EU, East Asian foreign ministers gather for Madrid meeting
EU, East Asian foreign ministers gather for Madrid meeting
Agencies
Madrid
Foreign ministers from the European Union (EU) and East Asia were
gathering in Madrid on Thursday for a two-day meeting, with the
Kashmir conflict and illegal migration high on their agenda.
India and Pakistan are not part of the Asia-Europe Meeting
(ASEM) process, which brings together the 15 EU members states,
the European Commission and 10 East Asian nations including
Japan, China, South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) states.
But Madrid meeting -- called to prepare an ASEM leaders'
summit in Copenhagen on Sept. 22-24 -- was expected to dwell in
part on the tension between the two nuclear-armed neighbors over
disputed Kashmir.
India accuses Pakistan of fomenting a separatist uprising
against its rule in Kashmir, a charge Islamabad denies and more
than a million troops have massed on their common border.
About one million Indian and Pakistani soldiers now face each
other at the border in Kashmir. Both countries possess nuclear
arms.
Fears of yet another war over the disputed Kashmir frontier
has heightened concerns in Europe and Asia that violence could
spread to other countries in the region.
Artillery fire fell silent Thursday in the contested
territory, but shooting by militant group and Indian soldiers
killed seven as a U.S. envoy arrived in Islamabad in the latest
attempt to defuse the crisis.
"It remains my view that war between India and Pakistan is not
inevitable," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in a
statement.
An EU spokeswoman, Christina Gallach, said the EU was
coordinating high-level diplomatic missions to the region with
Asian nations as well as the United States. EU External Relations
Commissioner Chris Patten visited Pakistan and India two weeks
ago.
Officials in Brussels said the foreign ministers would also
agree a declaration on the Middle East peace process, and aim to
adopt new initiatives to combat global terrorism.
EU and Asian foreign ministers were also scheduled to discuss
illegal immigration and human rights in North Korea.
The ministers were expected to press the Israelis and
Palestinians to attend a regional peace conference to stop 20-
months of fighting.
China, with support from Germany, Denmark and Spain, has
proposed one anti-terrorism initiative calling for better
exchange of information between the ASEM partners, the officials
said.
It is the fourth ASEM foreign ministers' meeting since the 15
EU member states and 10 East Asian nations, including Japan and
China, launched an informal dialog process six years ago to
deepen their cooperation on political, economic and cultural
issues.
"The fundamental purpose of this platform for dialog and
collaboration is to provide solid support for the link between
Asia and Europe in an increasingly globalized and interdependent
international setting," Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique
said.
Pique, whose country is winding up its six-month stint at the
rotating EU presidency, underscored Europe's concern over Kashmir
earlier this week when he advised European citizens to steer
clear of South Asia. Many other European countries who have
advised their citizens to leave the area.
"At this time, the risk is unfortunately very high," said
Pique, as he warned on Monday of the "extraordinary seriousness"
of a nuclear conflict and renewed EU calls for New Delhi and
Islamabad to open talks.
The East Asian members of ASEM are Brunei, China, Indonesia,
Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.
ASEM interior ministers met in Spain's Canary Islands in April
to discuss illegal immigration, while economy ministers are to
hold a pre-summit huddle in Copenhagen on Sept. 18-19.
The talks in Madrid begin on later Thursday with bilateral and
regional coordination meetings, followed by a dinner to which
Ramos Horta, foreign minister of newly-sovereign East Timor, has
been invited.
Formal discussions open Friday at 9:30 a.m. (2:30 p.m.), with
a concluding statement to be issued by Pique at the end of the
day, plus a press conference.