Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia and Sweden continue to take serious steps to enhance cooperation in renewable energy, an Indonesian envoy said.

The renewable energy sector is one of the areas of mutually beneficial cooperation for both countries, Indonesian Ambassador to Sweden Bagas Hapsoro said in a statement published on the website of the Foreign Ministry Friday.

"Through dialogs and discussions, the two countries can encourage the realization of concrete cooperation in dealing with a shortage of electricity energy in this country as well as in contributing to the effort to prevent C02 emissions and climate change," he said.

He made the remarks at a meeting with officials of the Swedish Energy and Environment Ministry and the Swedish Energy Agency on the sidelines of the 5th Indonesian-Swedish Initiative for Sustainable Energy Solutions (INSISTS) Board of Management Meeting held in Sweden from March 29 to April 1.

The Indonesian delegation to the INSISTS meeting was led by Secretary General of the National Energy Council Satry Nugraha.

The delegation comprised representatives from various Indonesian stakeholders in the renewable energy field, including the National Energy Council, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, the Payakumbuh mayor, and state oil and gas company Pertamina, in addition to the Association of Indonesian Bioenergy Producers, the technical faculty of Gadjah Mada University (UGM), and the West Sumatra provincial government.

The cooperation between the two countries in the renewable energy sector has been running well in the past couple of years after the signing of INSIST cooperation agreement in 2013, DEN Secretary General Satry Nugraha said.

"Intensive dialogs and further evaluation of the realized cooperation projects will encourage concrete cooperation between the two countries," he said.

The meeting was also attended by representatives of Indonesian and Swedish industries and private sectors in order to encourage them in the use of renewable energy as a new source of energy in Indonesia.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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