Kuala Lumpur, 26 May 2025: ERIA President Tetsuya Watanabe participated in the Energy Transition Meeting in ASEAN, jointly convened by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Malaysia Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (MyDIGITAL).

The high-level gathering brought together regional leaders, policy experts, and private sector representatives to foster collaborative solutions for advancing the energy transition across Southeast Asia. The meeting was officially opened by Dato' Sri Haji Fadillah bin Haji Yusof, Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.

President Watanabe contributed to two key sessions during the event. He delivered opening remarks during the panel discussion, ’Transitioning Industrial Clusters in ASEAN: Is There a Blueprint?’ and later provided closing remarks at the closed-door roundtable, ’Towards an ASEAN Clean Economy Agreement.’

In his interventions, President Watanabe emphasised the urgency of decarbonising ASEAN’s industrial sector. He highlighted the need to strengthen existing regional frameworks for energy cooperation and explore innovative financial mechanisms to support decarbonisation efforts. He also introduced the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) initiative as a collaborative platform to assist ASEAN Member States in achieving low-carbon industrial development and implementing energy transition strategies.

President Watanabe expressed his appreciation to the WEF and MyDIGITAL for organising the timely and strategic dialogue, which was held in parallel with the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting in Kuala Lumpur.