ASEM begins amid concern over commitment to Asia's growth

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The fifth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) kicks off on Monday in Denpasar, Bali, amid growing concern in Asian countries about their European counterparts' commitment to providing economic support.

High on the agenda are several pressing regional issues like the postwar situation in Iraq, the North Korea nuclear crisis and counterterrorism alliances between the two continents.

All foreign ministers from 10 Asian countries -- Brunei Darussalam, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam -- have confirmed their participation in the four-day meeting, while from the European side, only three of the 15 European Union (EU) members plan to send their foreign ministers -- Italy, Belgium and Ireland.

The low-level participation by European countries had raised questions about their seriousness in boosting cooperation with their Asian partners.

Ministry of foreign affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa said over the weekend that Indonesia had hoped that more ministers from European countries would come to the four-day meeting.

"At this forum we would like to hear about developments in Europe, and not just put us (Asian countries) under the microscope," Marty said.

He said the ongoing cooperation between the two continents was not only in the interests of Asia but of European countries, too.

The meeting is also being held as EU members discuss the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which worries most developing countries, whose economic growth depends on the agriculture sector.

With high-tech agricultural equipment in Europe, it is almost impossible for developing countries like Indonesia to compete with Europe's agriculture industry.

In the long term, the policy will directly affect the overall economic growth of developing countries like Indonesia, where 70 percent of its citizens are farmers.

Security issues are also likely to dominate discussions during the meeting.

EU Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten, who will be attending the meeting in Bali, said he would discuss new ways of improving ASEM cooperation in tackling security problems.

"Europe and Asia are not only major trading partners, but partners too in the fight against terrorism, organized crime and environmental degradation," Patten said in a release provided for The Jakarta Post by EU representatives here.

"There are many areas in which we could collaborate more -- security, human rights, regional integration and new technologies," he said.

The ASEM meeting is slated to seek common approaches to address issues of terrorism, nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the situation in Myanmar and North Korea.

Commissioner Patten is also slated to present a paper titled A New Partnership with Southeast Asia on regional security and global economic governance.

Two separate documents are expected to be adopted -- the chairman's statement and one on nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction.