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European Union and Asia/Pacific
European relations with Asia/Pacific
The first Foreign Ministers Meeting between the EU and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) took place in 1978 and in 1980 the two regional organizations formalized their relations in the EC-ASEAN Cooperation Agreement.The ASEAN members are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.
Following the emergence in the late 1980s of new cooperation structures primarily in the Trans-Pacific region, Europe in the early 1990s likewise sought to intensify its relations with Asia. In March 1996 the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was established as a dialogue process and network at summit and ministerial level and also to promote exchange among experts. ASEM retains its informal, network character to this day. Its only permanent institution is the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), which concentrates on fostering cultural and intersocietal exchange between Europe and Asia.
The EU is developing its relations with Asia on the basis of the European Commission’s strategies for Asia (2001) and South-East Asia (2003).
EU-ASEAN Dialogue
EU-ASEAN Dialogue refers to the cooperation processes between the European Union and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The first official contacts were established at the end of the 1970s between what was then the European Community (EC) and ASEAN. In 1980 the EC-ASEAN Cooperation Agreement marked the formal launch of cooperation between the two organizations. ASEAN, then consisting of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, was therefore the EC’s first regional cooperation partner.
The first EC-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting took place in Brussels in September 1978. Since then these meetings, attended by the foreign ministers, the European Commission and the ASEAN Secretariat, have been held approximately every 18 to 24 months, alternating between EU and ASEAN countries. The last meeting was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in May 2009. The next meeting will be in Spain in 2010.
The EC-ASEAN Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) and its sub-committees are responsible for implementing the cooperation envisaged in the EC-ASEAN Agreement of 1980. The Senior Officials Meetings (SOMs) play a major role particularly in preparing the Foreign Ministers Meetings. The negotiations that started in 2007 on an EU-ASEAN free trade agreement are currently on hold; the EU is now negotiating instead with individual ASEAN countries.
The EU and ASEAN cooperate also on many individual projects in the spheres of energy, environment, education, trade, etc. Through the dialogue mechanism “Trans-Regional EU ASEAN Trade Initiative” (TREATI), the European Commission and ASEAN exchange information on their legal and regulatory systems with a view to engaging eventually in a process of approximation and harmonization designed to further expand trade and investment relations. The Regional EU-ASEAN Dialogue Initiative (READI) was created for spheres beyond the scope of trade policy such as energy and the environment.
The EU is also helping to develop ASEAN’s expertise in regional integration issues via the ASEAN-EU Programme for Regional Integration Support (APRIS), which provides advisory assistance to the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta.
On 22 November 2007 in Singapore, the EU Heads of State and Government (Troika) and ASEAN adopted the Plan of Action to Implement the Nuremberg Declaration on an ASEAN EU Enhanced Partnership.
This meant that the decisions taken at the Nuremberg EU-ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting chaired by Federal Foreign Minister Steinmeier on 14–15 March 2007 were implemented the very same year. Following on from the Nuremberg Declaration, the Plan of Action contains five areas in which the two regional organizations intend to work more closely together in the coming years: firstly, a vast area encompassing political and security cooperation, including human rights protection, disarmament and the fight against terrorism (I); economic cooperation/trade (II); energy/climate change (III); socio-cultural/civil society cooperation (IV) and development (V).
The 2009 EU-ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting adopted the Phnom Penh Agenda, a programme intended to dynamize implementation of the Plan of Action. On 26 May 2010 the Foreign Ministers took stock in Madrid of progress to date and agreed further measures.
ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting)
EU Commissioner for External Relations Ferrero-Waldner at the ASEM summit in Hanoi in 2009
© picture-alliance/dpa
EU Commissioner for External Relations Ferrero-Waldner at the ASEM summit in Hanoi in 2009
© picture-alliance/dpa
The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) is an informal forum for dialogue at political level and a framework for cooperation between Europe and Asia in various spheres. The brainchild of Singapore and France, ASEM was launched at the first European-Asian Summit in March 1996 in Bangkok. ASEM partners are currently the 27 EU states and the European Commission, the ten ASEAN member states – Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam – and the ASEAN Secretariat, along with the People’s Republic of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Pakistan and Mongolia, as well as since 2010 Russia, Australia and New Zealand. The 48 ASEM partners account for some 55% of global GDP, some 60% of the world’s population and more than 60% of global trade.
