Download EU-ASEAN: 30 years of ever closer relations

IP/07/1723
Brussels, 21 November 2007
EU-ASEAN: 30 years of ever closer relations
EU and ASEAN Heads of States and Governments will gather tomorrow in
Singapore to celebrate thirty years of formal EU-ASEAN relations. At the
Summit, leaders will endorse the EU-ASEAN Plan of Action which
implements the Nuremberg Declaration on an Enhanced EU-ASEAN
Partnership. The Action Plan lays the basis for an ever closer relationship
between the EU and ASEAN in all areas of mutual interests by cooperating
on political and security issues, economics, development, energy security,
climate change/environment as well as socio-cultural affairs. It will also
further support the regional integration within ASEAN following the
agreement by ASEAN member countries on the ASEAN Charter.
President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, underlined the importance of
the EU-ASEAN relationship: “Closer cooperation between the EU and ASEAN is in
our mutual interest. Not only because ASEAN is the EU’s fifth largest trading partner,
but also because ASEAN will play an increasingly important role in addressing global
challenges such as climate change, energy security and poverty reduction.”
Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita
Ferrero-Waldner said:" The EU has been a longstanding partner for ASEAN, and we
will continue to cooperate closely in the future. Therefore we have already committed
more than € 1 billion for bilateral and regional development programmes for the next
seven years, and I am looking forward to an ever growing relationship with ASEAN."
Commissioner for Trade, Peter Mandelson added:" "The EU and ASEAN countries
grasped an important opportunity in May of this year by launching negotiations for a
Free Trade Agreement. I have come here to urge ASEAN Ministers to remain fully
committed to a far-reaching and comprehensive agenda for the negotiations. The
coming months will be crucial to see if the EU and ASEAN countries share the same
level of ambition. The benefits on offer are considerable."
In the last thirty years, the EU has supported ASEAN integration with around €250
million, in addition to bilateral cooperation with individual ASEAN members. Areas of
cooperation cover a broad spectrum ranging from energy, higher education,
institutional development and capacity building. In the next seven years (2007-2013),
around €1.3 billion have been committed for development cooperation with individual
ASEAM Member countries and ASEAN, notably to support the creation of the
ASEAN single market by 2015 and increased dialogue in areas like climate change,
energy and employment. This will directly contribute in reducing the development
gap within ASEAN.
In 2004 the total stock of EU investment in ASEAN was three times that in China and
seven times that in India. Today, ASEAN is the EU´s fifth largest overall trading
partner. Earlier this year, the EU and countries of ASEAN also launched negotiations
on a Free Trade Agreement.
In Singapore ASEAN Member countries will also sign the new ASEAN Charter which
will strengthen ASEAN institutions and its internal functioning. The ASEAN Charter
will lay the basis for the establishment of an ASEAN Community by 2015.
EU-ASEAN relations had been established in 1977 followed by a Cooperation
Agreement in 1980. Since 2004, the EU is further upgrading its economic and
political relationship by negotiating Partnership and Cooperation Agreements with
individual ASEAN countries which are based on the respect for human rights,
democratic principles and the rule of law and which cover the whole array of bilateral,
regional and international subject-matters. In 2006 the EU further applied to become
member of the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation.
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