Tomorrow, Milan will be hosting an Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on “Responsible Partnership for Growth and Security.” According to Olof Skoog, European Union Ambassador to Indonesia, the discussions are set to be very useful since “they will help strengthen mutual understanding between European and Asian countries. The meeting’s partners also tend to increase. Croatia and Kazakhstan will likely join the event this year.”
The two regions are constantly working on enhancing relations. Indeed, just last month, a new position was created – that of European Union Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – stationed in Jakarta, to: “coordinate the EU’s expanding cooperation activities with ASEAN… represent the EU in all relevant negotiations, coordinate with EU Member States and enhance public diplomacy efforts in relation to EU support for ASEAN integration.”
However, there is still much work to be done. According to an EGS paper published in April of last year, “After two decades of cordial but shallow discussions and modest action on many topics, the EU and Japan have agreed to negotiate a deep economic partnership while trying to cooperate in many other issues under shared values and principles.” In addition, “ASEAN is still the most comprehensive and promising for Europe in terms of values, so the EU keeps supporting ASEAN’s development plans and has recently signed its Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. If ASEAN regains cohesion and strength, the EU may want to hold summits to advance beyond the current plan of action, and appoint special envoys and the like to consolidate South- East Asia as a model of cooperation in a broader Asia.”
Other issues keep arising too. One suggestion to tackle these, proposed by the EGS was: “European and Asian countries and regional organisations could globally excel in global multi-level linkages by creating unique synergies between info-communications and education technologies and services.”
There needs to be greater cooperation. Just last week ASEM parliamentarians “rejected the proposal to give he EU the status of a dialogue partner with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).” But for sure, the ASEM, that has been in process now for a decade, is a great beginning that is gaining momentum each year.