General Background

The European Economic Community (EEC) was the first dialogue partner to establish informal relations with ASEAN in 1972 through the Special Coordinating Committee of ASEAN (SCCAN). On 7 May 1975, an ASEAN-EEC Joint Study Group (JSG) was formed to look into collaborative endeavours between the two regions.

In February 1977, the Special Meeting of ASEAN Foreign Ministers in Manila proposed that ASEAN establish ties with the Council of Ministers of the EEC and the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) through which ASEAN could make representations against the growing protectionism of the EEC countries. ASEANs relationship with the EEC was also formalised in that year.

The relationship took an important step forward when the then German Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister, H.E. Mr. Hans-Dietrich Genscher proposed to the then Thai Foreign Minister and Chairman of the ASEAN Standing Committee, H.E. Dr. Upadit Panchariyangkun, that regular contacts between ASEAN and EEC be raised to the Ministerial level. Subsequently, the 1st ASEAN-EEC Ministerial Meeting was held in Brussels in September 1978.

The links with the EEC were institutionalised on 7 March 1980 with the signing of the EC-ASEAN Cooperation Agreement at the Second ASEAN-EEC Ministerial Meeting in Kuala Lumpur. Under the Agreement, objectives for commercial, economic and technical cooperation were established and a Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) was formed as a mechanism to monitor ASEAN-EEC cooperation.

ASEAN-EU relations intensified in 1994. The 11th ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting (AEMM) in Karlsruhe, Germany in September 1994 was a landmark meeting as both sides held candid and open discussions. The meeting agreed to the creation of an ad hoc Eminent Persons Group (EPG), with members drawn from both regions, to develop a comprehensive approach to ASEAN-EU political and security, economic and cultural relations towards the year 2000 and beyond. The >spirit of Karlsruhe also provided the momentum for the First Meeting of the ASEAN-EU Senior Officials (SOM) in Singapore in 1995, the 12th ASEAN-EC JCC in Brussels, Belgium in October 1995 and the Second Meeting of the ASEAN-EU SOM in 1996 in Dublin, Ireland, where frank discussions were held on a wide range of issues, including sensitive topics. These meetings indicated that the EU recognised the political and economic importance of ASEAN and the wider Asia-Pacific.

The launch of the New Asia Strategy in 1994 and the declaration that ASEAN would remain the cornerstone of the EUs dialogue with countries in Asia at the Karlsruhe meeting set the stage for the convening of the first Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) which held its inaugural Summit in Bangkok in March 1996 as well as the 1st ASEM Foreign Ministers Meeting in Singapore in February 1997 where ASEAN played a pivotal role. Both sides are committed to the new Comprehensive Asia-Europe Partnership for Greater Growth forged by the leaders at the Summit and have agreed to outline mechanisms and guidelines to implement the Asia-Europe Cooperation Framework and to establish an Asia-EU Vision Group at ASEM II in 1998 to provide ideas for the development of the ASEM process for the next century. Another important step in the Asia-Europe partnership was the launching of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) based in Singapore in February 1997 which will foster greater people-to-people relations and develop institutional linkages between Asia and Europe.

In July 1996, the EC released a Communication on ACreating a New Dynamic in EU-ASEAN Relations" which reiterated the New Asia Strategy of the EC and its commitment towards strengthening ties with ASEAN as one of the key elements of its Asia policy as it regarded ASEAN as an important political interlocutor and the engine of the new Asia-Europe dialogue. Many of the recommendations of the EPG Report released in June 1996 were incorporated in the EC Communication.

On 13-14 February 1997, the 12th AEMM was held in Singapore, prior to the 1st ASEM Foreign Ministers Meeting. The 12th AEMM is notable for its forward- looking Joint Declaration incorporating the various initiatives to strengthen the ASEAN-EU dialogue since the Karlsruhe meeting in 1994. The Joint Declaration which is to act as a guide for ASEAN-EU relations in the next decade emphasised the economic potential of the two regions, advocated further AFTA-EU cooperation and greater ASEAN-EU private sector cooperation through business networking and joint ventures. At the 13th JCC in Bangkok in November 1997, the Joint Declaration is expected to be operationalised.

Institutional Framework

The EU participates in a series of consultative meetings with ASEAN which includes the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting (AEMM) ASEAN-EU Economic Ministers Meeting, ASEAN-EU Senior Officials Meeting, the Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC) 9+1 and 9+10 and the Joint

Cooperation Committee (JCC) Meeting. The meetings offer opportunities for the EU and ASEAN to review contemporary political, security, economic and development cooperation issues affecting the two sides. The ASEAN-Brussels Committee, ASEAN-Bonn Committee, ASEAN-London Committee and ASEAN-Paris Committee also assist in conducting and maintaining the dialogue with the EU.

