Brussels, 19/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner for External Relations, Chris Patten, last week signed a financing agreement of EUR 18 million in favour of the "EU-ASEAN Energy Facility" project, through which the EU should contributed towards the development of the energy sector in the ASEAN countries, thanks to an aid to "selected, small and strategic projects", indicates a Communiqué. The main aim is to help the private sector develop programmes enabling to remedy to bottlenecks experienced and promote renewable energies. Energy consumption should increase as the economies of these countries recover, and it is important that these countries "benefit from the very considerable energy expertise" of the EU industry in this sector, asserts the Communiqué.