WITH each country having its own biofuels program, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand energy heads have agreed to pursue the development of common standards for biofuels, Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla told reporters.

“Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia have something in common in terms of having a strong agricultural base and are, therefore, in the position to develop a biofuels sector,” Lotilla said.

The energy chief said Thai energy minister Piyavasti Amaranand agreed that the Philippines and Thailand ought to pursue this agenda in different international fora.

“It will be recalled that the Philippines pushed for the development of common standards at the Asean-Europe Meeting and at the East Asian Leaders’ Summit,” said Lotilla. He added that the countries, on the other hand, then have opted to develop their respective national standards first.

Lotilla said the Philippines has proposed to begin the initiative through a workshop that will allow all countries to exchange information on the status of their respective national efforts on developing biofuels standards and to determine the next steps for moving forward.

Lotilla added that, in a separate meeting, Indonesia’s special envoy Dr. Alwi Shilab also agreed that the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand should work together in developing the common biofuels standards in view of the three countries’ targets of becoming exporters of biofuels.

“The concern is to ensure that the tradability of biofuels and vehicles using biofuels or flexible fuel vehicles is not hampered in the future by artificial barriers to trade,” said Lotilla.

It is in the common interest of East Asian countries, according to Lotilla, that they really push for the development of common standards so that tradability of biofuels will be enhanced in the future.

For instance, Lotilla said the Philippines has different standards in terms of its Clean Air Act than the other countries, whereas Indonesia also has separate requirements on sulfur content and aromatics.

Lotilla said it is more difficult to come up with a common standard for biofuels, considering that everyone seems to be starting from scratch.

Even with oil products, Lotilla said the East Asian countries are also trying to look at developing common standards, as the economies of scale will push producers to come up with the same standards for the whole Asean and the East Asian region.

And if this happens, Lotilla pointed out that the cost of production of oil companies will go down significantly.

He added that Thailand is currently looking at cassava as a major biodiesel feedstock, while Indonesia is seriously also looking at jatropha.

Lotilla said the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs will be working with the Department of Energy for hosting the meeting.

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ZAMBOANGA CITY—Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza announced that seven major infrastructure projects worth P18 billion under President Arroyo’s Mindanao super-region strategy are now ready for implementation.

WITH each country having its own biofuels program, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand energy heads have agreed to pursue the development of common standards for biofuels, Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla told reporters.

The Philippines has committed to implement a regional plan of action (RPOA) to combat illegal fishing in Asia-Pacific.

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