SINGAPORE - Singapore strengthened its collaboration with the International Energy Agency (IEA) with its inaugural participation in a meeting of top officials last week.
Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S Iswaran attended the biennial IEA Ministerial Meeting in Paris, held from Nov 7-8, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said in a media release on Friday (Nov 10). Singapore became an association country of the IEA in 2016.
Singapore will be working with the IEA on a capacity building programme on energy investments and a workshop on digitalisation and energy for Asean in 2018, MTI said.
Mr Iswaran said at the meeting in Paris that as Singapore assumes the chairmanship of the 36th Asean Ministers on Energy Meeting in 2018, it will work with the IEA to explore deeper collaboration so as to foster a resilient and sustainable energy community in Asean.
At the plenary discussions, the minister spoke about the strategies that Singapore and the region can adopt to enhance energy security, and how the IEA could work with Asean to promote a transparent and flexible regional gas market.
He also said it is important for Asia to collaborate closely with international organisations like the IEA to facilitate capacity building initiatives and attract energy investments to the region.
Mr Iswaran was also the lead speaker at the meeting's government-industry dialogue on digitalisation and energy. He shared how Singapore was working towards the vision of a Smart Nation in the energy sector, and encouraged government and industry leaders to proactively approach the issue of cybersecurity to address the risks associated with an increasingly digitalised and interconnected world.
The meeting was attended by representatives from the 29 IEA member countries; accession countries Chile and Mexico; association countries Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Morocco and Thailand; and partner country South Africa.
More than 30 CEOs from key global energy companies also participated in the discussions.
Mr Iswaran was accompanied by officials from MTI and the Energy Market Authority.
