Laos suggests to its fellow ASEAN member countries that the grouping looks for alternative sustainable energy sources to develop and use instead of continueing to depend on oil imports from abroad.
The suggestion came during the 24th annual meeting of ASEAN energy ministers held recently in Vientiane, during which Laos offered itself as an alternative hydropower source to provide electricity to other ASEAN nations.
To that end, Laos says it will develop its hydropower potential to increase its energy production to over 8,000 megawatts by the year 2015, and hopes to eventually have 29 hydropower projects running so that it will become the "battery" of the region.
Laos currently has three major dam construction projects going on - the Nam Theun 2, the Nam Ngum 2, and the Se Kaman 3.
Listen to our Laos Today report for more details.