OVERVIEW ASEAN-EU DIALOGUE RELATIONS

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1 OVERVIEW ASEAN-EU DIALOGUE RELATIONS Introduction The European Union (EU) became ASEAN s Dialogue Partner since 1977, and it was formally institutionalised following the signing of the ASEAN-EEC Cooperation Agreement on 7 March An important milestone in the ASEAN-EU dialogue relations was marked in 2007 with the adoption of the Nuremberg Declaration on an EU-ASEAN Enhanced Partnership. The Declaration sets out long-term vision and commitment of both sides to work together for common goals and objectives in the future. The dialogue relations has since grown as well as expanded with the adoption of the Bandar Seri Begawan Plan of Action to Strengthen the ASEAN-EU Enhanced Partnership ( ) in The aim of the Plan of Action is to give a more strategic focus to cooperation at regional cooperation in a wide range of areas political/ security, economic/ trade and sociocultural. ASEAN and the EU celebrated the 40 th anniversary of their dialogue relations in 2017 and adopted the Joint Statement on the 40 th Anniversary of the Establishment of ASEAN-EU Dialogue Relations as well as the ASEAN-EU Plan of Action ( ) to further enhance cooperation towards a strategic partnership. Political-Security Cooperation Political and security cooperation between ASEAN and the EU has been progressing well through ASEAN-EU mechanisms such as ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting, ASEAN-EU Senior Officials Meeting as well as through dialogue and cooperation frameworks initiated by ASEAN, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the Post Ministerial Conferences (PMCs) 10+1 session. These meetings are critical in reviewing and guiding the ASEAN-EU relationship. The 19 th ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting, held on April 2012 in Bandar Seri Begawan, adopted the Bandar Seri Begawan Plan of Action to Strengthen the ASEAN-EU Enhanced Partnership ( ), which is aimed at providing a more strategic focus to cooperation between ASEAN and the EU. 1

2 During the 20 th ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting held on 23 July 2014 in Brussels, the Ministers agreed for both sides to work towards upgrading the partnership to a strategic one and tasked senior officials to develop a roadmap for this goal. The Ministers also welcomed the EU s commitment to more than double the dedicated support for ASEAN s institutional building and the 2015 Community building goals to 170 million in the period of The ASEAN-EU Informal Troika Summit held at the sidelines of the 10 th ASEM Summit on 16 October 2014 in Milan, Italy, deliberated on the future prospects of ASEAN-EU partnership and regional and international issues of common concern and interest. The EU was the first regional organisation to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) during the sidelines of the 45 th AMM/PMC/19 th ARF on 12 July 2012 in Phnom Penh. The accession demonstrated the EU s commitment towards ASEAN and reflected as an important milestone in ASEAN-EU relations to promote peace, security and stability in the region. The EU has appointed its first dedicated Ambassador to ASEAN, H.E. Francisco Fontan Pardo, who presented his credentials to H.E. Le Luong Minh, Secretary- General of ASEAN, on 17 September This appointment, together with the establishment of the Mission of EU to ASEAN in Jakarta, which was inaugurated on 26 January 2016, demonstrated the EU s commitment to deepen its engagement with ASEAN. Currently there are 25 Ambassadors from the EU Member States and the Commission that accredited their Ambassadors to ASEAN. Those are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, the EU, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The 21 st ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting, held on 14 October 2016 in Bangkok, adopted the Bangkok Declaration on Promoting an ASEAN-EU Global Partnership for Shared Strategic Goals and Matrix on Status of Implementation of the Bandar Seri Begawan Plan of Action to Strengthen the ASEAN-EU Enhanced Partnership ( ). The Meeting also noted two documents, namely the Overview of ASEAN-EU Cooperation Programmes and Progress 2

3 Report by the Co-Chairs of the 3 rd ASEAN-EU High Level Dialogue on Maritime Security Cooperation on Areas for Future Cooperation. The ASEAN-EU Plan of Action ( ) was adopted at the PMC+1 session with the EU on 6 August 2017 in Manila, the Philippines. The Meeting also adopted the Joint Statement on the 40 th Anniversary of the Establishment of ASEAN-EU Dialogue Relations and the ASEAN-EU Statement on the Paris Agreement: Reaffirming Commitment to Cooperation to Address the Shared Challenge of Climate Change. Economic Cooperation The EU was ASEAN s second largest trading partner after China and ASEAN was the EU s third largest trading partner after China and U.S. The total trade between ASEAN and the EU amounted to $229.7 billion in The total trade between ASEAN and the EU increased slightly by 0.9 per cent compared to that of in This increase was particularly owing to the increased imports from the EU by 3.0 per cent to USD billion. The EU continues to be the largest source of investment flow into ASEAN. In 2016, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow from the EU into ASEAN significantly has increased by 46.2 per cent, amounting to USD 30.5 billion, accounting for 31.5 per cent of total ASEAN FDI. 2 Over 9.5 million tourists from the EU visited ASEAN in Negotiations for an ASEAN-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) were launched in July 2007 with seven ASEAN Member States, and both sides agreed to suspend negotiations in March The 15 th AEM-EU Trade Commissioner Consultations in Manila held on 10 March 2017 welcomed the work conducted by the Senior Economic Officials to develop a framework encompassing the parameters of a future ASEAN-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and shared a common view on the importance of enhancing economic cooperation in promoting MSMEs as well as innovation, science and technology. The ASEAN-EU Business Summit (AEBS) continued to attract many business people from both regions and provide the opportunity for public-private sector dialogue. The 5 th AEBS was held on 10 March 2017 in Manila, the Philippines, at the sidelines of the 15 th AEM-EU Consultations. So far, the AEBS has focused its 1 Based on ASEAN Trade Database preliminary figures as of 14 June Based on ASEAN FDI Database as of 14 June ASEAN Secretariat Tourist Statistic as of 31 January