At the apex of the dialogue process is the AEMM which sets the direction and pace of the dialogue and reviews the political and security, economic and functional cooperation between the two sides. The AEMM is held once every 18-24 months and lasts for two days. A total of 12 meetings have taken place since 1978 with the recent 12th AEMM being held in Singapore in February 1977. The Economic Ministers from the two sides have also met on two occasions; once at the Special Meeting of Ministers of Economic Affairs from EC and ASEAN in 1995 in Bangkok and the other during the 9th AEMM in Luxembourg.

Economic Cooperation  

In 1995, the EU was ASEAN's second largest export market and the third largest trading partner after Japan and the United States. The EU accounted for 18% of ASEAN's world trade while ASEAN accounted for only 2.6% of the EU's world trade in 1995. Even though this is not an encouraging development, the overall trade between ASEAN and the EU has grown by 31.5% which is an indication of the growing importance of the ASEAN market to the EU.

The potential of ASEAN as a market and a gateway to the rest of the Asia Pacific is an important dimension of the ASEAN-EU relationship. Given the current state of development and infrastructure development activities, ASEAN has also became a major market for the EUs capital goods and investments.

The EU's foreign direct investment (FDI) in the region increased by 13.1% from US$35 billion in 1993 to US$ 39.5 billion in 1994.

Development Cooperation

When the ASEAN-EC Cooperation Agreement was signed in 1980, technical assistance was one of the three areas emphasised, the other two being commercial cooperation and economic cooperation. The objective then was to enhance ASEAN's self-reliance and to promote wider regional development and cooperation. ASEAN has been able to obtain much needed technical and financial assistance to carry out the various activities, projects and programmes agreed to by the two sides.

The EUs technical assistance, over the years, has covered research projects, scholarships, surveys, studies and familiarisation tours, seminars, workshops, vocational and other forms of training as well as trade and export promotion measures. The areas have ranged from trade, industry, finance and banking, minerals and energy, agriculture and forestry, transport and communications to social development, human resources development and narcotics control.

In particular, the EU has assisted ASEAN in setting up the ASEAN Customs Institute For Training and Research (ACITAR), the ASEAN-EC Energy Management Training and Research Centre (AEEMTRC), the ASEAN Timber Industry Research and Development Centre and the ASEAN-EC Management Centre. In addition to these are the European Community Investment Partner Scheme (ECIP), the annual programmes for ASEAN Business Leaders and the development of the ASEAN Macroeconomic Outlook Model.

The EU has adopted a practical and flexible approach in implementing the Cooperation Agreement. Changes have been made from time to time to reflect ASEAN's concerns and priorities in tune with ASEAN's own growth, progress and development. When the dialogue process was initiated, ASEAN's interests were mainly in the fields of agriculture, industry, transportation and communications and the concerns were on access to markets, GSP privileges, commodity prices, stabilisation of export earnings, resource transfers through the ODA and investments. By the Karlsruhe Meeting of 1994, the priorities in development cooperation had shifted to the alleviation of poverty, human resources development, health and family planning, the role of women, respect for human rights, environment and sustainable development. At the 12th AEMM in Singapore in February 1997, new areas of cooperation such as intellectual property rights, standards and conformance and the harmonisation of customs procedures and valuation have been initiated.

The role of the private sector is increasingly being recognised in ASEAN-EU dialogue as the ultimate objective of enhancing ASEAN-EU economic relations. The purpose of which is to achieve more rapid economic growth in order to increase employment and raise the standard of living of the peoples of the two regions, a task which cannot be undertaken by the respective public sectors alone.

There has also been a decided shift in emphasis from a donor-recipient relationship to one based on equal partnership and mutual benefit in the ASEAN-EU Dialogue. This change was heralded as early as 1991 at the 24th AMM/PMC when the ASEAN Foreign Ministers spoke of this "new trend" in the dialogue relationship. In the context of the ASEAN-EU dialogue, this trend has already manifested itself on a number of occasions with ASEAN co-financing some of the projects. One of these is the ASEAN-EU Partenariat, where ASEAN has made a substantial financial contribution. The Partenariat will bring together about 600

ASEAN and EU small and medium enterprises which will jointly explore business opportunities in the region.

The ASEAN Secretariat has also benefited from the EUs technical assistance through the Institutional Development Programme for the ASEAN Secretariat (IDPAS). This programme not only augments the competence of the Secretariat's professional staff in regional policy-making but also helps the Secretariat to network with institutions in Europe and develop its Information Technology capabilities .

