European Union and Asia/Pacific regional organizations
EU cooperation with Asia/Pacific regional organizations
Asia is a diverse and dynamic region. Besides prosperous industrialized countries that are partners of the EU, it contains dynamic emerging economies and countries that are home to two thirds of the world’s poor. This diversity is reflected also in the EU’s cooperation with the region, which encompasses strategic partnerships with important regional and global players as well as joint efforts to alleviate poverty.
The first Foreign Ministers Meeting between the European Union (then known as the European Community – EC) and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) took place in 1978. In 1980 the two regional organizations formalized their relations with the signing of the EC-ASEAN Cooperation Agreement.
Since the early 1990s Europe has been seeking to intensify its relations with Asia. In March 1996 the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was established as a dialogue process and network at summit and ministerial level and also to promote exchange among experts. ASEM retains its informal, network character to this day. Its sole joint institution is the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), which concentrates on fostering cultural and intersocietal exchange between Europe and Asia.
The EU is developing its relations with Asia on the basis of the Guidelines on the EU’s Foreign and Security Policy in East Asia approved by the EU Council on 15 June 2012. The Asia and South-East Asia strategies developed by the European Commission in 2001 and 2003 are also relevant in this context.
- Guidelines on the EU's Foreign and Security Policy in East Asia, 15 June 2012 (PDF, 135 KB)
- Commission Communication to the Council of 4 September 2001: Europe and Asia – A Strategic Framework for Enhanced Partnerships
- A new partnership with South East Asia (PDF, 495 KB)
EU-ASEAN meeting in Brunei, April 2012
EU-ASEAN Dialogue refers to the cooperation processes between the European Union and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The negotiations on an EU-ASEAN free trade agreement begun in 2007 were suspended in 2010. Since then the EU has been negotiating instead with individual ASEAN countries.
The EU and ASEAN cooperate also on many individual projects in the spheres of energy, environment, education, trade etc. Through the dialogue mechanism “Transregional EU-ASEAN Trade Initiative” (TREATI), the European Commission and ASEAN exchange information on their legal and regulatory systems with a view to engaging eventually in a process of approximation and harmonization designed to further expand trade and investment relations. The Regional EU-ASEAN Dialogue Initiative (READI) was created for spheres beyond the scope of trade policy such as energy and the environment.
Through the programme ASEAN Regional Integration Support by the EU (ARISE), the EU is also backing ASEAN’s regional integration agenda, including notably its efforts to establish the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), and develop the expertise of the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta in matters of regional integration.
On 26 April 2012 EU and ASEAN Foreign Ministers approved in Brunei the Bandar Seri Begawan Plan of Action to Strengthen the Enhanced EU-ASEAN Partnership (2013-2017). The Plan of Action identifies four sectors in which the two regional organizations will work more closely together over the next five years: firstly, the political and security policy sector including human rights protection, disarmament and the fight against terrorism; secondly, economic cooperation and trade, including energy security; thirdly, socio-cultural/civil society cooperation, including regional and global challenges in the field of environmental and climate protection; fourthly, institutional cooperation.
The Bandar Seri Begawan Plan of Action is the follow-up to the Plan of Action to Implement the Nuremberg Declaration on an ASEAN-EU Enhanced Partnership adopted by the EU Heads of State and Government (Troika) and ASEAN on 22 November 2007 in Singapore.
The first official contacts between what was then the European Community (EC) and ASEAN date back to the late 1970s. In 1980 the EC-ASEAN Cooperation Agreement marked the formal launch of cooperation between the two organizations. ASEAN, back then consisting of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, was thus the EC’s first regional cooperation partner. The first ASEAN-EU (then EC) Ministerial Meeting took place in Brussels in September 1978.
ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting)
2012 ASEM summit venur in Vientiane
The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) is an informal forum for dialogue at political level and a framework for cooperation between Europe and Asia in various spheres. The brainchild of Singapore and France, ASEM was launched at the first European-Asian Summit in March 1996 in Bangkok.
