European Union and ASEAN pledge to step up fight against terrorism
European Union and ASEAN pledge to step up fight against terrorism
Robert Wielaard, Associated Press, Brussels
The European Union and 10 Southeast Asian nations on Tuesday vowed to increase cooperation to fight terrorism and sought to bolster their underperforming trade relationship.
Wrapping up two days of talks, the 15 EU foreign ministers and their counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued a joint declaration stressing their determination "to enhance their cooperation to fight terrorism."
It cited several areas of cooperation, including joint efforts to get an early endorsement of United Nations conventions aimed at combating terrorism and organized crime, more data sharing on terrorist suspects and their facilities and boosting cooperation among law enforcement agencies.
Terrorism "forms part of a complex set of new security challenges which have to be addressed urgently," said the EU- ASEAN declaration that echoed a similar deal ASEAN signed with the United States last August.
The EU-ASEAN statement said international terrorists have links with organized crime, arms traffickers and the trade in illegal drugs.
The two sides rejected "any attempt to associate terrorism with any religion, race or nationality" and said that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington showed a great need to promote mutual understanding between different cultures.
The EU and ASEAN also discussed the situation in the Middle East, the Iraq crisis and the standoff between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear technology program.
Looming over the meeting was growing dissatisfaction over the economic relationship between the two regions.
The EU argues ASEAN does too little to spread economic wealth among its members, thereby maintaining a huge rich-poor gap in its ranks. It is to unveil a new policy for Southeast Asia this year that may focus more on individual nations.
For their part, Southeast Asian nations worry about European investors increasingly preferring to put their money into China.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar -- the former Burma which is subject to EU sanctions for human rights violations.
The EU granted an exemption to its visa ban to enable Khin Maung Win, Myanmar's deputy foreign minister, to come to Brussels for the first time.
The EU banned trade with Myanmar after its military leaders refused to recognize the 1990 general election win of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's political party.
In 2001, the EU was ASEAN's second largest export market and third largest trade partner after the United States and Japan.
EU exports to ASEAN totaled 42.2 billion euros (US$ 45.8 billion) and its imports 65.7 billion euros, making for a two-way trade total of 107.9 billion euros.