Malaysia To Lead New And Renewable Energy Project Under APAST

Eastern Region News
August 29, 2006 20:04 PM

KUANTAN, Aug 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will lead one of the four flagship programmes under the ASEAN Plan of Action on Science and Technology (APAST) involving new and renewable energy which is likely to kick off next year.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis said it was crucial to find other alternatives of energy as the oil prices globally continued to rise. "The renewable energy that we want to have is based on the usage of wind and solar power," he said.

"This kind of expertise is seen in Japan and South Korea. These countries have already expressed their interest in helping us in terms of research and development (R&D)," he told reporters after closing the Fourth Informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Science and Technology here Tuesday.

Jamaludin said the roll-out of the programmes would also involve other ASEAN countries. "We will also be talking to Japan (to fund some of the flagship programmes)," he added.

Jamaludin said there was also a need to learn from the experiences of other countries using alternative energy sources such as Japan with nuclear energy.

Besides the new and renewable energy programme, ASEAN's science and technology ministers at the meeting also endorsed three other flagship programmes involving environment and disaster management, open source software system, and food safety and security.

All the flagship programmes will be carried out for a five-year period under APAST.

The meeting also took note of Thailand's proposal to establish an ASEAN Centre for Infectious Diseases, and urged ASEAN members to identify their national centres for infectious diseases.

Earlier, Jamaludin witnessed the signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Malaysia's Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn Bhd and Indonesia's Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.

The pact will see bilateral cooperation between the two parties in the area of tsunami detection systems and future collaborations.