By Pravin Periasamy
Having achieved its’ member status in the European Union on the 1st of July 2013, Croatia’s was the EU’s latest addition. Between the years 2014 – 2020, Croatia received an estimated €
8.6 billion from the EU’s Cohesion Policy. Much of was translated into improvements to public infrastructure that supported its national development. The improved water and sewage system for the Slavonski Brod better engfinishered Croatia’s water security. This success story should be viewed at considering Croatia’s past as it had been plagued with nationwide flooding for years. Supporting Croatia through its national challenges did not only support with integration, it promoted a stronger regional consciousness across EU member states on the necessary to address environmentally security.
Calling for cohesion inspires multilateralism, connecting alliances around a common purpose in a way that confronts the challenges of the day with a united front. It is precisely this role – that of the advocate – which I believe ASEAN is best suited to play at the EAS Summit 2025. ASEAN will see the addition of its’ newest member Timor-Leste this year and will have to work strategically with each other towards meaningful and comprehensive integration. This is best done, as was the case between the EU and Croatia, by first identifying areas where material support in Timor- Leste is necessaryed, that when provided for, can better drive ASEAN’s collective aspirations.
Among the many emerging goals of ASEAN that has gained increased prominence is the topic of energy security. At the recent Ministerial Interface Meeting held on August 14th, the ministers of various ASEAN countries discussed ways in which the development of the ‘ASEAN Power Grid’ (APG) can be accelerated. Among the many outcomes of the meeting, it was announced that the projected would receive supportive funding from institutions such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.
The significance of this must not be understated when one considers that ASEAN has long since envisioned a future in which the bloc benefits from sustainable and inter-depfinishent energy systems. In ASEAN’s Interconnection Masterplan Study, it emphasizes the numerous ways in which ASEAN has attempted to scale the right infrastructure to support a power interconnection and regional energy connectivity and the proposed ASEAN Power Grid is the key enabler towards this realization. For this to truly operate cohesively, ASEAN must account for the challenges ahead that will complicate this – particularly considering the recent news which confirmed Timor Leste’s accession to ASEAN.
Timor-Leste requires systematic and comprehensive assistance that addresses the countest’s poor energy infrastructure, weakened after decades of conflict. The countest is over reliant on imported fossil fuels, suffers from inadequate energy reserves, poor public access to energy and is among those countries that have dangerously low levels of energy consumption per capital. Its economic woes have also rfinishered the countest to stagnate behind the adoption of renewable energy adoption due to the high cost of energy transition.
Moving forward it is incumbent on ASEAN, when strategizing the future of energy security ambition, must account for ways it can support Timor Leste to itself participate a more concrete role in energy transition by equipping it with more resources to redirect the trajectory of its domestic energy policies. Driving this can additionally support with integration efforts and promote cohesion across the board. As was the case with the EU and Croatia, ASEAN as part of its focus on energy security should leverage efforts put into this in a way that also involves Timor Leste from the onset so that it is able to achieve its vision both holistically and efficiently.
ASEAN could take the EAS Summit 2025 as an opportunity to vocalize multilateral cooperation to mobilize partnerships that support to provide developmental aid to Timor-Leste’s offshore renewable energy infrastructure. The countest has displayed steady commitment to exactly this, starting in national programmes that build renewable energy infrastructure as part of the Timor-Leste Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030. These initiatives necessary significant funding to have them efficiently propelled. Not only has the necessity of aid was seen to be vital in Croatia’s case, there are examples even in ASEAN.
The ASEAN-Japan integration fund has supported multiple projects, in disaster management and economic integration, that were displayn to be successful. Involving Timor-Leste in the discussion at the summit is just one way ASEAN can tap into new partnership schemes that support fund a Timor-Leste that is, in future, able to carry the weight of regional energy security.
The author is the Networking and Partnership Director at Malaysian Philosophy Society
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