The four countries shared information on potential opportunities for cooperation and policies on the development of bio-energy sectors. They examined methods to boost exports of commercial technology programmes and to work together to become globally competitive in the provision of renewable energy solutions.

The Vietnamese contingent paid particular attention to new technological developments in the treatment of waste water to generate power, being currently used in the Republic of Korea, plus techniques for industrial ethanol preparation and Indonesian models featuring villages able to supply their own energy through the use of local agricultural waste.

According to Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Van Lang, Vietnam’s bio-energy programme aims to develop a number of trial bio-energy projects capable of providing 100,000 tonnes of five-percent ethanol and 50,000 tonnes of five-percent bio-diesel a year to meet 0.4 percent of the country’s petroleum needs.

As bio-energy development is an urgent matter, the Government will give priority to investment in agricultural waste exploitation to produce a green energy source.

Currently, Vietnam has five bio-energy development projects in place in the northern, central and southern regions. Of these, the first three projects will commence production in 2009 with the two remaining plants coming online the following year.