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.