The days of 1 and 2 February will be marked by several important events in the context of the EU’s long-standing partnership with the countries of South-East Asia and the Indo-Pacific region.
Some seventy delegations will meet at the third Ministerial Forum between the EU and the Indo-Pacific region, to be held on the morning of Friday 2 February, followed by the EU-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Ministerial Meeting in the afternoon.
The kick-off will have taken place the day before on Thursday 1 February, with ‘Pacific Day’, an event organised at the European Parliament to strengthen the partnership between the EU and the Pacific States.
Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum
The Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum in Brussels follows on from the two previous forums held in Paris in February 2022 and in Stockholm in May 2023 (see EUROPE 13182/15).
It will be chaired by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, and will once again aim to promote dialogue between the EU and its partners in the Indo-Pacific region, which accounts for almost 60% of the world’s gross domestic product.
For the first time, all the Pacific islands will also be represented.
The Forum will focus on three specific themes: - shared prosperity, economic resilience and investment; - the green and energy transition; - geopolitical and security challenges.
On this last point, an EU representative pointed out that the Indo-Pacific region “is the scene of growing power struggles and tensions. And it is clear that these developments can have a direct impact on European security and prosperity”.
The participants, whose list will not be made public before the Forum, are expected to share their geopolitical, strategic and economic concerns.
The EU representative highlighted what the EU had to offer its partners: “free trade, high-quality investment and infrastructure, climate leadership and a trusted security partner that respects the Rule of law”.
The conclusions of these discussions between partners should pave the way for “concrete actions”, the representative continued, indicating that a summary is expected to be published at the end of the Forum, detailing concrete points of progress.
Like last year, China was not invited to the Forum.
“China has not engaged with its partners in line with our conception of the Indo-Pacific” explained an EU representative. “What’s more, we have repeatedly expressed our concerns about China’s actions and position in the East and South China Seas and the rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait”, adding that there were many other formats in which the EU was fully and directly engaging with China, such as the December 2023 Bilateral Summit (see EUROPE 13309/21).
EU/ASEAN Ministerial Meeting
The afternoon of 2 February will be devoted to the 24th ministerial meeting between the EU and ASEAN, co-chaired by Josep Borrell and Enrique Manalo, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the Philippines.
The ministers will work to advance key areas of cooperation between the EU and ASEAN countries, focusing on green initiatives, the digital transition and the development of secure supply chains.
The two blocs are therefore expected to reiterate the importance of the trade links between them, and the need to strengthen them further. ASEAN was the EU’s third largest trading partner in 2022.
At their summit in December 2022, EU and ASEAN leaders had reaffirmed their willingness to conclude a long-term free trade agreement (see EUROPE 13084/20). For the time being, positions are still too far apart for negotiations to be undertaken. The EU is currently negotiating with Indonesia and Thailand.
At the same summit, the EU also pledged €10 billion for connectivity projects as part of the Global Gateway initiative. The purpose of this meeting will therefore be to follow up on this agreement and translate commitments into action.
With regard to the outcome of this meeting, the EU representative pointed out that “the EU and ASEAN had not physically met at ministerial level for a long time. We are therefore still in the process of discussing (...) and it is too early to say what will come out of the current negotiations”. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal and Pauline Denys)