An Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) 2019 Deep Dive Workshop

Regional Cooperation and Integration (RCI) is a process by which a group of countries actively cooperate to achieve common goals for mutual benefit. This facilitates market-driven regional integration and the generation of regional public goods. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and its development partners across Asia and the Pacific recognize that RCI can be a powerful mechanism for unlocking the vast energy and energy trade potential in the Asia and the Pacific for the benefit of its people. However, limited inter-country cooperation and integration of the region’s energy sector constrain a greater supply of affordable and sustainable energy and thus broader economic development, yet there is an evolving experience of successful RCI in the context of the energy sector outside the Asia and Pacific Region. It is now timely for ADB and the region to consider how RCI can be applied more widely and successfully to the energy sector and energy trade, including renewable energy, for the benefit of the region’s future development.

The objective of this workshop on RCI for cross-border energy markets was to develop a clearer understanding and consider future directions in relation to (i) emerging cross-border trends in the energy sector in Asia; (ii) experience/lessons-learned with cross-border energy markets in Asia and elsewhere; (iii) opportunities, challenges and priorities for further development of cross-border energy markets and energy trade in Asia, including conventional and renewable energy sources; (iv) planning, cooperating and scaling-up investment in new cross-border energy projects in Asia and the Pacific - roles of the public/private sectors and development partners; and (v) how to move forward implementing a stronger RCI/cross-border focus in ADB’s operations in the energy sector.