ASEAN, a key partner for Europe

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) encompasses 10 South East Asian countries. Its key position in the Asia-Pacific region, its dedication to peace and stability in the region and its important economic weight have made ASEAN an essential partner for the European Union in Asia. ASEAN was established on August 8, 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand with the signature of the Bangkok declaration by the five original member nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand). In 1984, Brunei Darussalam was admitted as the sixth member. In 1995, Vietnam also joined ASEAN. Lao People's Democratic Republic and Burma/Myanmar became members in 1997. Cambodia joined in 1999. The Member countries that make up ASEAN have a combined GDP of 656 billion € (2002), but there are large economic disparities between the ASEAN members. With a population of some 503 million people, they make up one of the largest regional markets in the world.

A significant development for ASEAN took place at the Bali Summit of October 2003: the ASEAN leaders projected the creation of an ASEAN Economic, Security and a Socio-cultural community. The EU greatly supports this development, considering its first hand experience of the benefits of closer regional integration.

The EU is a longstanding dialogue Partner of ASEAN. Co-operation between the EU and ASEAN is based on a Co-operation Agreement (1980) between the EC and member countries of ASEAN: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Protocols for the accession of Laos and Cambodia to the Agreement were signed in July 2000 but the EU has indicated that it cannot agree to negotiate an extension of this agreement to Burma/Myanmar as long as the situation as regards democracy and human rights in that country does not improve significantly. Burma/Myanmar, therefore cannot participate in EC-ASEAN co-operation actions.

In September 2001, the European Commission’s presented its Communication "Europe and Asia: A Strategic Framework for Enhanced Partnerships", which identified ASEAN as a key economic and political partner of the EC and emphasised its importance as a locomotive for overall relations between Europe and Asia. The Commission Communication ‘A New Partnership with South East Asia’, presented in July 2003, reaffirms the importance of the EC-ASEAN partnership.

Political Dialogue

Political dialogue between the EU and ASEAN firstly takes place at regular Ministerial Meetings. The foreign ministers of both the EU and ASEAN have met for political dialogue every second year since 1978. The 14th Ministerial Meeting was held in Brussels on 27/28 January 2003. The quality and spirit of the dialogue was appreciated by both sides and led to the adoption of a substantive Joint Chair statement. In addition, the two sides signed a Joint Declaration on Co-operation to Combat Terrorism with a view to foster regional co-operation within ASEAN and provide EU support for it. Since 1995 it has also been agreed that EU-ASEAN senior officials would meet at regular Senior Officials Meetings. The accession of Burma/Myanmar to ASEAN in 1997 put the political dialogue process on hold, however, until the April 2000 EU General Affairs Council approved an arrangement for the Burmese Foreign Minister to participate in EU-ASEAN Ministerial Meetings (The political dialogue meetings are in ‘block-to block’ formation, including representatives of all EU and ASEAN countries), while at the same time announcing a toughening of the EU Common Position on Burma/Myanmar.

Both parties also discuss political and security issues at the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conferences, which take place immediately after ASEAN’s annual ministerial meetings, and in the ASEAN Regional Forum, the only security forum in Asia. The EU is a full member of the ARF and is represented in its meetings by the EU Troika. The EU and ASEAN share an over-riding common goal, a commitment to regional peace and stability.

Trade relations

In 2002, the EU was ASEAN’s second largest export market and the third largest trading partner after the United States and Japan. EU exports to ASEAN were estimated at 30 billion €, while EU imports from ASEAN were valued at 62 billion €, demonstrating that the EU maintained its commitment to keeping its market open to ASEAN after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.

As a region, ASEAN has benefited significantly from the EU's Generalised System of Preferences. ASEAN countries such as Thailand and Indonesia have "graduated" in a number of sectors where they have become competitive in the last few years, losing the benefit of the GSP for important products - in particular, fishery products for Thailand. Singapore, due to its advanced level of development, is excluded from the system. European investment was high in the region before the crisis and although the trend is rising again, it has not yet reached pre-crisis levels.

EC-ASEAN Cooperation

The EC-ASEAN Joint Co-operation Committee (JCC) promotes and keeps under review the various co-operation activities envisaged in the Co-operation Agreement. An official-level Committee usually meets every 18 months. Sub-committees have been established for Trade and Investment, Economic and Industrial Co-operation, Science and Technology, Forestry, Environment, and Narcotics.

Six implementation projects are now underway, with a total EC financing commitment of around 63.5 million €, supporting EC-ASEAN co-operation in energy, environment, university networking and intellectual property rights. Another two programmes, costing 13 million €, on standards, quality and conformity assessment, and a programme to strengthen the capacity of the ASEAN Secretariat to develop regional policy initiatives have been launched in 2003.

The Commission is currently finalising a Regional Indicative Programme for co-operation with ASEAN covering budget years 2005-2006 to the amount of 15-20 million €. This programme will reflect the new agenda with ASEAN following the ‘New Partnership’ communication. It is expected that the programme will be endorsed at the next JCC meeting, tentatively scheduled for September 2004 in Indonesia.

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