Pacific rim energy ministers called Wednesday for "urgent and significant" investment to meet their countries' growing need for energy, vowing joint efforts to tackle high oil prices.
Participants at the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apce) forum on energy and mining agreed that energy issues are a serious concern for their "sustainable economic development," a joint statement said.
"We shared our views that these energy challenges are serious concerns for our sustainable economic development and should be responded to urgently," the statement said.
"Urgent and significant investment is essential if Apec economies are to increase supply and improve demand-side efficiency to meet our growing energy needs," it said.
With 5.3-6.7 trillion dollars required over the next 30 years, ministers said it was imperative that governments and the private sector work together to facilitate investment in infrastructure, renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Consumption of energy in the Pacific rim nations is expected to increase two percent every year going forward while the Apec economies already consume 59 percent of global oil production, the organisers said.
"We encourage Apec economies to adopt best practice principles to facilitate cross-border energy trade, energy investment and energy emergency preparedness and to share information and experiences," the joint statement said.
The participants earlier agreed to create a civil-government forum aimed at helping develop and promote intra-regional trade in natural gas as part of the effort to cope with high oil costs.
"We agreed to implement various measures to respond to rising oil prices - improving joint oil data information, expanding strategic oil reserves, facilitating energy trade, improving conditions for investment, and enhancing co-operation through exchange of information and technology," said South Korea's Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Lee Hee-Beom.
"Some countries that do not have (large) energy resources want to mention the need for developing nuclear energy while other countries do not like it given ... environmental concerns," the official said.
In the event, the statement read: "Recognising the growing importance of nuclear energy in the Apec energy mix, we encourage interested Apec economies to join (an ad hoc group on nuclear energy) to support nuclear power while ensuring optimal safety."
The ministers also agreed to open an official channel of dialogue with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to help secure stability in oil prices.
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