The biofuel development boom has sparked concerns over deforestation and food issues and created a tendency to level criticism on the diversion of edible oil to fuel production. The nonfood oil plant Jatropha curcas L. appeared on the scene as the favorite response to this criticism. But,...

Within the context of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Scorecard mechanism developed by the ASEAN Secretariat to monitor the implementation of the AEC Blueprint, the study focuses on the current state, performance and impact of investment liberalization and facilitation, trade facilitation,...

Drawing upon the recent work conducted at RIS and other thinktanks, this paper finds a compelling case for broader regional economic integration in Asia. It finds a case for formation of a broader economic community in East Asia coalescing the emerging web of FTAs linking Japan, ASEAN, China,...

The world energy market is undergoing a period of great turbulence, and major challenges to global energy security are emerging. Under the current global economic crisis, the world energy demand is likely to stagnate for a couple of years ahead. But in the long run, world energy demand is...

This paper attempts to convey three key messages : First, we believe interdependence in energy among Asian countries is vital for the economic development of key Asian countries. Second, there are several key impediments to increasing Asian interdependence; we believe addressing these impediments...

With booming economic growth Asia will play increasingly important role in global economic and energy matters. World primary energy consumption is projected to expand at an average annual growth rate of 2.1 percent by 2020. About 70 percent of the increase would be accounted for by non-OECD...

It was a long 35 years ago that Richard Nixon proclaimed, Our national goal should be to meet our own energy needs without depending on any foreign sources. Even now that goal of energy security remains elusive although it has occupied an attention almost continuously. Under the sharp increase...

In June 2008, Koreas state-owned Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) announced a global expansion strategy calling for a six-fold increase in oil and gas output and a five-fold increase in proven reserves by 2012. Korea, which depends almost entirely on foreign countries for oil supply, has...

European countries that had moved away from nuclear energy or frozen the construction of new nuclear power plants have begun to return to the construction due to their pursuit of low-carbon electricity sources, energy security and requirements for replacements for existing nuclear plants....