The development of biofuels and rural renewable energy is one of the priority projects identified under the Core Agriculture Support Program of the Greater Mekong Subregion. The program, which was endorsed by the GMS Agriculture Ministers' Meeting in 2007, outlines the key objectives, program components, and indicative projects for subregional cooperation to be pursued by the Working Group on Agriculture between 2006-2010.

A Development Partners’ Meeting on Biofuels and Rural Renewable Energy was held at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Office in Bangkok, Thailand on 5 March 2009.

Participants included senior officials from the six GMS countries (Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam), and representatives of FAO, International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the Asian Development Bank.

The objectives of the Development Partners’ Meeting were to:

• review the findings, recommendations, and lessons learned from the GMS study on biofuels and RRE and discuss forward-looking strategies and next steps;
• share experiences on ongoing initiatives on biofuels and rural renewable energy; and
• explore potential areas of collaboration and investment options in biofuels and rural renewable energy development.

A list of participants is in Appendix 1 and a copy of the program and agenda is in Appendix 2.