ASEM Promotes Asia-Europe Cooperation

ASEM Promotes Asia-Europe Cooperation

Since its establishment in March 1996, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), an ongoing process of dialogue and cooperation among 15 European Union (EU) member states, the European Commission, and 10 Asian countries, namely Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, China, Japan and South Korea, has helped broaden and deepen relations between the two continents regarding politics, economy and culture. Thanks to the close ties, many international and regional issues relating to trade, poverty, environment and terrorism have been tackled.

“ASEM's considerable achievement is that it has managed to strengthen existing Asian-European ties as well as to bring change to them, since it encourages the ties to develop on the basis of equality and dialogue for better mutual understanding and more effective cooperation. As an informal process where dialogue is conducted along the three pillars, ASEM’s considerable achievement lies in the success of its various forums for dialogue, from the highest level to the grassroots level,” stated Prof. Bui Huy Khoat, Director of the Institute for European Studies. Specifically, ASEM has succeeded in keeping dialogue active and constructive, thus enhancing mutual understanding and bringing development of bilateral relations in specific fields to a new level, he noted.

ASEM has not only opened up channels for Asia-Europe dialogue, but also affirmed Asia’s role in the international arena. ASEM’s considerable achievement in Asia is that it has contributed to a closer link between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan and South Korea. The 3^rd Informal ASEAN + 3 Summit in the Philippines in 1999 laid a solid foundation for dialogue between ASEAN and its three East Asian partners. The summit offered opportunities for the heads of state of the three nations to talk to one another.

Furthermore, initiatives launched at meetings have been effectively implemented, making a great contribution to the enhancement of Asian-European ties. Since ASEM 1 was held in Thailand, over 70 initiatives have been launched, encouraging all walks of life in Asia and Europe to engage in useful dialogue on political, economic, cultural and social issues for improved mutual understanding. Via the initiatives, people in the two continents have touched on political issues such as the impacts of globalisation, the fight against terrorism, and human rights protection. They have also discussed many other socio-economic issues. Among the initiatives have been the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), the ASEM Investment Promotion Action Plan (IPAP), the Asia-Europe Environmental Technology Centre (AEETC), and the Trade Facilitation Action Plan (TFAP).

Many dialogues have focused on political issues, resulting in a consensus on holding Asia-Europe meetings at appropriate levels before the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session, so that partners can consult one another on issues of the UNGA agenda. The ASEM Copenhagen Cooperation Programme on Fighting International Terrorism has been carried out effectively, leading to a higher awareness of the connection between terrorism and organised crimes such as money laundering, and human, weapons and drug trafficking.

Like political dialogues, economic dialogues have received great attention from people in both Asia and Europe who centred their discussions on trade, investment, the World Trade Organisation (WTO), macro-economic policies, supervision of the financial sector, infrastructure, and small and medium-sized enterprises. The 1^st ASEM Senior Officials Meeting on Trade and Investment (SOMTI) in Belgium in 1996 proposed the Trade Facilitation Action Plan (TFAP), whose ambition is to reduce non-tariff barriers and create trade opportunities for Asia and Europe. Later, the plan was approved at ASEM 2 in England in 1998. Since then, it has been considered an important contribution to trade promotion between the two continents. The economic dialogues have had a positive impact on the promotion of bilateral trade.

The successful implementation of the Asia-Europe Investment Promotion Action Plan (IPAP) has also been considered a significant achievement of the ASEM process. It pursues the goal of generating larger investment flows between the Asian and European members of ASEM by means of exchanging experiences and techniques in promoting investment, as well as raising issues relating to policies on the improvement of the investment environment.

IPAP is carried out along two lines: investment promotion (including activities to facilitate and increase investment), and investment policies and laws (including activities relating to laws and legal frameworks regulating the investment climate). The implementation of IPAP has made ASEM member countries rethink their existing investment policies, streamline investment procedures, design appropriate labour laws, achieve transparency and amend laws in order to encourage investment. In short, IPAP’s implementation has brought about achievements in three areas: increasing transparency and facilitating access for all parties to information on investment policies and opportunities, increasing awareness of every member country’s investment policy, and clarifying hindrances to investment.

Cultural and educational dialogues under the ASEM process gave birth to the ASEF, a non-profit foundation, in 1997, which aims to promote dialogue and exchanges between Asia and Europe in intellectual, social, and cultural fields. Since its establishment, ASEF has been promoting inter-cultural mutual awareness and Asian-European mutual understanding dialogues through implementing comprehensive programmes on intellectual, cultural, and person-to-person exchange.

The intellectual exchange programme has contributed considerably to enhancing mutual understanding between Asia and Europe through academic discussions and exchanges on social sciences and humanities. The topics under discussion vary from regional issues to international ones of civilization, culture, gender, labour relations, and human rights. Special attention has been paid to sharing knowledge of science, education and technology between the two regions. To promote cultural exchange, ASEF has implemented a cultural exchange programme with three focuses: young people in arts exchange, the establishment of a network of specialists, and dialogues on cultural policies.

• Dong Phong