EU pitches new bid to rescue ASEAN talks

EU pitches new bid to rescue ASEAN talks

ELTVILLE, Germany (AFP): European Union foreign ministers on Sunday agreed a new initiative aimed at salvaging relations with ASEAN, currently on ice because of a dispute over contacts with Myanmar, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said.

At talks here the ministers proposed downgrading an EU-ASEAN ministerial meeting scheduled to take place in Berlin on March 30 in the hope that this will enable it to go ahead.

The talks, due to take place at foreign ministerial level, look certain to be scrapped because of ASEAN's refusal to accept the EU's position that Myanmar's foreign minister Win Aung cannot attend.

Under the proposal adopted Sunday, the talks would go ahead but instead of all 15 member states being present, the EU would be represented by a troika of Austria, Germany and Finland.

The hope is that this would persuade the seven longer established ASEAN members to take part without Myanmar, which joined ASEAN in 1997 along with Laos.

"We regret that we could not have a full ministerial meeting without Burma (Myanmar)," Fischer said.

Foreign ministers from the seven countries -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand and Vietnam -- will be in Berlin on March 29 for a meeting of the broader Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) forum, which also includes China, Japan and South Korea.

The EU and ASEAN have been at odds over relations with Myanmar's military dictatorship since the summer of 1997, when the country was brought into the south east Asian grouping in the face of intense opposition from the United States and Europe.

Since then there has been no formal contact between the two blocs and attempts to get relations back on track -- even at the level of officials -- have repeatedly broken down over the issue of Myanmar's involvement.

The row reflects broader differences over how to deal with Myanmar,s junta. ASEAN has pursued a policy of constructive engagement while the EU, backed by the United States, argues that the country should be isolated over its human rights abuses and role in the global drugs trade.

Current EU sanctions include a visa ban which prevents senior figures in the military regime from entering any EU country. Although Germany was ready to grant an exemption to allow Win Aung to come to Berlin, the move was strongly opposed by Britain, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Despite insisting that Myanmar must be included in any EU- ASEAN talks in the name of regional solidarity, ASEAN has shown some signs that it is willing to be flexible in order to get its contacts with Europe back on the rails.

At a meeting in Singapore last month, ASEAN called for an early meeting of senior officials to explore ways to overcome the current differences.