[Kyodo News, June 20]The Japanese government held the first meeting of relevant departments at the Prime Minister’s Office on the 19th to promote the “Asian Zero Emission Community” (AZEC), a decarbonization cooperation framework with Southeast Asia. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said: “The government’s promotion mechanism will be thoroughly strengthened. In the future, the scope of cooperation will be expanded to the aviation, shipping, agriculture and forestry fields.”

Kishida mentioned the Asian Zero Emission Center, a command tower organization based in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the ministerial meeting scheduled to be held in August, pointing out that “initiatives will be strengthened from project implementation to policy coordination.” He also revealed that former Japanese ambassador to Vietnam Takio Yamada will serve as the ambassador of AZEC.

AZEC is led by Japan and consists of ASEAN member states (excluding Myanmar) and Australia. The first summit was held in Tokyo in December last year, confirming that decarbonization will be promoted in a way that takes into account both economic development and energy security. (End)