European Union and Asia
EU Relations with Asia/Pacific
ASEAN has the longest tradition of regional cooperation with the EU. The first Foreign Ministers Meeting took place in 1978, and in 1980 the two regional organizations formalized their relations with the signing of the EC-ASEAN Cooperation Agreement. Following the emergence of new cooperation structures in the late 1980s, primarily in the Trans-Pacific region, Europe also redoubled its efforts to intensify its relations with Asia again in the early 1990s. In March 1996 the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was established as a dialogue process and network at summit and ministerial level and to promote exchange among experts. To preserve its informal character and function as a network, ASEM is barely institutionalized. Its only permanent institution is the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), which concentrates on fostering cultural, social and interpersonal exchange between Europe and Asia.
The EU defines its relations with Asia on the basis of the European Commission’s strategies for Asia (2001) and South-East Asia (2003).
16th EU-ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, 14-15 May 2007 in Nuremberg
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. The seal was set on regional cooperation in 1980 with the EC-ASEAN Cooperation Agreement. ASEAN, back 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) is responsible for implementing the cooperation decisions set down in the EC-ASEAN Agreement of 1980 both directly and through sub-committees. Other bodies within the EU-ASEAN dialogue framework include the Senior Officials Meetings (SOMs) to prepare the foreign ministers meetings, and an EU ASEAN Vision Group (since 2005) which discusses trade issues between the EU and ASEAN. An EU-ASEAN free trade agreement has been under negotiation since 2007.
There is cooperation between the EU and ASEAN on many individual projects in the spheres of energy, environment, education, trade, etc. Using the dialogue “Trans-Regional EU ASEAN Trade Initiative” (TREATI), the European Commission and ASEAN exchange information on their legal and regulation systems with a view to engaging in the long term in a process of harmonization to further extend trade and investment relations. The Regional EU ASEAN Dialogue Initiative (READI) was developed for spheres beyond the field of trade policy, taking in topics such as the environment and energy.
Furthermore, the EU is helping to strengthen ASEAN’s competence in regional integration issues by offering advice to the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta through the ASEAN EU Programme for Regional Integration Support (APRIS).
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.
Thus the decisions taken at the Nuremberg EU-ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting on 14 15 March 2007 chaired by Federal Foreign Minister Steinmeier 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 will work more closely together in the coming years: Firstly, a vast area taking in politics/security policy, including human rights protection, disarmament, fight against terrorism (I), economic cooperation/trade (II), energy/climate change (III), socio-cultural/civil society cooperation (IV) and development (V).
At the last EU-ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting on 28-29 May 2009, the Phnom Penh Agenda was adopted, a programme aiming to strengthen and continue the Plan of Action.
Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)
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. ASEM was the brainchild of Singapore and France and was launched with the first European-Asian Summit in Bangkok in March 1996. Currently its members comprise the 27 EU states and the European Commission, the 10 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, as well as the People’s Republic of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Pakistan and Mongolia. The ASEM partners account for 50% of global GDP, 58% of the global population and 60% of global trade.
Since 1996 the 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 examine the key subject areas in more depth. On the European side, ASEM is coordinated by the country holding the EU presidency and the European Commission. On the Asian side, an ASEAN and a non-ASEAN country each assume this function. The Foreign Ministers and their high-level staff act as coordinators of the entire process. The 7th ASEM Summit was held in Beijing in October 2008; Belgium will play host to the 8th ASEM Summit to be held in Brussels in October 2010.
ASEM provides a framework for political, economic and cultural cooperation between Asia and Europe. Global issues such as the environment and climate change, energy security and non-proliferation are amongst the subjects of discussion as are migration, human rights, steps to combat terrorism, labour and employment, economic and financial cooperation. Ministerial meetings, seminars and joint projects are key components of cooperation. Germany hosted the first ASEM Labour Ministers Meeting in 2006 and the first ASEM Education Ministers Meeting in 2008. Part of the Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations is the regular interreligious dialogue which is attended by representatives of religious communities and civil society from the ASEM countries. 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.
EU Commissioner for External Relations Ferrero-Waldner at the ASEM summit in Hanoi in 2009
(picture-alliance/dpa)
Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF)
The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) is a private foundation under Singaporean law with its headquarters in Singapore. Members of ASEF are the 27 EU member states, the European Commission, the 10 ASEAN countries as well as China, Japan, South Korea, India, Pakistan and Mongolia. The origins of the ASEF can be traced back to a Singaporean and French initiative launched during the European-Asian Summit in Bangkok in March 1996. Finally, in February 1997, during an ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) foreign ministers meeting, ASEF was formally established as an ASEM institution.
ASEF’s management is headed by its 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 from the ASEM participating states. The 27 EU member states, the European Commission, the 10 ASEAN countries and the six other Asian powers are each represented by one Governor on the Board of Governors, the Foundation’s supervisory body. The Foundation is financed with contributions from the 45 ASEM partners.
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 System of Generalized Preferences (SGP), the EU grants tariff advantages to all developing countries.
Georgia, Sri Lanka and Mongolia can also use the special preferences of SGP Plus which allows them to export most of their products to the EU free of duty. SGP Plus is tied to compliance with specific international conventions on the observance of human and labour rights, environmental protection and good governance.
Even further-reaching preferences – namely complete exemption from customs duties and quotas – have been accorded to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as part of the SGP since 2001 through the Everything But Arms initiative for all export goods except arms (exemption from customs duties and quotas are being introduced gradually until 2009 for rice and sugar).
The current SGP 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:
commitment 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, the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) became the basis for development cooperation between the EU and Asia. As well as regional programmes, it contains 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 strategic framework documents for relations with Asia and Central Asia in the period 2007 to 2013, envisaging a budget of 775 million euro.
EU development cooperation with Asia has increasingly focused on the poorest countries and on sustainable and repeatable steps to improve living conditions for particularly needy population groups. The EU attaches great importance here to environmental protection and resource management as well as the promotion of women.
One of the greatest challenges when it comes to promoting peace and security will continue to be stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan. As the second-largest donor after the United States, the European Union is making a decisive contribution to the civilian reconstruction of the country. Between 2002 and 2008, the European Union pledged more than 1.5 billion euro in aid. This commitment focuses on good governance (especially in the judicial and customs authorities), rural development and support for the Afghan health sector. Conflict prevention was and remains the focus of several projects in Timor-Leste, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
With a view to stepping up trade and investment flows between Europe and Asia, the EU is promoting the development of the private sector in partner countries and is helping prepare membership of international agreements and respect of the provisions contained therein.
