Calls rise for Asian energy security

By Kim Jae-won

Asian countries need to strengthen cooperation to improve their energy security, according to a respected Japanese expert.

Nobuo Tanaka, an associate at the Institute for Energy Economics based in Japan, said Saturday that Asian nations should connect pipelines of their energy resources to brace for possible energy crises, such as Iranian sanctions and the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

“There is interesting idea by Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank in Japan. He has the idea of connecting Japanese grid lines to Korea, Russia, China, Mongolia, ASEAN countries and India to use renewable resources as much as possible,” Tanaka said during the AIESEC Alumni Asia Pacific Conference, held at the Mayfield Hotel in Seoul from July 13 to 15.

AIESEC (Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales) is the world’s largest student-run organization with a network of more than 2,100 universities from over 110 countries.

Tanaka, an AIESEC alumnus, took the example of Europe for a role model for Asia’s energy strategy. The European Union decided to establish collective energy security by connecting electric grid lines and gas pipelines. He said Europe even reaches its arm further to North Africa to be connected with the region not only for energy security but also for peace between Muslims and Christians on the two continents.

The former head of the International Energy Agency, a group of oil importing countries, said that Japan in particular will benefit from the project. “Japan is not connected to anybody. This is a huge problem for security and connecting lines with Korea and Russia would be a good resolution.”

He argued that sharing energy resources between Asian nations can overcome many challenges for energy security such as instability in oil production in the Middle East, the role of Russia as a major gas supplier and the diminishing role of nuclear power after the Fukushima accident. Tanaka added that the new project will help Asian nations overcome remaining obstacles such as high costs of renewable energy sources and the mitigation of global climate change.

The conference was held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of AIESEC in Asia Pacific. Korea and Japan became the first Asian countries to join AIESEC in 1962. Since then, AIESEC Korea has provided a platform for young people to discover their full potential and become further leaders of the world, according to the organization.

Ahn Chong-won, chairman of AIESEC Association Korea, the alumni body of AIESEC Korea, is sure that the organization will continuously contribute to the region’s economy.

“I am confident that the conference will provide an opportunity to share the vision of AIESEC in the Asia Pacific region for the next 50 years and bring AIESEC alumni to even closer together to strengthen our network worldwide.”

Ahn said that the organization provides good opportunities for young business students to share ideas with their counterparts in the United States, Europe and Japan and that the activities encourage and inspire them to become leading businessmen later.