Philippine PASA report

Department of Energy (DOE), on a Participating Agencies Service Agreement (PASA)(10/96-10/97) to provide TA to the Philippine Department of Energy (PDOE) in the area of sustainable energy development. Among the PASA"s most concrete outcomes were an agreement between the PDOE and DOE"s Energy Information Administration (EIA) on energy information exchanges, and progress made toward electric power sector restructuring and natural gas policy development and implementation. Specific achievements included, inter alia: (1) providing the PDOE and its partners with electricity market information and training on privatization, regulation, and restructuring issues, along with options for incorporating environmental requirements into restructuring activities; (2) strengthening the PDOE"s capacity for information collection, analysis, and dissemination, as well as for energy and environmental modeling and forecasting; and (3) assisting the PDOE in working with new information technologies, including the use of electronic media and the Internet. The new professional relationships and friendships that have developed between U.S. and Philippine experts and policymakers during the course of the PASA are expected to foster informal consultation and collaboration beyond the life of the PASA. While it is expected that the above accomplishments will contribute to the Philippines" effort to develop its energy sector on an environmentally sustainable basis and to attract foreign investors who can provide the necessary capital to help finance the country"s future economic growth, work remains to be done in each of the areas in which the PASA has made progress.