Hundreds of policymakers, energy experts, project developers and investors from around the world gathered in the Philippines Monday for a five-day forum on boosting investments and technologies to advance clean energy solutions in the Asia and Pacific region.

Hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF), opened Monday this year, is held annually to discuss technology transfer and finance in such areas as energy efficiency, renewable energy, access to energy for the poor, and climate change.

"Building on our substantial response to climate change, we are committed to sharpening our focus on technology to meet the new needs of our developing member countries," said ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda. "ADB's position in the region gives us a strategic advantage in speeding up the adoption and deployment of clean energy across Asia and the Pacific." "The Asia-Pacific region has tremendous potential for deployment of clean energy as well as a critical need to transition to cleaner sources of power," said Olivier Carduner, Mission Director for USAID's Regional Development Mission for Asia.

ADB has announced a range of initiatives to bring down barriers such as price and policy issues that prevent the wide-scale adoption of low-carbon and clean-energy technologies in the Asian and Pacific region. These include ADB's Asia Solar Energy Initiative (ASEI) that aims to identify and develop large-capacity solar projects that will generate 3,000 MW of solar power by 2012.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members in the region. In 2009, it approved a total of 16.1 billion U.S. dollars in financing operations through loans, grants, guarantees.