ASEAN and the EC agree to strengthen cooperation

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Commission (EC) agreed on Saturday to work to toward future cooperation.

The EC is the executive arm of the European Union (EU).

"The work plan would reflect the priorities of both sides and include a practical time frame, in order to facilitate, expedite and move forward the implementation of ASEAN-EC cooperation of programs," the organizations announced at the end of the two-day 15th ASEAN-EC Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting on Saturday in Jakarta.

The last meeting was held in September 2001 in Brussels.

During the JCC meeting, which was co-chaired by Marty Natalegawa, director general of ASEAN-Indonesia and Erich Muller, director for Asia, the EuropeAid Cooperation Office of the European Commission, both the organizations reviewed their cooperation since 2001 and reaffirmed their commitment to promote cooperation with a special focus on policy dialog on mutually beneficial areas based on the Bali Concord II, Vientiane Action Program and the New Partnership strategy.

"We agreed to develop and implement joint initiatives based on common interests, in line with their respective regional priorities and needs," the groups said.

Marty, who is also the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' chief spokesman, said ASEAN briefed its counterpart on the tsunami disaster that killed more than 100,000 people in Indonesia.

"We exchanged information about the recent developments in both the regions. ASEAN appreciated the EC's commitment to assisting tsunami-affected countries," Marty said.

Muller described the meeting, which also discussed the agenda for the forthcoming ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting as successful.

"We are moving forward," Muller said.

When asked about the agenda of the ministerial meeting, Marty said it would review the developments in the ASEAN and EU regions.

"The meeting will focus on the issue of reconstruction and rehabilitation of the tsunami-affected areas. It will also discuss the international problems like terrorism and transnational crimes," Marty said.

Muller said the EU's external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner along with several ministers from the EU member- states would attend the ministerial meeting.

Marty said Myanmar had been invited but still had not confirmed it would attend.

The next JCC meeting will be held in Brussels in 2006.