Vietnam’s Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh joined policymakers, researchers and representatives of energy companies from 26 countries at the LNG Producer-Consumer Conference 2019 in Tokyo on September 26.

Participants in a group phot

In opening the conference, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Isshu Sugawara stressed the need to enhance cooperation between liquefied natural gas (LNG) producing and consuming countries.

He mentioned initiatives of Japan to expand and develop the LNG market, focusing on financial support, capacity building, and market development.

He reiterated Japan’s commitment to investing an additional 10 billion USD from public and private sectors to promote LNG demand and assist with the connection of new LNG supply sources with the increasing demand in Asia.

Addressing the conference, Minister Tran Tuan Anh said developing LNG is an inevitable trend for Vietnam to diversify fuel sources for electricity generation, contributing to ensuring national energy security.

He said Vietnam’s energy exploitation is mainly based on traditional natural sources such as hydropower, coal, oil and gas. However, hydroelectricity resources have almost been fully exploited. Therefore, the Vietnamese Government has mapped out policies to increase the use of clean and renewable energy for economic development, especially for power generation.

The minister added that in the national development plan of gas industry through 2025 with orientations to 2035, Vietnam needs to import LNG from 2022, and the demand for LNG will increase to about 5 million tonnes by 2025, 10 million tonnes by 2030, and 15 million tonnes by 2035.

To realise these goals, Vietnam is developing a system of LNG import terminals and relevant facilities. Moreover, Vietnam has been building and promulgating a legal framework to develop the LNG sector.

At the conference, delegates talked about the role of LNG in realising global targets on climate change, and solutions to accessing energy, developing LNG demand in new emerging economies, and ensuring environmental protection and energy security.

During the working visit to Japan, Minister Anh met with Minister Sugawara and Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) for the House of Councilors Hiroshige Seko.

At the meeting with Minister Sugawara, Anh said the Vietnamese Government and Ministry of Industry and Trade are particularly interested in developing LNG-fuelled power generation and will create favourable conditions for Japanese businesses to study and implement LNG investment projects in Vietnam.

He proposed Japan continue helping Vietnam to develop gas-fuelled  power projects in the future, build regulations and policies to develop ports receiving and importing LNG, and develop human resources in the field.

In response, Sugawara said Japan will increase budgets to support human resources training in LNG business for countries, including Vietnam.

Regarding international economic integration, the two ministers underlined the need to further step up the regional multilateral trade negotiation framework such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and strengthen bilateral coordination so as to conclude the RCEP negotiations at the RCEP ministerial meeting in Vietnam’s central city of Da Nang this month and move towards the signing of this deal in Vietnam in 2020.

Minister Anh hailed the leading role of Japan in the negotiation process of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the RCEP.

He hoped Japan will continue promoting its role not only in the RCEP negotiations but also in supporting Vietnam to implement effectively the deal.