Co-organized by ESCAP, ADB and GTI, the Joint Workshop to Discuss Next Steps on North-East Asia Regional Power Grid Interconnection was held virtually on June 4, 2021.

Among the various sub-regions of Asia, North-East Asia has a relatively limited amount of cross-border power system connectivity, yet it means huge tremendous potential for increased regional integration here. Both ESCAP and ADB have been planning the next phase of their respective projects on regional power interconnection, hence the main objective of the workshop is to share information on the activities proposed by ESCAP and ADB and seek feedback from relevant stakeholders on the next steps and modalities for future cooperation, where the GTI Energy Board members were also invited to provide comments.

Mr. Ganbold Baasanjav, Head of ESCAP East and North-East Asia Office, Ms. Sujata Gupta, Director of Sustainable Infrastructure Division of the East Asia Department from ADB, and Mr. Andrey Smorodin, Director of GTI Secretariat, delivered the opening remarks to welcome the participants and called on joint efforts towards the green power integration.

During the workshop, stakeholders and experts actively discussed and shared insights on the following topics: 1. phase two of the project “Regional Power Grid Connectivity for Sustainable Development in North-East Asia”: introducing the “Green Power Corridor” concept, and the regional integration, 2. Mongolia’s perspective and objectives on Strategy for a Northeast Asia Power System Interconnection (NAPSI) concept, and the proposed 2nd technical assistant and its scope, 3. the next steps on Renewables and Regional Integration, Infrastructure Development and Modelling.

On behalf of the GTI Secretariat, Mr. Smorodin also moderated the discussion on the next steps and Ms. Ru Yue shared the latest progress and plans on the GTI energy cooperation.