Home  Contemporary Issues Prospects for Energy Cooperation in Northeast Asia
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Prospects for Energy Cooperation in Northeast Asia |
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This panel discussion was divided into two complementary sessions. The first session consisted of three rich and penetrating presentations by Bradley O. Babson, former senior advisor to the VP, East Asia Pacific Region, The World Bank; Young Mok Kim, deputy executive director, KEDO; and John B. Fetter, president, FSI Energy. The presentations underscored the region's high degree of dependence on imported oil and warned of its bleak future unless other energy sources can be brought on line. Recognizing that the prospects for multinational cooperation continue to be overshadowed by political, economic and diplomatic problems, one of the most pressing being the North Korean nuclear issue, the presenters explored a series of critical questions. Namely, "What are the current energy sources in Northeast Asia?", "What alternative energy sources exist, and what would it take to successfully exploit them?", "How effective can international power grids, gas pipelines and other cooperative measures be in making the region less reliant on Middle Eastern oil?" and "What are the environmental and security issues involved?" The second session focused on the past contributions and future prospects of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO). Noting that KEDO was in operation for a full ten years as of March 9, 2005, Charles Kartman, then executive director, KEDO, Young-Jin Choi, a former vice foreign minister, Republic of Korea, and Allan Maxwell, then senior advisor to the executive director-European Union, KEDO, affirmed their strongly shared conviction that KEDO has served over this time as a powerful diplomatic tool for the United States, the European Union, Japan and the Republic of Korea. It has, however, faced many challenges to its original mandate, none more so than the DPRK's suspected uranium enrichment program. As governments press for a resolution of the current diplomatic stalemate, common wisdom holds that any final or interim agreements should include measures to address the DPRK's energy situation. All presenters concurred in the view that it is not too early to begin assessing how such agreements might be initiated and managed. In this respect, KEDO's creation and operation offers many pertinent lessons that can be integrated into the current diplomatic process, with a view to determining the role KEDO might play in any future energy-related activities. This program was co-presented with the Asia Society.
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