The 11th GTI Energy Board Meeting back-to-back with the ESCAP-GTI Seminar on Energy Cooperation in North-East Asia: Cross-border Power Trading in Northeast Asia: Status, Challenges and Perspectives was successfully held on 26 October 2023 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in hybrid format. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Energy of Mongolia, and co-organized by the UNESCAP East and North-East Asia Office and the GTI Secretariat.

The ESCAP-GTI Seminar discussed the status, challenges and perspectives of cross-border power connectivity and trade in Northeast Asia with a focus on feasibility studies that have been carried out and data-sharing needs as a building block for multilateral power trade. The Seminar explored views from regional experts and governments on possible data-sharing agreements and platforms for GTI countries and further discussed institutional support for building up the cooperation mechanism on power connectivity and trade in the Greater Tumen Region.

With the main theme on Energy Cooperation in North-East Asia after the Pandemic, the 11th GTI Energy Board Meeting reviewed the progress of the GTI regional energy cooperation, as well as current trends and policies in member countries. During the meeting, representatives from the GTI member countries actively exchanged ideas and suggestions for future joint activities. The results and recommendations of the project on ESCAP-GTI Capacity Building Needs Assessment for Effective Power Interconnection Cooperation in North-East Asia were shared with the participants, and the project report is now available on the GTI website.

After reaffirming the common vision of further cooperation in Northeast Asia, members uniformly adopted the Work Plan for 2023-2024, and the People’s Republic of China assumed the Chairmanship of the GTI Energy Board.

Annex: Presentations from members on regional energy cooperation focusing on information exchange and national progress in North-East Asia after the Pandemic

(China) Mr. Suo Yunpeng (Deputy Division Chief, Division of Asian, African and Latin American Affairs, Department of International Cooperation, National Energy Administration) mentioned that China, as a big energy consumer in the NEA region, accounts for 24.3% of non-fossil energy consumption in the world, and the installed capacity of renewable energy reached 1.27 TW by 2022. According to statistics, China has made some progress in energy technologies: established the largest offshore wind turbine with 16 MW and designed a 1 GW turbine for the hydropower station; has the largest production of PV panel and wind turbines, with over 70% for solar panel production, and over 50% are wind turbine production. China also has good cooperation with neighbors: exported 1.3 billion KWh to Mongolia in 2022; China and Russia signed a long-term power trading agreement in 2012, and Russia exported 4.7 billion KWh to China last year. Lastly, he hoped that with the help from ESCAP and the GTI Secretariat, China could work with GTI partners to promote the interconnectivity and make full use of the resources in a clearer way in the region.

(Mongolia) Mr. Enkhtuvshin Ganbaatar (Head of Division, Division of Strategy Planning, Ministry of Energy) presented the policy and action for NEA regional energy cooperation after the pandemic. He highlighted Vision 2050 and the New Recovery Policy, and shared that the New Recovery Policy aims to reduce the negative impact of the pandemic on the economy, including the energy recovery among six major resolutions. NEA is an important part of World socio-economic activities, producing 27% of the global GDP and 20% World Population. The region’s economic dynamics influence its CO2 emissions, and Mongolia’s vast renewable potential could benefit the reduction of regional CO2 emissions, especially by implementing the NAPSI project. Mr. Enkhtuvshin further shared the data, information and scope for the NAPSI Technical Assistance (TA) study, where the second study expects to review the results considering the market realities (production-consumption balances, renewable energy variability, infrastructure costs, electricity tariffs). The results aim at strengthening the regional cooperation on electricity interconnection based on trading with renewable electricity supply from Mongolia, by creating a strong base of the project at the market, technical, financial, and institutional level.

(ROK) Ms. Kim Haeju (Project Manager, International Climate Cooperation Division, Korea Energy Agency) shared that a New Government’s Energy Policy was announced in May 2022. There was the goal of reorganizing a practical and reasonable energy mix, and the national power and supply-demand plan was finalized in January 2023. It also planned to improve energy efficiency, establish new energy industries and export contributors, strengthen energy welfare and higher policy acceptance. After briefed on the Korea Energy Agency (KEA) and its missions and projects, she also introduced Korea’s energy cooperation in Northeast Asia, where Korea signed the MOU with Mongolia for creating an energy convergence green city in Ulaanbaatar last year, and expected to build networks with Mongolian government to help Korean companies expanding overseas. The International Mitigation Program was also introduced, which is an international cooperation program the Korean government promotes GHG emission reduction activities under the A6 of the Paris Agreement with the government budget for the implementation of participating countries’ NDC and sustainable development of the host countries. Under the program, overseas GHG ER activities that Internationally Transferred Mitigation Output (ITMO) for NDC use could be transferred to Korea under A6 of the Paris Agreement. Four activities from two countries (Uzbekistan and Vietnam) were selected after evaluation, and signed the agreement in September 2023. KEA also supports the development of methodologies and MRV infrastructures to connect ODA programs and overseas programs.

(Russia) Ms. Yana Smagina (Consultant, Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Energy) pointed out the importance of expanding technological exchange for the transition to a new technological order, as well as energy security, and mentioned that the Russian Federation consistently implements the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including goal 7 to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. The electric power industry of the Russian Federation is the world's largest unified energy system that provides centralized power supply to most of the territories in the country, from Crimea to Vladivostok, combines power plants with a combined capacity of more than 240 GW and provides one of the cleanest energy balances in the world. She expressed that the development of distributed generation technologies and the modernization of inefficient diesel fuel oil and coal as well as the construction of new generating sources based on local resources, including renewable energy sources, is one of the priorities set out in the strategic planning document, including the energy strategy of Russia. Depending on the nature of energy consumption and the availability of energy resources, Russia has developed various technological solutions to ensure local energy supply, such as highly efficient gas turbines and low-power nuclear power plants. One of the promising technologies among them is hydrogen. Also, Russia involves both state-owned energy companies and private businesses in the format of public-private partnership in solving the problem of modernization of small and distributed generation. Ultimately, Ms. Smagina proposed to expand mutually beneficial cooperation between states and businesses, which may ensure universal access to reliable, sustainable and modern energy sources for all.