International speakers from the Asian and ASEAN countries have gathered in Brunei for the opening of the first special seminar on "Energy Market Integration and Deployment of Renewable Power Technologies 2014" on Wednesday. The seminar hosted for the 2014 Energy Week opened since Monday was the joint effort organized by Economic Research Institute For ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) and Brunei National Energy Research Institute (BNERI). ERIA and BNERI experts including Shigeru Kimura (Special Advisor at ERIA), Dr. Phoumin Han, Energy Economist of ERIA and Dr. Venkatachalam Anbumozhi shared their experiences, research studies and lessons-learned in promoting the deployment of renewable energy technologies in East Asia under different stages of energy market development where Brunei is actively encouraging the experts to provide an appropriate renewable solutions to the world. "This seminar will provide a platform for policy practitioners to recommend way forward to East Asian countries that are at various phases of market integration and levels of renewable energy technology deployment," as mentioned by Dato Haji Jamain bin Haji Julaihi, permanent secretary, Downstream & Power, Energy Department at Prime Minister's Office during his opening Remark at the seminar. "As you are aware, all countries today are searching for appropriate renewable energies as part of their energy mix. The topic of this seminar today came timely to explore way forward with some solutions through expertise and experience sharing from our guest speakers and audiences," Dato Haji Jamain added. "I would like to take this opportunity to invite you all to have active discussion and participation in this seminar. Throughout this afternoon, our speaker team from ERIA will highlight the benefits and potential of increased penetration of renewable energies into power grid by energy market integration with the possibility of deploying renewable power technologies in a sustainable way." Meanwhile, Pehin Dato Haji Mohammad Yasmin, minister of energy in the Prime Minister's Office, launched the Local Business Development Forum in conjunction with the Energy Week 2014 on Wednesday. The Local Business Development (LBD) in the energy industry has been given a new drive and focus since 2011. It is one of the Strategic Goals of the Energy White Paper, which was launched two days back by His Majesty the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Negara Brunei Darussalam, as one of the key enablers supporting Brunei's Vision 2035, said the minister at the opening remark. The main objective of the LBD is to maximize the economic spin- off from energy industry activities by boosting the local content both in term of local spending and use of local workforce. In order to ensure sustainability of the oil and gas industry and creating a better pro-business environment, Energy Department at the Prime Minister's Office (EDPMO) have taken up several steps. Two LBD Directives has been created to establish an environment for a healthy business competition with an anti-monopoly principle and to increase local content by developing truly Bruneian companies, owned and managed by locals. EDPMP have also by working closely with the Brunei Shell Joint Venture (BSJV) and the Anti- Corruption Bureau to weed out unscrupulous activities.