Europe and Asia aim to work together for more secure world
Europe and Asia aim to work together for more secure world
Javier Solana, Brussels
Europe and Asia are a long way apart geographically. But we
are growing ever closer as political and trading partners. We
have many values in common, and already work together in a number
of ways, and in various organizations, in order to promote our
shared objectives.
This week I will be in Jakarta representing the European Union
at the Foreign Ministers meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum
(ARF). This annual meeting is the only regional forum focused
solely on security issues, and represents an unique opportunity
for Foreign Ministers of Asian and Pacific countries, together
with the European Union, to discuss strategies for tackling
common challenges. High on our agenda will be the threats posed
by terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,
issues of central importance to the countries of the European
Union as well as to our Asian partners.
Terrorism seeks to undermine the openness and tolerance of our
societies, and poses a growing threat to all our citizens:
terrorist movements are increasingly well-resourced, interlinked
across the globe and willing to use unlimited violence to cause
massive casualties. The EU is determined to confront the
terrorist threat relentlessly and comprehensively.
EU countries agreed earlier this year the appointment of a
counter-terrorism coordinator to improve co-ordination and
visibility of the EU's actions. EU member states are co-operating
ever more closely in Europol, sharing criminal and operational
intelligence, and have agreed that strengthening the fight
against terrorist financing must be a priority for the EU in the
coming months.
Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is potentially
the greatest threat to our security. International treaty regimes
and export control arrangements have slowed their spread, but
advanced biological and missile technology is now more readily
available than ever before. A key objective must be to ensure
that such weapons do not fall into the hands of terrorists. The
best solution to the problem of proliferation is that countries
should no longer feel that they need them.
The EU will therefore support political and diplomatic
preventative measures as the first line of defense against
proliferation.
The other key international challenge is bad governance,
failing and failed states and regional conflicts. Corruption,
weak institutions and lack of accountability provide ideal
conditions for terrorists and proliferators to pursue their
activities, as well as organized criminals trafficking in drugs,
women, illegal migrants and weapons. The EU will continue to
support better governance through assistance programs,
conditionality and targeted trade measures.
It is clear that the threats I have just described are threats
to us all. Globalization requires us to take greater collective
responsibility for these sorts of threats, which are not limited
by national boundaries, and which can only be tackled effectively
at regional or global level. Concerted international action is
essential.
The European Union is committed to the development of a
stronger international society, well-functioning international
institutions and a rule-based international order. The
fundamental framework for international relations is the United
Nations Charter, and the EU will support the further
strengthening of the UN, including its capability to act when
required in conflict and crisis management situations.
The EU is also committed to the effective functioning and
development of other essential components of this multilateral
world order, such as the World Trade Organization and the
International Criminal Court.
The EU will continue to work together with Asian and Pacific
countries bilaterally, through the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)
process and through co-operation with Asian regional
organizations such as ASEAN, Asia Co-operation Dialogue, South
Asian Association for Regional Co-operation, the Shanghai Co-
operation Organization, as well as the ARF, in order to
contribute to this necessary strengthening of wider international
order and co-operation.
The EU will continue to encourage the further development of
the ARF. The ARF has made significant progress in building
confidence between Asia-Pacific countries. The time is now right
for ARF countries to turn their attention to strengthening ARF's
capabilities in preventive diplomacy and conflict resolution.
The EU warmly welcomes the creation of a permanent
Secretariat, and is willing to support this new unit to drive
forward the effectiveness and capabilities of the ARF.
The EU is delighted to be able to play a role in this process
of capability development through our co-chairmanship for a year
from July 2004, with Cambodia, of the ARF inter-sessional group
on Confidence Building Measures.
We are keen to discuss further with our regional partners
concepts and proposals such as those made by Indonesia at the
last ASEAN Summit for an ASEAN Security Community, including the
establishment of "regional peacekeeping arrangements". I look
forward to reporting to ARF Ministers in July 2005 the progress
we will make.
This will be the first time that the EU will attend the ARF
Ministerial meeting as a union of 25 rather than 15 member
states. The enlargement of the EU on May 1, 2004 was an historic
moment for Europe. Former ideological and military rivals are now
united as partners around one table. The enlarged EU will be a
more effective political and economic partner for Asia.
The writer is EU High Representative for the Common Foreign
and Security Policy.