ASEAN, which will be represented by the Jakarta-based ASEAN Centre for Energy, will now be entitled to attend all meetings of the ECC - and its subsidiaries - as an observer. It will now, also, receive all related ECC official documentation. The acceptance of ASEAN is being seen as ECC's intentions to develop relations outside of its core membership.

In fact, according to ECC Chairman, Henning Christophersen, "This is another welcome step towards strengthening the Asian dimension of the Energy Charter's work."

"The countries of Southeast Asia face many of the same challenges in developing regional energy cooperation as exist here in the wider Eurasian space, in particular in terms of creating a secure climate for energy investments and promoting cross-border energy infrastructure projects.

"It is therefore both logical, and in our mutual interests, that closer cooperation and exchanges of information be developed between ASEAN and the Energy Charter process," said Christophersen.

Observer status at the ECC has been granted - in recent years - to China, South Korea, Iran and Nigeria. Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are all members of ASEAN.