13-15 February EU-ASEAN and ASEM meeting

Date: 20/02/1997

EU FOREIGN ministers and their counterparts from Asian nations held two meetings in Singapore. The first, with the seven member nations of ASEAN - Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - was marked by confrontation over Burma's impending membership of the ASEAN group. The Union is currently stepping up the pressure on Rangoon over human rights abuses and its refusal to introduce democratic reform. Thai Foreign Minister Prachuab Chaiyasarn said ASEAN governments would try to bring Rangoon into line, but insisted that Europe “shared responsibility” for the job. Singapore Foreign Minister Shanmugam Jayakumar said the two sides discussed Burma for two hours, in the “most productive discussion between the EU and ASEAN on this topic so far”. But they came away without changing their stances. Asian countries maintain that constructive dialogue with Rangoon is the best way to get reforms, while the Union is still set on implementing sanctions. The ASEAN partners said they would not allow Europe to pressurise them into withholding membership from Burma.

ANOTHER human rights controversy - over Indonesia's treatment of East Timor - was not discussed by the two sides because Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said the Singapore meeting was “not the right place to do so”. But he added that Portugal was using the issue to block a new treaty designed to upgrade EU-ASEAN ties. The proposed agreement would require the unanimous approval of Union governments.

THE EU and ASEAN partners agreed to a series of measures to boost trade between the two blocs, which has increased fourfold since they established ties in 1980, reaching a value of 75 billion ecu in 1995. The two sides agreed to begin cooperation in customs matters and work on having common industrial standards. The EU promised to share information on the creation of the single market, and the ASEAN side pledged to provide details of the development of its free trade area. The group plans to create a free trade zone by 2003.

ON THE last day of the meeting, foreign ministers from China, Japan and South Korea joined the group for an Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM). Ministers laid the groundwork for the leaders' next summit in April in London. As current ASEM chairman, Singapore's foreign minister described the talks as “highly productive” and said the group had agreed to take in more countries, referring to Australia, New Zealand, India and Pakistan, which have expressed interest in joining ASEM. Jayakumar also said that ties between the two continents should be “multi-faceted”, including economics, politics, culture, environment and technology. But Asian delegates, perhaps more interested in the economic benefits of the relationship, complained that EU delegates showed greater interest in political issues.

ONE concrete legacy of the weekend's meeting is the Asia-Europe Foundation, which was set up by the ministers “to ensure that our growing political dialogue and burgeoning economic ties rest on the secure foundation of mutual understanding and enjoy public support”.