03/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - First steps towards enhanced cooperation. The first meeting between the committees of permanent representatives of the EU and ASEAN, on 27 February, allowed the ambassadors of the 38 countries represented to take stock of bilateral cooperation between the EU and the Southeast Asian region, to exchange lessons learned on regional integration and discuss priorities for future work. This new meeting format comes in the framework of the 2013-2017 action plan to reinforce the EU/ASEAN partnership, which was adopted at ministerial level in April 2012. Through this action plan, both sides wish to take their cooperation to the next level in terms of peace and security, economic and commercial matters and in the sociocultural field. (EH)