EU sets out ideas on boosting ties with Asia
EU sets out ideas on boosting ties with Asia
BRUSSELS (Reuter): The European Commission this week sets out its shopping list for a March summit in Bangkok between the European Union and 10 Asian tiger economies that will focus on politics and improved trade.
The contents of the list, to be finalized in Brussels on Tuesday, has been thrashed out ahead of time in consultation with officials from Brunei, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
It is, in fact, a less than subtle attempt by the 15-nation European Union to harness its geriatric economies to the raw energy being generated by the 10 Asian countries.
Included in its aspirations are strengthened political contacts at both bilateral and multi-national levels, greatly enhanced trade and investment, promotion of human rights and democracy, protection of the environment and cooperation in regional security issues.
"The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) will constitute one of the most important initiatives undertaken by the European Union and its member states and 10 of the most dynamic countries in Asia," according to a background paper on the meeting prepared by the Commission, the EU's executive body.
"The first ASEM should constitute a new milestone by allowing the participants to give impetus to the political will to intensify political dialogue, strengthen trade and economic relations and reinforce cooperation in various fields between the two regions," a draft statement from the Commission to the EU's Council of Ministers says.
"This new partnership should be based on the promotion of political dialogue, the deepening of economic relations and the reinforcement of cooperation in various fields," it adds.
All the participants in the Bangkok summit on March 1 and 2 have been at pains to ensure that the meeting stresses the positive -- politics, trade and economics -- and skates cautiously over the more contentious issues such as human rights, democracy and social protection.
"In the eyes of the Asian participants, the declared aim of ASEM is to reinforce the weak link in the triangle of relations between Asia, North America and Europe," the Commission's draft to the Council of Ministers says.
"The Asian participants thereby hope that Europe will pay much greater attention to, and have greater presence in Asia so as to balance their relations with other partners."
The political section of the Bangkok summit will emphasize support for the World Trade Organization, reform of the United Nations, nuclear non-proliferation and cooperation in security and the settlement of regional disputes.
The economic section will stress the need to wrap up a global package on liberalizing telecommunications networks and maritime transport -- two items left over from the Uruguay Round of talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
It will also urge the adoption of global rules for foreign investments and reinforced cooperation on rules for financial services.
Asia as a whole is the EU's largest trading partner, accounting for 23.2 percent of the bloc's external trade in 1994, and its economies are growing rapidly.
Even six weeks before the meeting there is agreement that it will be followed by working groups and ministerial level gatherings, with a second summit tentatively proposed to take place in Britain in the first half of 1998.