Marín seeks to expand dialogue with South Asia

Date: 18/07/1996

By Shada Islam

THE European Commission is hoping to widen the Union's links with Asia by moving quickly to reinforce ties with India and Pakistan.

East Asia's dynamic economies have secured top billing in the EU-Asia dialogue so far. But, seeking to correct the imbalance, the Commission has issued a new strategy paper calling for a fresh evaluation of economic opportunities in India.

External Relations Commissioner Manuel Marín will visit Pakistan on 20 July before heading for Indonesia to hold talks with foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Brief visits to Malaysia and Thailand will follow.

Both Delhi and Islamabad are campaigning actively to join their ten East Asian neighbours at the second Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to be held in London in 1998.

Before leaving for Pakistan, Marín said he wanted to expand the Euro-Asia dialogue by either inviting India and Pakistan to the London summit or by creating a separate “political platform” for relations between Europe and South Asia.

“But this will depend on the development of regional integration in South Asia,” he warned.

Unless South Asian countries made faster progress in developing closer regional ties, said Marín, they could not secure a region-to-region dialogue with Europe. But he promised that bilateral ties with individual countries would be strengthened.

East Asian nations are not very enthusiastic about enlarging ASEM participation. The Commission is therefore working hard to promote SAARC - the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation - which brings together Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives.

SAARC and the Commission have signed a “memorandum of understanding” allowing them to exchange information on regional integration and other issues. An EU foreign ministers' 'troika' is also expected to meet their SAARC counterparts for a formal political dialogue at the United Nations' General Assembly in September. The focus, however, will be on setting

up strengthened partnerships with individual SAARC members.

In a strategy paper sent to the 15 EU capitals late last month, the Commission highlighted India's “new dynamism” and its “huge potential” as a base for European investment.

India and the Union signed an economic and trade promotion agreement in the early 1990s. But officials in Brussels point out that India's economic and political structures have undergone “fundamental changes” since then.

The collapse of the Soviet Union means that Delhi's once close relationship with Moscow is no longer a top foreign policy priority. Instead, India is seeking to expand relations with the West, and especially with the EU.

Equally significantly, the once inward-looking Indian economy is now firmly committed to economic and trade liberalisation. Union development experts say they are convinced that despite the recent change of government in India, the focus on economic deregulation will continue.

“There has been an essential transformation in Indian business policies since 1991: expanding exports is now being encouraged,” said the Commission in its strategy paper.

Marín also wants to negotiate a new agreement with Pakistan focusing on the country's efforts to liberalise trade and attract foreign investment.

However, Marín's talks in Islamabad are likely to be dominated by demands from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) that Pakistan should lose its access to the EU's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) because it uses child labour.

Seeking to smooth ruffled feathers in Pakistan, Marín says that instead of looking at negative measures such as sanctions, he hopes to cooperate with Islamabad on eliminating child labour.

“We have taken positive note of Pakistan's new laws to end this situation. I am not going there with any negative bias. Pakistan has said it wants to cooperate with the EU. I do not see why if Islamabad implements the anti-child labour laws that we cannot find a positive solution,” said Marín.

He added: “Child labour is one of the questions I will raise in Pakistan, but it is not the only one. I want a wider dialogue.”