Dalat, Vietnam, 23 July 2010

Southeast Asia, China, Japan and South Korea will step up cooperation in areas such energy-security, oil stockpiling, natural gas, renewable energy and conservation, regional statements said on Friday.

The 10-state Association of South East Asian Nations and China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand will jointly "monitor the price-hike effect of the recent recovery in energy demand", a statement said, without detailing future work.

The 10-country bloc aims to lift output of renewable energy to 15 percent of regional energy capacity by 2015, a second statement for ASEAN said. That includes hydro-power and biofuels. Renewable energy includes wind and nuclear power.

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