The Special Senior Officials Meeting on Energy (Special SOME) and the 20^th ASEAN Centre for Energy Governing Council (ACE GC) Meeting were organised by Department of Energy of the Philippines on 30-31 January 2018 in Metro Manila, the Philippines. The Meeting was attended by Secretary of DOE, H.E. Mr. Alfonso G. Cusi, as well as Senior Officials on Energy Leaders and representatives from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Also in attendance were the representatives of the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) and ASEAN Secretariat.

The Meetings aimed to guide the implementation of ASEAN Plan on Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) for 2018 and to review ACE’s activities and performance as an organisation that represents the interest of 10 ASEAN Member States (AMS) in the energy sector. The ACE GC Meeting congratulated ACE’s Executive Director, Dr. Sanjayan Velautham for the great achievement for 2017 and expressed support for ACE’s work programme in 2018.

During the Meetings, ACE provided some recent publications such as the 5^th ASEAN Energy Outlook, Study on Renewable Energy Cooperation in ASEAN, Recommendation Report on RE Generation Connected to the Distribution Grid, and the 4th edition of renewable energy and energy efficiency newsletter. The publications serve as key reference for ASEAN’s partners to explore energy cooperation within the region. In regards to energy cooperation, the ACE GC Members expressed their appreciation to all dialogue partners, international organisations, academic Institutions and the private sectors for their strong support in the implementation of APAEC Phase I 2016-2020. (SBS.  Featured photo credit:  the Philippine DOE)(Photo caption: Dr. Sanjayan Velautham, ACE Executive Director and Mr. Gu Hongbin, CREEI Deputy Director General with the joint publication. Credit: EPC).