(Taguig City) (Standing- Mr. Kenji Kobayashi, President, Asia Pacific Energy Research Center (APERC); Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras, Undersecretary Loreta G. Ayson, and Energy Utilization Management Bureau Director Evelyn N. Reyes)

Seated- (Left to Right. Mr. Asrul Mohammad Ali, Chief Technical Assistant, Energy Department, Brunei, Darussalam; Mr. Iwan Rustandi, Engineer, PT. Energy Management Indonesia; Dr. Chin-Chung Wu, Chief, Planning Division, Department of Systems Operations, Taiwan Power Company, Chinese Taipei; Dr. Bing-Chwen Yang, Team Leader APERC; Elvira T. Gelindon, APERC Senior Researcher from the Philippines; Mr. Asawin Asawutmangkul, Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency, Ministry of Energy, Thailand; and Mr. Brian Castelli, Executive Vice President, Programs and Development, Alliance to Save Energy, Washington, D.C.)

At the opening ceremony in Best Western Premier F1 Hotel, the Department of Energy (DOE) welcomes the delegation for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC) Peer Review on Energy Efficiency (PREE) last February 6. The program, PREE, is anchored on the Leaders Declaration (Sydney, 2007) which aims to work towards achieving an APEC-wide regional aspirational goal of energy intensity reduction of at least 25% by 2030 (base year 2005), encourage all APEC economies to set individual goals and action plans for improving Energy Efficiency, and review progress through the voluntary APEC Energy Peer Review Mechanism. The last component is the subject of the five-day visit from APEC member-economies in reviewing the Philippines’ current energy efficiency scenario.