Current ASEAN-EU Relationship

The 14th meeting of the ASEAN-EC Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) was convened in September 2001 in Brussels.  The JCC reviewed the implementation of cooperation activities under the 1999 ASEAN-EC Work Programme, the working methods and its operational objectives.  It was agreed that priority should be accorded to strengthening policy dialogue in sectors where the EC could contribute to and complement ASEAN’s regional integration efforts and other key priorities.  This was preceded by the third meeting of the ASEAN-EC Informal Coordinating Mechanism held in August 2001.

The Second ASEAN Economic Ministers - EU Trade Commissioner Consultations took place on 12 September 2001.  The meeting agreed to continue cooperation to further reduce non-tariff barriers so as to facilitate trade flows between the two regions. The third SEOM-EU consultation on 16 August 2001 in Bandar Seri Begawan agreed to broaden the scope of existing cooperation, including addressing the challenges of globalisation and facilitating trade flows.

A number of ASEAN member states have signed bilateral agreements to participate in the EC-ASEAN Regional Cooperation Programme on Standards, Quality and Conformity Assessment aimed at enhancing commercial exchanges through standardisation, conformity assessment procedures, and quality structures and practises.

The EU continued to support the development and implementation of the ASEAN Project for Regional Integration Support (APRIS), which would provide an avenue for initiating policy dialogue in areas of common interest and for undertaking joint studies on economic integration.

Over the past year, two projects in the field of energy were launched.  The 18 million euro EC-ASEAN Energy Facility Programme was initiated in March 2002 and the Technology Transfer for Energy Cogeneration from Biomass in ASEAN Countries (COGEN Phase III) started in February 2002.

An ASEAN-EC experts meeting on science and technology was held in February 2002 in Bangkok to prepare a plan of action for cooperation in the field of science and technology.

The first ASEAN-EU Experts Group Meeting on Maritime Security took place in February 2002 in Manila.  The meeting discussed the problem of piracy.  EU has offered assistance for exchanges of technical and practical information; sponsoring ASEAN students to attend anti-piracy seminars; exchanging experience in managing integration between national procedures; and establishing training institutions in ASEAN.

The ASEAN Brussels Committee (ABC) and the European Commission held two brainstorming sessions in November 2001 and March 2002 to provide inputs to the formulation of an EU Strategy Paper on ASEAN. 

The 14th ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting (AEMM) was convened on 27 and 28 January 2003 in Brussels.  The event underscored the commitment of both sides to remain engaged in active dialogue and cooperation at the regional level. This engagement would cover political and security, economic and development cooperation fields with political cooperation being elevated to the same level of economic cooperation between the two entities.  In addition to the issuance of the Co-Chairs Statement as a reflection of the substantive discussions between the Ministers, an ASEAN-EU Joint Declaration on Cooperation to Combat Terrorism was also adopted at this meeting.

At the Third ASEAN Economic Ministers and EU Trade Commissioner Consultations, held on 4 April 2003 in Luang Prabang, the EU suggested a regional framework to be called “Trans-Regional EU-ASEAN Trade Initiative” or TREATI, to address trade facilitation, investment, and regulatory issues between ASEAN and EU.  The TREATI would be based on the existing Cooperation Agreement between the Member Countries of ASEAN and the European Community signed in 1980 and would be established through a joint declaration. 

The EU agreed that this framework could lead to an ASEAN-EU preferential trading agreement in the future.

The AEMM agreed to pursue further cooperation in the fields of energy, environment, science and technology, transport, good governance, HIV/AIDS, and integration of ASEAN.  The European Commission will be sending a programming mission to the ASEAN Secretariat to explore cooperation in these areas.

The First Meeting of the ASEAN-EC Sub-Committee on Narcotics was convened on 16 October 2002 in Kuala Lumpur. Both sides agreed to cooperate in demand reduction, treatment and rehabilitation, prevention of money laundering and prevention of chemical precursors diversion, including monitoring of precursors.

Under development cooperation, there are at present five projects worth € 55.5 million in the areas of environment, energy, intellectual property rights and education.  Two other programmes worth € 13 million will be implemented in due cause. They include the European Commission-ASEAN Regional Co-operation Programme on Standards, Quality and Conformity Assessment and the ASEAN-EC Project on Regional Integration Support (APRIS). The EC is also funding the development of a business plan for the ASEAN-EC Management Centre in Brunei Darussalam.

APRIS, a project worth € 4.5 million, is a framework programme to assist ASEAN Member Countries in regional integration. It aims to draw lessons from the experience of the EC in forging regional economic integration, contribute to improving ASEAN mechanisms and communications systems, and supporting capacity building activities for the ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN Member Countries.  The APRIS Financing Agreement was signed in early 2003.