The second annual Asian Architecture @ CSIS conference held in Washington D.C., USA on 3 October 2014 brought together key thought leaders, business executives, and policymakers from the United States and Asia for a discussion of some of today's most important issues such as economics, politics, and energy security.

The discussions were held ahead of the East Asia Summit (EAS) and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forums which are scheduled in November. The Hon. Kevin Rudd, Former Prime Minister of Australia, delivered the opening speech during the conference.

In session two of the conference which focused on "Asia Energy Security", one of the panelists was ERIA Energy Economist Dr. Han Phoumin. Other members of the distinguished panel were: Mr. Jonathan Elkind, Acting Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, U.S. Department of Energy; Mr. Takayuki Sumita, Director-General, Natural Resources and Fuel Department, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, METI, Japan; and Mr. Michael Leifman, Director of Forecasting and Analysis, GE Power & Water Marketing. The session was moderated by Mr. Murray Hiebert, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director, Sumitro Chair for Southeast Asia Studies, CSIS.

Dr. Han shared his view on "Asia energy security: the need for public financial support for clean coal technology (CCT)". He stressed the need for a strong public financing on the CCT and international cooperation framework to ensure the deployment of CCT to emerging economies in ASEAN. He said that in the absence of public financing for CCT, the non-OECD countries will use their own financing mechanisms to fund less efficient coal-fired power generation technologies which could further harm the environment. Hence, Dr. Han concluded that in view of this, it may be the right time for the superpower countries to be involved in providing the appropriate technical and financial support framework for the public financing of CCT to ensure the deployment of these technologies to ASEAN. This will in turn be vital for the green growth of the ASEAN region.