Opening remarks by
Annette Dixon
World Bank Country Director, Thailand
November 23, 2009
Siam City Hotel, Bangkok It’s my pleasure today to launch this consultation. Today we will actually launch two reports, not one. The first is the World Bank’s global flagship called the World Development Report, and this year’s theme is on Development and Climate Change. And the second report is the proposed draft of the energy strategy for the East Asia and Pacific Region. Of course these two reports are very closely related. The challenges that Thailand the East Asia Region generally face are very much going to be discussed in the context of the impact of climate change globally. Each year, the World Bank presents a flagship report on an urgent or a very topical issue that is of interest to the globe. This year, our flagship publication called the World Development Report is on Development and Climate change. This report comes at an opportune time of a global discussion leading up to the Copenhagen (round of climate negotiations). Climate change is forecast to have massive economic, social, and financial implications. As you know, the World Bank works primarily in developing countries, and developing countries are going to be disproportionately affected by climate change. In that respect, this is a crisis that is not of their making and for which they are the least prepared. Thailand, in particular, will be one of the countries that are going to be most affected by climate change.    The World Development Report is focused on both developed and developing countries. Its key message is that if all countries act now, act together and act differently to build a "climate-smart" world, then we can manage and mitigate the impact of this crisis. The report says that developing countries can shift to lower-carbon paths while promoting development and reducing poverty. But their ability to do so will depend largely on the financial and the technical assistance being available from higher income countries. At the same time, higher income countries also need to act quickly to reduce their carbon footprints and boost development of alternative energy sources to help tackle the problem of climate change. Thailand is acting on this agenda. As many of you are aware, the government has just approved its climate investment plan, and Thailand hopes to be able to access concessional financing through the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) which will enable Thailand to invest in energy efficiency projects and enhance the government’s ability to spur investment both in the public and the private sectors in renewable energy projects. Today’s discussion is particularly helpfuyl for us because we’re asking your feedback on a draft  energy flagship study that we prepared for the whole East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region. The study is titled “Meeting East Asia's Growing Energy Needs in Sustainable Manner". This will help guide our work in countries through East Asia and the Pacific, both in terms of financial and technical assistance. This study will help us operationalize the agenda that was in the World Development Report in the energy sector of the region. This study concludes that large-scale deployment of energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies can simultaneously stabilize CO2 emissions, significantly improve local environment and enhance energy security, without compromising economic growth. To achieve this sustainable energy path, it requires all governments in the EAP region to take immediate action to transform the energy sector towards sustainability, and for developed countries in the region to transfer financing and technologies. The World Bank Group is committed to supporting the region's governments by scaling up policy dialogues, knowledge sharing, and financing of sustainable energy. I won’t go into the detail. But I think the report is optimistic and it lays out the direction for the EAP region’s energy sector to meet its growing energy demand in an environmentally sustainable manner over the next two decades, and present a pathway to get there. I am pleased to present Mr. Dejan Ostojic, who is the East Asia energy Sector Leader at the World Bank, who will introduce the EAP energy flagship study, and Dr. Xiaodong Wang, a Senior Energy Specialist at the World Bank, who is a co-author of the WDR and lead author of the EAP energy flagship study. These colleagues together will present the key findings of both reports before opening up for discussions. I’d like to thank you all very much for coming. We hope you will find this discussion useful and we look forward very much to your input as we finalize the flagship energy study for the EAP region. Thank you * * * * * * * * * * * Download Xiaodong Wang's presentation here |
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