Participants agreed to continue cooperating in studying energy security solutions in the region such as nuclear power, oil stockpiling and clean coal technologies.

Hailing China, Japan, and the RoK for successfully implementing the Plan on the Human Resource Development for Civilian Nuclear, the ministers encouraged the three countries to continue with the joint Programme on improving the capacity of energy efficiency and protection with the ASEAN member countries.

They also welcomed China’s initiative on sustainable development of new energy, Japan’s organistion of roundtable discussions on energy and smart power grid during the 2014-2015 period and the RoK’s initiative on integration of renewable energy and energy storage system.

The ministers said the exchange of views will help the member countries roll out suitable energy development strategies.

The same day, the ninth East Asia Summit Energy Ministers’ Meeting (EAS EMM9) was convened, bringing together the ten ASEAN members and eight partner countries of Australia, China, India, Japan, the RoK, New Zealand, Russia and the US.

Participants stressed the significance of energy security in East Asia as the region accounts for 65 percent of the global energy demand.

They agreed to further improve the efficiency of energy, exploit new and renewable energy resources and develop the energy market and infrastructure in a transparent fashion.

In the context of the world’s sharp oil price drop, regional countries should pay more heed to clean and renewable energies, energy efficiency as well as clean technology transfer, they said.

The Vietnamese delegation to the events was led by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong who underlined the need for countries to have harmonised standards and suitable regulations to ensure energy connectivity, particularly within the ASEAN region.

VNA