Asean foreign ministers meeting 2018

People wait for their turn for COVID-19 testing in Malaysia (Photo: Reuters)

Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – The Malaysian parliament may convene during the emergency period as approved by the country’s King, according to a palace statement on February 24.

Comptroller of the Royal Household Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said the matter was decided following Sultan Abdullah’s meeting with the speakers of the upper and lower house on the same day.

The parliament will resume on a date deemed suitable by the King, taking into consideration the advice of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, the statement said.

The consent of the Malaysian King to the advice of the PM on the declaration of the Emergency Proclamation on January 12 is a proactive measure to contain the COVID-19.

The state of emergency is due to run until August 1. Malaysia has the third highest COVID-19 tally in Southeast Asia, following Indonesia and the Philippines, posting over 290,000 cases and 1,088 fatalities./.

People in Cambodia are asked not to enter and leave COVID-19-hit areas (Photo: VNA)

Phnom Penh (VNA) – Cambodia logged 65 new COVID-19 infections on February 25 morning, including 58 cases in the community with links to the “February 20 community infection outbreak”, announced the Ministry of Health.

Of the locally-transmitted cases, there were 41 Chinese nationals, nine Vietnamese, five Cambodian and three from the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Japan.

As of February 25, the country’s COVID-19 count had risen to 697, including 477 recoveries.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen recently called on Cambodians nationwide, especially those in Phnom Penh, to intensify preventive measures against the COVID-19 pandemic as the new community infection outbreak was announced.

All social activities can remain as usual, but preventive measures must be reinforced, he added./.

The Hanoitimes – Vietnam has been on way to pursue an energy transition that reduce carbon emission and develop renewable sources in an effort to combat climate change .

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) has been considered a source of energy that is able to meet Vietnam’s rising power demand and clean enough in comparison with coal power which the country is advised to minimize from now on.

Vietnam has been on way to pursue an energy transition that reduces carbon emission and develops renewable sources in an effort to combat climate change and there will be room in the country’s mix for fossil fuels as long as they are clean, a local expert has said.

Dang Huy Dong, president of Vietnam’s Planning and Development Institute. Photo: MPI

“Gas is by far the cleanest fossil fuel,” Dang Huy Dong, president of Vietnam’s Planning and Development Institute, said at the Future Energy Asia 2020 forum in Bangkok last month.

Gas, particularly LNG, is the only meaningful solution for Vietnam to reduce emissions in the context that the potential of hydropower is almost exhausted while solar and wind power are not reliable enough, the Bangkok Post quoted Dong as saying.

“Only gas could provide Vietnam with a practical energy supply, in particular LNG,” according to Dong, who is a former deputy minister of Planning and Investment.

He attributed the choice of gas to falling fuel prices, improved efficiency and technologies. At the same time, the price of coal-fired power is rising due to supply and financial limitations.

For the aforementioned reasons, Dong believes Vietnam needs to move away from coal to other sources, as China and many other countries are doing.

“In the interests of environmental protection and sustainable development, more and more provinces in Vietnam are demanding a change from coal projects to LNG power projects,” he said.

Vietnam’s power demand and the government’s choice

Vietnam’s energy sources. Data: MOIT/Bangkokpost. Chart: Linh Pham

Currently, coal-fired power plants generate about 39% of the electricity consumed in Vietnam. Hydropower accounts for 35%, gas-fired power 18.5%, and renewables 7.2%.

Over the past decade, hydropower generating capacity has recorded the highest growth rate in Vietnam. The country now has 5,500 megawatts (MW) solar capacity, representing 40% of all such capacity in Southeast Asia. This suggests a boom in renewable energy projects in Vietnam, where more attractive feed-in tariff (FIT) policies have been introduced for solar and wind power.

However, as the second largest power market in ASEAN, the country of 95 million is facing a critical supply challenge, with a need to triple capacity by 2030, the expert said.

“Rapid urbanization and industrialization have driven up electricity consumption in Vietnam dramatically,” he said, adding that southern Vietnam was at risk of being undersupplied.

In addition to expanding capacity, Vietnam has encouraged energy efficiency and renewable energy, reduction of CO2 emissions and creation of an energy market through the country’s eighth National Power Development Master Plan for the 2021-2030 period.

Furthermore, the government sees an efficient and reliable power supply as critical for socio-economic development. In 2016, it abandoned plans for nuclear development, citing safety concerns following the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. It has resulted in a shift in long-term planning to include other sources to replace the planned nuclear capacity.

Remarkably, Vietnam is also interested in greater integration of power development throughout Southeast Asia, deploying cheaper sources as well as optimizing system operations.

“I think this is somewhat in line with the (goals of) interconnectivity and interconnection within ASEAN,” Dong emphasized.