Prime Minister Fukuda,

Distinguished colleagues,
 

During the morning session, I spoke about climate change. Now, I would like to share with you some of my thoughts on energy security.
 

As underlined at the Conference held in Saudi Arabia on June 22nd, the high price of oil is now a cause of concern not only for the oil-consuming countries but for the oil-producing countries as well. Accordingly, both producers and consumers must now closely cooperate with each other in order to agree on measures that will resolve this pressing concern. In the process, it is important to take a systematic and comprehensive approach rather than seek short-term, fragmented responses.
 

First, in light of the fact that one of the reasons for the high price of oil can be attributed to the sharp rise in demand, the immediate challenge we face today is to employ all possible measures to mitigate the rise in the demand for oil.

Recently, a number of countries have taken active measures to adjust domestic oil prices in order to control demand. I believe that these measures have had an impact in improving the current situation in terms of the global oil market.

In addition, I believe that sharing our experiences and best practices is also a vital element in curbing the demand for oil. In this regard, when I was Mayor of Seoul, I completely revamped the city’s public transportation system, including the introduction of “bus-only lanes” throughout Seoul. The policy led to improving the circulating speed of buses by about 50% and to a rise in the use of public transportation.  It also resulted in significant decrease in the number of passenger cars on the road and reduction of carbon-dioxide emissions.  

 
Furthermore, in order to help developing countries deal with the rising demand for energy vital for their economic growth, it is important that advanced countries share their technological and policy know-how with the developing countries.

The G8 countries possess the most advanced energy saving technologies. It is my sincere hope that such technologies will be widely shared with others which I believe will help us resolve both the issue of energy security and climate change at the same time.

 
Secondly, on the supply side, there have been hardly any new investments for oil development in recent years, even while the demand for oil from newly emerging economies have been steadily increasing.

 
We cannot wait any longer. We must increase the exploration and production of oil throughout the world.
 

Thirdly, we must gradually lessen our excessive dependence on oil. Instead, we must seek, with a long-term view, to diversify our energy resources, thus transforming our societies into low-carbon societies.
 

In the past, renewable sources of energy were regarded as lacking commercial applicability because of its high production costs. This is no longer the case as the high price of oil, coupled with the advancement in technology, has greatly narrowed the so-called “production-cost gap” between fossil fuels and renewable energy.
 

Now is the time to enhance our joint efforts to promote the use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power as well as the development of hydrogen fuel cell car.
 

As for nuclear energy, it has not only contributed to providing energy required for economic growth but also to reducing carbon emissions in Korea.
 

Korea hopes to share with countries throughout the world its experience and knowledge Korea gained in safely operating nuclear power plants over the past 30 years.  
 

Dear Colleagues,
 

The policies and measures that I have outlined above are broadly in line with the “St. Petersburg Plan of Action” adopted at the G8 Summit two years ago.
 

What is required at this time is to translate the discussions into concrete actions. And I believe that those actions can lead to effective outcome only through strengthened international cooperation.
 

In conclusion, I understand that one of the issues the G-8 leaders discussed among them yesterday was energy security.  I hope that this luncheon discussion could benefit from yesterday’s discussions and hope to further develop our ideas.
 

Thank you.