that promote closer regional integration and establish the ASEAN as a major economic block.

At present, the ASEAN has achieved an energy intensity reduction level of 24.4 percent, consistent with the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation Strategy target to reduce EI to 20 percent in 2020.

Meanwhile, the renewable energy share in ASEAN’s Total Primary Energy Supply reached 14.3 percent in 2017, with the APAEC Strategy calling to increase the RE component in the ASEAN’s total primary energy mix to 23 percent by 2025.

On the matter of promoting regional power integration, the ASEAN energy ministers noted the supplemental multi-lateral electricity trade among Lao PDR, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore (LTMS) under the Energy Purchase and Wheeling Agreement (EPWA).

The supplementary EPWA upgrades the tradable capacity of Phase 1 of the LTMS Power Integration Project which was signed during the Philippine hosting of AMEM35 in 2017.