Ministers of EU, ASEAN to begin meeting today

Ministers of EU, ASEAN to begin meeting today

JAKARTA (JP): Ministers of European Union (EU) and the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are to start a
three-day dialog on economic and political cooperation, in the
German city of Karlsruhe today.

German Ambassador to Indonesia Karl Walter Lewalter said
yesterday that there will be at least five issues to be discussed
in the dialog forum, including economic cooperation,
environmental protection, science and technology, national
development and political cooperation.

"The ministerial meeting, which is held every two years, will
also be followed by a business forum to involve entrepreneurs
from the two regions who are to explore business cooperation,"
Lewalter said as quoted by Antara news agency at a breakfast
meeting here yesterday.

Lewalter, who was accompanied by French Ambassador to
Indonesia, Dominique Girard, and the vice chairman of the
European Commission's Representative, Jan de Fries, said that it
will be the first time that the business forum has been adjoined
to the regular ASEAN-EU meeting since it was introduced in 1980.

"Some 200 business people of the ASEAN and EU countries are
expected to meet and explore business cooperation possibilities
during the two-day ministerial meeting," he said.

He added that the ministerial forum will also discuss the role
of the private sector in prompting trade and investments in the
two regions.

"The trade volume between the two regions has currently
reached US$58 billion, up fourfold compared to that of 1980,"
Lewalter said.

Political issue

Responding to a question on Indonesia's East Timor province,
Lewalter said that the issue would not be on the agenda of the
ASEAN-EU ministerial meeting.

The ministries will only discuss political issues in the
context of regional and international development, instead of
focusing on the bilateral matter of Indonesia and Portugal, he
said.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore and Thailand, while EU comprises of the Netherlands,
Luxembourg, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Greek, Spain,
Denmark, France, Britain and Ireland.

Lewalter said the ministerial meeting will involve the
discussing of the Spratly dispute and the development of the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Girard meanwhile said that EU countries have the same
commitment of seeing the issue of East Timor resolved on the
basis of human rights.

"EU countries' view on East Timor is not influenced by the
presence of Portugal in EU," he said. (fhp)