Bandar Seri Begawan. Indonesia has sent its deputy foreign minister Arrmanatha Nasir to the ASEAN-EU talks in Brunei Darussalam, as the world loses sleep over the Strait of Hormuz blockade.

The Bruneian capital of Bandar Seri Begawan is bringing together foreign ministers from the European Union (EU) and ASEAN for their biennial conference. Arrmanatha will represent Southeast Asia’s biggest economy for talks that will likely see countries address -- or at least mention -- the consequences of the Iran war.

Arrmanatha landed in Brunei Darussalam on Monday evening local time. His next agenda for the day was to attend a gala dinner with the other foreign dignitaries before the actual meeting set for the following morning.

The last ASEAN-EU ministerial meeting was back in 2024. This was before the world was introduced to US President Donald Trump’s tariff salvo and sudden military campaign against Iran. 

Tehran has closed all foreign shipping at the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation, a move that has caused the world’s crude oil benchmark repeatedly to break the $100-per-barrel barrier. The strait carries a quarter of the world’s maritime trade in crude oil, hence any disruptions will deal a fatal blow to global energy supplies.

Arrmanatha has yet to give a press statement since landing as per writing. 

But on the Hormuz, Indonesia has repeatedly called for the freedom of navigation. Two of Indonesian tankers -- belonging to the state-run energy firm Pertamina -- are still waiting for their Hormuz escape. At home, Jakarta is planning to expand its palm oil-based biodiesel program to reduce reliance on fossil fuels amid global oil price hikes. On April 13, ASEAN chief diplomats rolled out a joint statement, calling for the restoration of “safe, unimpeded, and continuous transit passage”.

German Minister of State Florian Hahn was also among the high-profile guests who had arrived in Brunei. He indicated that the upcoming talks would revolve around the war-fueled energy crunch.

“In light of the situation in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, cooperation in the field of energy is crucial. The ongoing support for the ASEAN energy grid is an important element in this, as are other measures to expand renewable energies,” Hahn said.

Hahn was referring to the so-called ASEAN Power Grid. This is the group’s decades-old dream of interconnecting the members’ electricity networks for better energy security.

The EU website shows that the European grouping has what it calls the SCOPE Energy - ASEAN Power Grid. This project is reportedly worth EUR 4 million (nearly $4.7 million), and will run from 2024 to 2027. It aims to help ASEAN develop a "stepwise roadmap and financing options" to turn the region-spanning power grid into a reality. The EU is also backing the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), a multibillion-dollar climate package to help Indonesia ditch coal power.

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