Canada Joins Asia-Pac Clean Dev & Climate Group

Media Note
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
October 15, 2007

Canada Joins the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate

The Asia-Pacific Partnership (APP) on Clean Development and Climate held its second Ministerial Meeting in New Delhi, India on October 15, 2007. Senior representatives from founding members Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, and the United States welcomed Canada as the seventh member of the Partnership.

At the meeting, we announced our $45 million commitment for APP in 2007 for collaborative activities with the other Partners in all eight sectoral areas, and that we will continue seeking this level of funding annually to support the work of the Partnership.

The Ministers also announced the creation of an Asia-Pacific Energy Technology Cooperation Centre, facilitating sharing of best practices in clean energy technology and recognizing eight Task Force Action Plans and their accompanying 110 endorsed projects, including 18 flagship projects, exemplifying the scale and potential of the cooperation undertaken by the Partners.

The Asia-Pacific Energy Technology Cooperation Centre, originally considered at the initial Ministerial Meeting in Sydney, Australia in 2006, will benefit Partners by enhancing the sharing and dissemination of energy efficiency knowledge and best practices existing widely in the governments and industries of the Partner countries, through workshops, train-the-trainer programs and an information database.

The 18 flagship projects demonstrate the wide variety of cooperative activities being undertaken by Partners. These flagship projects from all eight Task Forces illustrate a range of cooperative activities that will be undertaken by Partners. They will showcase the effectiveness of an innovative Partnership leveraging the determination of participating governments, the entrepreneurship of our businesses, and the talents of our researchers to address greenhouse gas emissions while promoting energy security and economic growth.

The Asia-Pacific Partnership is a public-private partnership among major Asia-Pacific nations to accelerate the development and deployment of cleaner, more efficient technologies to meet national pollution reduction, energy security and climate change concerns in ways that promote economic development and reduce poverty.

Partnership Task Forces focus their efforts in eight priority sectors including cleaner fossil energy, aluminum, coal mining, steel, renewable energy and distributed generation, power generation and transmissions, buildings and appliances, and cement. The seven partner countries represent more than half of the world's economy, population and energy use.

More information about the Partnership is available at http://www.asiapacificpartnership.org

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Released on October 15, 2007

ENDS

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