4 discussions and recommendations on infrastructure/connectivity, agri-food, healthcare, automotive and services. The recommendations arising from the AEBS have been presented to the AEM-EU Trade Commissioner. Recognising the potential for comprehensive aviation cooperation on a region-toregion basis, the 1 st EU-ASEAN Aviation Summit was convened on February 2014 in Singapore. This event served as a platform to deepen the strategic aviation dialogue between ASEAN and the EU with the aim of concluding a comprehensive air transport agreement between the two regions. The Aviation Summit also established an ASEAN-EU Aviation Working Group (AEAWG) which has convened two Meetings thus far, the 1 st AEAWG Meeting was held on 2-3 December 2014 in Brussels, Belgium and the 2 nd AEAWG Meeting was held on 8 May 2015 in Yangon, Myanmar. Furthermore, four rounds of negotiation have been conducted thus far between ASEAN and the EU to exchanged views and positions on key issues in the draft ASEAN-EU Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement (CATA). ASEAN appreciated the EU s assistance to ASEAN through the ASEAN Regional Integration Support from the EU (ARISE) programme to support the capacities of the ASEAN Member States in harmonising and implementing policies as well as regulations in the economic sectors to contribute to the realisation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The Grant Contract for Capacity Building of the ASEAN Secretariat Staff has been signed by the Secretary General on behalf of ASEAN. The signing ceremony of ARISE Programme took place at the 20 th ASEAN-EU JCC held on 17 January 2013 at the ASEAN Secretariat. The ASEAN-EU Policy Dialogue on Connectivity was held on February 2014 in Brussels and Luxembourg. The Dialogue welcomed the establishment of an EU mechanism to engage the ASEAN Connectivity Coordinating Committee in supporting the Master Plan on Connectivity (MPAC) and enhancing ASEAN- EU cooperation in connectivity. The inaugural ACCC-EU Meeting was held on 11 September 2014 in Nay Pyi Taw. Socio-Cultural Cooperation The cooperation under the Regional EU-ASEAN Dialogue Instrument (READI) facility, operationalised from September 2011 to Sept 2017, has provided support in various sectors, such as (i) education- funding support was provided for a project which aims to stock-take ASEAN s initiatives and chart progress in education in ASEAN in line with the ASEAN 5-Year Work Plan on Education 4

5 ( ) (ii) Science and Technology- supported two pilot networks of excellence in the field of green technology and on food security, (iii) environmentsupported the convening of the ASEAN-EU Roundtable on Climate Change, (iv) disaster management, currently providing support in developing a Monitoring and Evaluation System for the implementation of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) Work Programme ( ) as well as also providing support through a programme called the ASEAN- EU Emergency Management Programme (AEEMP), which is expected to provide support for the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre), ASEAN Member States and the ASEAN Secretariat. Following the 21 st ASEAN-EU Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) Meeting on 24 January 2014, both sides discussed the programming of the of financial support for ASEAN which would focus on: (i) connectivity: sustainable and inclusive economic integration and trade; (ii) climate change and disaster management; and (iii) a comprehensive dialogue facility. ASEAN-EU Cooperation Programmes The EU also provided funding support to the Institutional Capacity Building for ASEAN Monitoring and Statistics ( ), EU Support to Higher Education in ASEAN Region ( ), ASEAN-EU Migration and Border Management Programme Phase I and II, ASEAN-EU Statistical Capacity Building Programme ( ), ASEAN Project on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights ( ), ASEAN Air Transport Integration Project ( ) and Enhancing ASEAN FTA Negotiating Capacity/Support to ASEAN-EU Negotiating Process ( ), EU-ASEAN READI facility, Institutional Capacity Building for ASEAN Monitoring and Statistics (COMPASS) for , and the ASEAN-EU Emergency Management Programme (AEEMP). The Enhanced Regional EU-ASEAN Dialogue Instrument (E-READI) for builds on the success of the ASEAN-EU READI Facility. It aims to further ASEAN integration in all three pillars through providing support for its integration policy shaping and specific technical support for developing its capacity. ASEAN Member States and the EU have concluded three Financing Agreements (FAs) namely the Sustainable Use of Peat Lands and Haze Mitigation in ASEAN (SUPA), Biodiversity Conservation and Management of Protected Areas in ASEAN (BCAMP), and the ASEAN Regional Integration Support from the EU 5

6 (ARISE) Plus. Both the SUPA and BCAMP FAs were signed by H.E. Le Luong Minh, Secretary-General of ASEAN, on behalf of ASEAN on 27 December 2016, while the ARISE Plus FA were signed by Secretary-General Le Luong Minh on 19 September The ARISE Plus is a follow-up programme of ARISE Programme and the overall objective is to support greater economic integration in ASEAN through the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint