Brussels, 25/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - The EU and ASEAN are to adopt a joint action plan 2007-2013 to reinforce their cooperation both politically and economically, across a number of sectors.
High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton will attend a meeting in Brunei on 26-27 April with the heads of diplomacy of the member states of the EU and of the countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Brunei, Burma /Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam). The meeting coincides with the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two regions. “The EU has a strong stake in the success of ASEAN, a dynamic region of 600 million people, situated across the world's major trading routes. We welcome the considerable progress made by ASEAN towards its integration goals, which promote peace and prosperity and will create larger commercial opportunities. The time has now come for our two regions to take their political cooperation one step further”, Ashton commented before she left. The ministers of the two regions are to approve a joint action plan for the 2007-2013 period, aiming to step up EU-ASEAN cooperation in the fields of politics and security, to achieve the full potential of the trade relationship between the two regions and to develop cooperation in a number of sectors.
The high representative will meet several ministers of the ASEAN region for bilateral meetings, and also the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, with whom she will launch a partnership and cooperation agreement. Ashton will then be in Burma/Myanmar from 28 to 30 April, and then in Thailand on 1 May. (EH/transl.fl)