Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends 3rd Asia Zero Emission Community Leaders' Meeting

The meeting brought together leaders from Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Japan.

At the meeting, Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae emphasized the necessity to secure economic growth in Asia, as the driver of global growth while taking actions to address climate change, an urgent challenge common to all human kind.

She reaffirmed the importance of the AZEC principles, with a view to realizing decarbonization, economic growth, and energy security simultaneously, and achieving net-zero emissions under various pathways.

Based on "Action Plan for Next Decade" adopted last year, efforts to accelerate "AZEC solutions" have been showing progress, specifically, in the development of rules to promote activities that contribute to decarbonization in Asia, sectoral initiatives, and individual projects involving both the public and private sectors, she said.

Since last year's leaders' meeting, approximately 120 cooperation projects have been developed through Memoranda of Understanding between Japan and AZEC partner countries, according to Takaichi.

Japan is coordinating with Malaysia to sign a memorandum of cooperation o the establishment of the Joint Crediting Mechanism between the two countries, she added.

Japan, in cooperation with ASEAN countries, is also promoting the decarbonization of the primary supply chains through resource circulation of critical minerals.

Launched in 2023, the AZEC initiative is a multilateral cooperation mechanisms designed to further advance decarbonization in Asia toward the goal of carbon neutrality while achieving economic growth and energy security, creating various pathways tailored to each country's circumstances./.