Since 1996 ASEM Heads of State and Government have convened for summits every two years, alternating between Europe and Asia. Ministerial Meetings (between foreign, economics, finance, culture and environment ministers) are also held to exchange views and discuss cooperation in greater depth. On the European side, ASEM is coordinated by the country holding the EU presidency and the European External Action Service. On the Asian side, this function is assumed by an ASEAN and a non-ASEAN country in tandem. The Foreign Ministers and their senior officials act as coordinators of the entire process. The 8th ASEM Summit was held in Brussels in October 2010. The Lao People’s Democratic Republic hosted the 9th ASEM Summit in Vientiane on 5/6 November 2012.
ASEM provides a framework for political, economic and cultural cooperation between Asia and Europe. The agenda encompasses global issues such as the environment, climate change, energy security and non-proliferation as well as migration, human rights, counter-terrorism measures, labour and employment, and economic and financial cooperation. Ministerial meetings, seminars and joint projects are all important aspects of ASEM cooperation. Germany hosted the first ASEM Labour Ministers Meeting in 2006 and the first ASEM Education Ministers Meeting in 2008. In October 2012 the Governing Mayor of Berlin hosted the second ASEM Mayors and Governors Meeting.
Representatives of religious communities and civil society in ASEM countries participate in a regular inter-faith dialogue held under the auspices of the Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations. The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), the only true ASEM institution, plays a major part in these activities. It also helps organize annual informal human rights seminars.
ASEM partners are currently the EU member states and the European Commission, the ten ASEAN member states – Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam – and the ASEAN Secretariat, along with the People’s Republic of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Pakistan and Mongolia, as well as since 2010 Russia, Australia and New Zealand. Bangladesh, Norway and Switzerland were welcomed as new ASEM partners at the ASEM summit held on 5 and 6 November 2012. The 51 ASEM partners to date account for some 60% of global GDP and the world’s population as well as over 60% of global trade.
Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF)
The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) is a private foundation under Singaporean law with its headquarters in Singapore. ASEF’s origins can be traced back to a Singaporean and French initiative launched during the European-Asian Summit in Bangkok in March 1996. It was formally established as an ASEM institution at a gathering of ASEM foreign ministers in February 1997. On 1 August 2012 a German national began a four-year term as one of the Foundation’s Deputy Executive Directors
ASEF’s role is to intensify European-Asian dialogue at civil society level and specifically to inject new vigour into cultural and intellectual cooperation between these two key economic regions.
The ASEF members are all Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) partners, i.e. the EU member states, the European Commission, the ten ASEAN countries as well as China, Japan, South Korea, India, Pakistan, Mongolia, Australia, Russia and New Zealand.
Strategic framework for the EU’s relations with Asia
In 2001 the European Commission adopted a strategic framework for the EU’s relations with Asia. The strategy focuses on six key dimensions:
- engagement in the political and security sphere;
- trade and investment relations;
- reducing poverty in the region;
- strengthening civil society with a view to promoting democracy, good governance and the rule of law in the region;
- building partnerships on global issues;
- increasing mutual awareness and knowledge.
The European Commission has published regional strategy papers on relations with Asia and Central Asia over the period 2007-2013:
EU development cooperation with Asia
In January 2007 a new Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) became the basis for development cooperation between the EU and Asia. As well as regional programmes, it encompasses five thematic programmes: (1) investment in human resources, (2) the environment, (3) NGOs and local authorities, (4) food security and (5) migration and asylum.
The EU’s development cooperation with Asia has increasingly focused on the poorest countries and particularly vulnerable groups. Its programmes are designed specifically to achieve a sustainable impact, with priority given to environmental protection, resource management and the advancement of women.
Trade and investment
With a view to increasing trade and investment flows between Europe and Asia, the EU is promoting the development of the private sector in partner countries and also helping them to prepare for WTO membership and meet obligations they have assumed under international agreements.
Last updated 06.11.2012