CSIS and Pertamina Launch Partnership on Southeast Asia Energy Security and the Banyan Tree Leadership Forum

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2017: The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Indonesia’s PT Pertamina (Persero) today launched two new initiatives focusing on energy in Southeast Asia, as well as other key issues impacting the region.

The CSIS-Pertamina Southeast Asia Energy Security Initiative will convene a series of roundtables over the next year examining the most important energy issues affecting Southeast Asia. Findings from the roundtables will inform policy papers that will be circulated to relevant stakeholders and the public.

The CSIS-Pertamina Banyan Tree Leadership Forum will continue the tradition set forth by the CSIS Banyan Tree Leadership Forum, which has become the premier Washington venue for Asian and American leaders to share their visions and articulate their views on vital issues impacting regional and bilateral relations.

Recent speakers have included:

• Malcolm Turnbull, prime minister of Australia
• Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam
• Surin Pitsuwan, former secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and former foreign minister of Thailand
• Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, senior adviser to Joko Widodo, president of Indonesia
• Antonio T. Carpio, senior associate justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
• K Shanmugam, former minister for foreign affairs of Singapore
• Patrick Leahy, U.S. senator
• Truong Tan Sang, former president of Vietnam
• Tommy Remengesau, president of Palau
• Wayne Swan, former treasurer and deputy prime minister of Australia
• Jejomar Binay, former vice president of the Philippines
• Julie Bishop, minister of foreign affairs of Australia

“These new initiatives come at an important time as issues of energy security promise to play an increasingly prominent role in shaping U.S. relations with Southeast Asia and the economic and geopolitical landscape of the broader Asia-Pacific region,” said John J. Hamre, CSIS president and CEO.

These initiatives will be directed by CSIS scholars Dr. Amy Searight, senior adviser and director of the CSIS Southeast Asia Program, and Sarah Ladislaw, senior fellow and director of the CSIS Energy and National Security Program.

The first event under this new initiative will be a panel discussion on Australia and Indonesia’s energy, resources, and security, which will be held at CSIS on Tuesday, March 21, 1:30 p.m.–3:00 p.m.