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HONOLULU (Oct. 6) – Two East-West Center researchers, senior fellow Fereidun Fesharaki and senior fellow Kang Wu, have just been awarded a five-year $1-million cooperative agreement by the U.S. Department of Energy to provide timely advice, data, and analyses on a wide range of energy issues and challenges in the Asia Pacific, Middle East, and other regions.
The two, both members of the EWC Research Program’s energy economic group, will put special emphasis during their studies on natural gas, as well as oil. Their research will be of special interest to U.S. business, government agencies, and the general public.
Wu says, “The particular geographic focus (of their study) will be on the Asia Pacific, Middle East, and the United States. In particular, it will feature in-depth studies of major Asian energy players such as China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Indonesia, and other Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies.”
Fesharaki adds, “The key issues and challenges to be studied and analyzed include the emergence of natural gas as the most rapidly growing source of energy in the world today, the growing dependence of Asian economies on oil and gas from other regions, including the Middle East. In today’s globalized natural gas markets the United States imports of gas play a key role and as such the role of the U.S. will also be studied in detail.”
According to the two EWC researchers, their project is designed around more than three decades of EWC experience in the cooperative policy-relevant and problem-solving research with senior collaborators in Asia.
Fesharaki was born in Iran and joined the EWC in 1979. He has a distinguished background in the private sector as well as academia. In 1993 Fesharaki served as president of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE), the key professional organization representing over 3,000 energy economists in more than 70 countries. He earned his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Surrey in England.
Wu is an expert on China energy studies and has done extensive work in Asia Pacific energy demand forecasting. His research has been widely cited internationally in both industry and general media. Wu earned his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
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The East-West Center contributes to a peaceful, prosperous and just Asia Pacific community by serving as a vigorous hub for cooperative research, education and dialogue on critical issues of common concern to the Asia Pacific region and the United States.
Fereidun Fesharaki and Kang Wu can be reached at:
Fereidun Fesharaki: Email: FesharaF@EastWestCenter.org
Phone: 808-944-7527
Fax: 808-944-7559
Kang Wu: Email: WuK@EastWestCenter.org
Phone: 808-944-7521
Fax: 808-944-7559
For daily news on the Pacific Islands, see www.pireport.org. For links to all East-West Center media programs, fellowships and services, see www.eastwestcenter.org/journalists