Since 1996 ASEM Heads of State and Government have convened for summits every two years, alternating between Europe and Asia. Ministerial Meetings (between foreign, economics, finance, culture and environment ministers) are also held to exchange views and discuss cooperation in greater depth. On the European side, ASEM is coordinated by the country holding the EU presidency and the European Commission. On the Asian side, this function is assumed by an ASEAN and a non-ASEAN country in tandem. The Foreign Ministers and their senior officials act as coordinators of the entire process. The 8th ASEM Summit was held in Brussels in October 2010; the Lao People’s Democratic Republic will host the 9th ASEM Summit in Vientiane in 2012.
ASEM provides a framework for political, economic and cultural cooperation between Asia and Europe. The agenda encompasses global issues such as the environment, climate change, energy security and non-proliferation as well as migration, human rights, counter-terrorism measures, labour and employment, and economic and financial cooperation. Ministerial meetings, seminars and joint projects are all important aspects of ASEM cooperation. Germany hosted the first ASEM Labour Ministers Meeting in 2006 and the first ASEM Education Ministers Meeting in 2008. Representatives of religious communities and civil society in ASEM countries participate in a regular inter-faith dialogue held under the auspices of the Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations. The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), to date the only ASEM institution, plays a major part in these activities. It also helps organize annual informal human rights seminars.
ASEF (Asia-Europe Foundation)
The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) is a private foundation under Singaporean law with its headquarters in Singapore. The ASEF members are all Asia-Europe-Meeting (ASEM) partners, i.e. the 27 EU member states, the European Commission, the ten ASEAN countries as well as China, Japan, South Korea, India, Pakistan, Mongolia, Australia, Russia and New Zealand. ASEF’s origins can be traced back to a Singaporean and French initiative launched during the European-Asian Summit in Bangkok in March 1996. It was formally established as an ASEM institution at a gathering of ASEM foreign ministers in February 1997.
ASEF is managed by an Executive Director, a Deputy Executive Director and Programme Directors for the areas Cultural Exchange, People-to-People Exchange, Intellectual Exchange and Public Affairs. The top management staff are seconded by ASEM partners. The Foundation is financed with contributions from the 48 ASEM partners. Every ASEM partner delegates a representative to serve on the ASEF Board of Governors, which oversees the work of the Foundation.
ASEF’s role is to intensify European-Asian dialogue at civil society level and specifically to inject new vigour into cultural and intellectual cooperation between these two key economic regions.
General EU development policy tools (SGP, financial assistance)
Within the framework of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the EU grants tariff advantages to all developing countries.
Georgia, Sri Lanka and Mongolia can also take advantage of the special preferences of GSP Plus, which allows them to export most of their products to the EU free of duty. GSP Plus is tied to compliance with specific international conventions on the observance of human and labour rights, environmental protection and good governance.
Under the EU’s Everything But Arms initiative the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have since 2001 enjoyed even more extensive preferences – namely complete exemption from customs duties and quotas – for all export goods except arms (for rice and sugar these exemptions are to be phased-in gradually by 2009).
The current GSP Regulation was adopted in December 2008 and is valid until the end of 2011.
In early September 2001, the European Commission adopted a new strategic framework for relations with Asia in the current decade. The strategy focuses on six key dimensions:
- engagement in the political and security sphere;
- trade and investment relations in both directions;
- reducing poverty in the region;
- strengthening civil society with a view to promoting democracy, good governance and the rule of law in the region;
- building partnerships on global issues and
- increasing mutual awareness and knowledge.
In January 2007 a new Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) became the basis for development cooperation between the EU and Asia. As well as regional programmes, it encompasses five thematic programmes: (1) investment in human resources, (2) the environment, (3) NGOs and local authorities, (4) food security and (5) migration and asylum.
In the same year, the European Commission published documents setting out a strategic framework, including a budget of 775 million euro, for relations with Asia and Central Asia over the period 2007 to 2013.
EU development cooperation with Asia has increasingly focused on the poorest countries as well as on sustainable and repeatable action to improve the lives of particularly vulnerable groups. The EU attaches great importance here to environmental protection, resource management and the advancement of women.
In the context of efforts to promote peace and security, one of the greatest challenges will continue to be building stability in Afghanistan. As the second-largest donor after the United States, the EU is making a crucial contribution to civilian reconstruction in the country. Over the period 2002–2008 the EU pledged over 1.5 billion euro for this purpose. The main focus is on promoting good governance (especially in the justice and customs sector), rural development and health care. Conflict prevention was and remains the focus of several projects in Timor-Leste, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
With a view to increasing trade and investment flows between Europe and Asia, the EU is promoting the development of the private sector in partner countries and also helping them to prepare for WTO membership and to meet obligations they have assumed under international agreements.
Last updated 26.03.2011
